It's getting annoying. Some of the best stocks just aren't letting you in at all. Try getting into Disney (DIS) now that we know that next year could be huge with Star Wars and the theme parks are doing well because of lower oil prices. Also, ESPN has some amazing programming that no one is cutting the chord over.
You want into Costco (COST)? Has this stock even given you a day that it's not up? The relentlessness of Ross Stores (ROST) is pretty incredible. Did you think that CVS Health (CVS) would come down after all the good news? How about 3M (MMM)? Buyers feel incredibly confident. Same with Skyworks Solutions (SWKS).
These stocks are so charmed that you simply can't touch them. So what do you do?
I have said you need to take advantage of those stocks that finally act well that haven't for ages, or ones that are momentarily down but will just go right back up as part of a Santa Claus rally. We own four for in our charitable trust that make too much sense not to buy.
Merck (MRK) bought Cubist (CBST) at too high a price, but Cubist won approval for a urinary tract antibiotic that could be very strong. Lots of people sold Merck today betting that now the deal has to go through, even as Cubist lost that exclusivity on one of its key drugs right after the buy announcement occurred. That's a good one.
Morgan Stanley (MS) remains the financial with the least exposure to the yield curve and the government, and that just makes too much sense to ignore.
McDonald's (MCD) has a big, safe yield with nothing but bad news backed into it. The stock acts terrifically and I have to believe that something is going on beyond the fundamentals. If it turned or something happens, the stock's a coiled spring.
Finally, look at Google (GOOGL). This company's only down because of its lack of spending discipline. No one is dissing its search business, and now it is talking about monetizing its YouTube channel, which is probably the least exploited business in its arsenal. The stock could go up like this for days and not be expensive.
Have you seen how Alcoa (AA) has acted lately? Now that Boeing (BA) has its bearings and Honeywell (HON) has given you a good outlook on aerospace, how can you avoid this one now that it has come down?
Finally, two others that had "faux" bad quarters: FedEx (FDX) and Nike (NKE). Both were terrific but expectations just got way too high. They work, too.
