Stocks in Play - December 5th 2024

TLDR Stocks in Play: CRYPTO, FIVE, VRNT, HOOD, NNOX AVAV

Welcome to today's Stocks in Play report. Below are the key stocks to watch, along with brief x-ray and analysis.

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1) Five Below (FIVE) (Rating: B+, Multi-Day,, Top Picks December 🐶)

Industry Group: Specialty Retail, Market Cap: $5.7b,  Float: 53m, Short Interest: 7.6%, Days to Cover: 2.6, Exchange: NASDAQ

Catalyst: Very Big EPS Beat ($0.42 vs est. $0.17) Strong Revs Beat, Big Operating Margins Beat. New CEO Winnie Park (Former Forever 21 CEO), Slight EPS Guide Beat. This is a turnaround story in a former compounder darling stock with a new leader at the helm. Growth reaccelerating. Good candidate for sustained move. Added to Top Picks for December.

2) Verint Systems Inc. (VRNT) (Rating: C+, Single-Day)

Industry Group: Information Technology Services, Market Cap: $1.68b, Float: 61m, Short Interest: 6.3%, Days to Cover: 4.5, Exchange: NASDAQ

Catalyst: Solid Beat on EPS ($0.54 vs est. $0.43), Beat on Revs, Bullish management talk on AI Products. Reiterated Guide which is essentially in line. Stock is relatively neglected and only recently off of it’s lows. This stock should benefit from the Salesforce bullish AgentForce talk and their discussion on AI products probably does have some merit. A little bit wary of the lack of Raised guide however.

3) Nano-X Imaging Ltd (NNOX) (Rating: B-, Single-Day)

Industry Group: Medical Specialties, Market Cap: $370m, Float: 51m, Short Interest: 13.8%, Days to Cover: 7.5, Exchange: NASDAQ

Catalyst: Received FDA 501k Clearance for Arc X Ray System. This is not FDA Approval and is a clearance that the new device is substantially equivalent to existing devices. High Short Interest, Low Market Cap Speculative environment. Good one day SIP Idea. High volatility expected by me on this.

Honorable Mention to: HOOD - Yesterdays Investor day was full of bullish stats and announcements, venturing into Asia in 2025, moving into events betting markets (Polymarket Style), strong demographics in young users etc. I expect a slew of upgrades today and momentum in this name. AVAV - Drone stocks are hot, AVAV reported reasonably strong earnings last night. Beat on Revs, Missed on EBITDA. Backlog increased drastically. Reiterated Guide. Stock is down 8% currently Pre market, could be a good reversal candidate. CRYPTO - Unless you’re living under a rock you’ll know that Bitcoin hit $100k last night. Expect all crypto to be in play today. MSTR likely the leading stock.

Market Awareness

The theme will be all about Bitcoin today. I expect a volatile and highly speculative day in stocks. I’m seeing some bearish takes on X that we’re reaching pivotal levels of valuations, 2000 comparison etc. All probably warranted but now that we’re in such a speculative environment just participate until it stops. Don’t become attached to anything. Hit and run, hit and run. Rinse and repeat. Let the cult believers run off the cliff together in the end. Conviction at this stage of the bull market is for idiots and the odd lucky person that wins the lottery.

After Hours I’m Watching: PATH, ASAN, GTLB, LULU, ULTA, DOCU, IOT  (Earnings)

Top Pick Watchlists:

• Top Picks - November 2024

  • LONG: ALAB, HNST, SNOW, ESTC, RKLB, SMTC, URBN, PLTR, GAP, TSLA, SE, RDDT, DESP

  • SHORT: TGT

• Top Picks - December 2024 

  • LONG: CRDO, MRVL, OKTA, FIVE

Sources & Services I Use in my Trading:

• Finviz - Short Interest, Float, Articles, Fundamentals (Free)

• Benzinga Pro - News Source + News Squawk + Earnings Data (Paid)

• Tradingview - Charting & Scanning (Paid)

• Koyfin - Fundamental Data (Paid)

• EarningsWhispers - Earnings Calendar (Free)

• Tradersync - Trade Journal (Paid)

_{PS: There are many ways to trade stocks in play. It does not have to be the one that keeps going straight up and sometimes it doesn’t even have to be day one of the catalyst. Everyone must find a setup, timeframe and method that works for them. This list is supposed to educate on the criteria I use and the methods in which I find Stocks in Play. Yours may differ and that is completely okay.}