The second quarter was a tough time to be in the market overall, and many people are very nervous as we head into the second half of the year. Yes there are many problems with the economy, but that does not mean you should be out of the market altogether. There are still places to make money in this market. Look for good, sound stocks where the analysts are raising their earnings estimates. The table below shows the stocks that are currently ranked 'Buy' by the crack analysts at Zacks Independent Research that also have a quantitative Zacks Rank of either 'Buy' or 'Strong Buy.' The analysts think these are good long-term Buys, and the Zacks rank is perhaps the most powerful short term indicator of a stock's direction ever discovered. To make the list, the consensus earnings estimates had to be increasing over the last 12 weeks for both this fiscal year (mostly 2008) and next fiscal year (2009) and could not have fallen for either year over the last month.
While many of these stock have already far outperformed the market this year, we still think they are among the best bets in the market. So far this year these stocks are up an average of 24.3% and you would have made money on 38 of the 47 names if you had bought them at the start of the year. That sure beats the S&P 500's 12.8% decline in the first half. While this is far from an indexed portfolio, it does have a good mix of different industries and market capitalizations, and includes both U.S. based firms and ADR's.
| Company |
Ticker |
Change in 2008
Earnings Estimates |
Change in 2009
Earnings Estimates |
| Arch Coal Inc |
ACI |
0.53% |
10.57% |
| Adc Telecomm |
ADCT |
8.44% |
8.06% |
| Agrium Inc |
AGU |
6.39% |
12.02% |
| Ak Steel Hldg |
AKS |
3.41% |
14.30% |
| Allion Healthcr |
ALLI |
0.00% |
0.00% |
| Altera Corp |
ALTR |
1.26% |
0.87% |
| Amer Orient Bio |
AOB |
4.73% |
6.08% |
| Asm Intl Nv |
ASMI |
14.81% |
6.82% |
| Baidu.Com -Adr |
BIDU |
0.00% |
0.00% |
| Peabody Energy |
BTU |
0.75% |
8.57% |
| Celanese Cp-A |
CE |
0.51% |
1.16% |
| Cnooc Ltd Adr |
CEO |
1.47% |
5.78% |
| Cf Indus Hldgs |
CF |
0.76% |
2.48% |
| Cemig Sa -Adr |
CIG |
2.50% |
9.18% |
| Cleveland Cliff |
CLF |
1.19% |
4.61% |
| Conocophillips |
COP |
5.41% |
12.12% |
| Genentech Inc |
DNA |
1.49% |
1.17% |
| Amdocs Ltd |
DOX |
0.00% |
1.01% |
| Esterline Tech |
ESL |
0.36% |
4.71% |
| First Solar Inc |
FSLR |
0.63% |
0.84% |
| Gafisa Sa-Adr |
GFA |
0.00% |
0.00% |
| Grey Wolf Inc |
GW |
1.01% |
2.34% |
| Humana Inc New |
HUM |
0.48% |
0.85% |
| Quicksilver Res |
KWK |
6.74% |
9.10% |
| Manpower Inc Wi |
MAN |
0.31% |
0.08% |
| Mcdonalds Corp |
MCD |
1.85% |
1.31% |
| Ncr Corp-New |
NCR |
0.00% |
0.00% |
| Newfield Expl |
NFX |
10.33% |
26.70% |
| Natural Rsrc Lp |
NRP |
2.53% |
7.39% |
| Nucor Corp |
NUE |
2.83% |
5.06% |
| Osiris Theraptc |
OSIR |
0.00% |
7.14% |
| Petrobras-Adr C |
PBR |
7.23% |
9.45% |
| Potash Sask |
POT |
2.19% |
12.80% |
| Patterson-Uti |
PTEN |
0.44% |
1.59% |
| Penn Va Resrc |
PVR |
0.00% |
0.00% |
| Plains Expl&Prd |
PXP |
11.53% |
9.01% |
| Qualcomm Inc |
QCOM |
1.96% |
2.47% |
| Cia Siderur-Adr |
SID |
0.00% |
0.00% |
| Sohu.Com Inc |
SOHU |
3.17% |
3.15% |
| Stoneridge Inc |
SRI |
0.00% |
6.12% |
| Sierra Wireless |
SWIR |
0.00% |
0.12% |
| Total Fina Sa |
TOT |
7.09% |
11.93% |
| Unibanco-Gdr |
UBB |
0.80% |
0.69% |
| Volcom Inc |
VLCM |
0.11% |
1.88% |
| Williams Cos |
WMB |
27.07% |
6.03% |
| Wet Seal Inc -A |
WTSLA |
13.64% |
2.25% |
| Utd States Stl |
X |
8.95% |
18.42% |
| Xilinx Inc |
XLNX |
1.69% |
3.34% |
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