On Monday, the Nasdaq hit a fresh record high for the first time in almost three months. A rally in tech and consumer discretionary stocks ensued, indicating that investors are choosing to ignore trade tensions and geopolitical conflicts. Instead, markets are focusing on strong economic fundamentals following last Friday’s strong jobs report.
The major catalyst to the day’s gains was a surge in shares of Apple Inc. AAPL, which hit an all-time high. Analysts believe that this is further evidence of upbeat sentiment about the economy. With investors choosing to show confidence in a sector which has had a turbulent ride this year, this seems to be the best time to invest in tech stocks that are part of the Nasdaq.
Apple, Amazon, Microsoft Power Broader Gains
The Nasdaq gained 0.7% on Monday, finishing at a record level for the first time since Mar 12. One of the major drivers of the day’s gains was a surge in shares of Apple. The iPhone maker’s stocks gained 0.8% to hit an all-time high. Gains were primarily attributable to the enthusiastic response to the company’s WWDC 2018 keynote.
Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN also contributed to the day’s gains, increasing 1.5% to hit a record high. Microsoft Corporation’s MSFT shares also gained 0.9% to hit a new record. These gains came after the software giant revealed that it was buying software developer GitHub for $7.5 billion. As a result, the Nasdaq failed to hit an intraday high by only around 0.5%.
Investors Focusing on Economic Fundamentals
Stocks had surged last Friday following encouraging data from the Department of Labor. The economy added 223,000 jobs in May even as unemployment plummeted to an 18-year low. Additionally, wage gains remained limited, curbing fears about surging inflation which had caused losses in February.
Investors continued to focus on the positive sentiment that this report spurred on Monday. Analysts are of the opinion that the surge in shares of Apple was an expression of confidence in the state of the U.S. economy.
In choosing to focus on strong fundamentals, investors ignored a spate of headwinds that dampened sentiments recently. These include trade tensions with China and geopolitical concerns emanating from the discord with North Korea and the political situation in Italy.
Our Choices
Fresh evidence of the United States’ robust economic health has pushed investors toward riskier assets over the last two trading days. Tech stocks, which have had a somewhat rocky ride this year, are once again the favored option of investors.
Investing in large tech stocks which make up the Nasdaq looks like a smart option at this time. However, picking winning stocks may be difficult.
This is where our VGM Score comes in. Here V stands for Value, G for Growth and M for Momentum and the score is a weighted combination of these three scores. Such a score allows you to eliminate the negative aspects of stocks and select winners. However, it is important to keep in mind that each Style Score will carry a different weight while arriving at a VGM Score.
We have narrowed down our search to the following stocks, each of which has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a good VGM Score. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Micron Technology, Inc. MU has established itself as one of the leading worldwide providers of semiconductor memory solutions.
Micron has a VGM Score of A. The company’s projected growth rate for the current year is more than 100% The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 4.7% over the last 30 days.
Seagate Technology Plc STX is the second-largest manufacturer of hard disk drives (HDDs) in the United States.
Seagate has a VGM Score of A. It has expected earnings growth of 29.6% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 2.9% over the last 30 days.
Western Digital Corporation WDC is one of the largest HDD producers in the United States.
Western Digital has a VGM Score of A. The company has expected earnings growth of 45.8% for the current year. For the current year, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has improved 0.1% over the last 30 days.
NetApp, Inc. NTAP provides enterprise storage and data management software and hardware products and services.
NetApp has a VGM Score of B. The company has expected earnings growth of 2.1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 5.7% over the last 30 days.
Citrix Systems Inc. CTXS is a leading provider of virtualization, networking and cloud computing solutions to more than 230,000 organizations worldwide.
Citrix Systems has a VGM Score of B. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 8.2% over the last 60 days.
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