It’s going to be another week during which it will be difficult to predict which direction markets will go. Lately, investors have been focusing on the bond market where yields have climbed in anticipation of higher inflation, prompting investors to rotate from high-growth stocks to value and cyclical names.
That shift cost growth investors dearly as the NASDAQ 100 capped a third straight week of declines that's shaved off $1.6 trillion in market value during that period. Worries over rising interest rates and their impact on stock valuations are unlikely to go away anytime soon, especially when Americans will soon receive additional stimulus checks after the US Senate, on Saturday, passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.
This was done by removing a major hurdle in its implementation. The Democratic-held House aims to pass the bill on Tuesday and send it to President Joseph Biden for his signature before a Mar. 14 deadline requiring renewal of unemployment aid programs.
Amid these uncertain market conditions, here are three stocks we believe are worth keeping on our radar in the week ahead:
1. Tesla
Investors will be closely watching the moves in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares during the upcoming week, after the electric carmaker’s 30% plunge from its January high.
Tesla’s shares closed on Friday at $597.95 after losing about 4% on the day as growth stocks suffered.
That weakness comes after the electric carmaker's stock saw a meteoric rise in 2020 that sent its shares soaring over 700%. A spike in U.S. Treasury yields and the prospect of higher inflation has pressured the stock market and helped trigger a selloff in high-flying growth stocks.
Tesla’s recent weakness shows it’s more vulnerable to changing market sentiment than other technology giants due to its great speculative appeal.
Along with the escalating selloff in technology stocks, investors are also worried that Tesla may struggle to increase its sales volumes as competition in the EV market intensities and the company introduces price cuts on various models.
2. Oracle
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) will release its fiscal 2021, third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, Mar. 10, after the market close. Analysts are projecting $1.11 a share profit on sales of $10.05 billion.
In late December, the software company gave a better-than-expected forecast for quarterly revenue, in a sign of improving demand for the tech giant’s cloud computing services after years of stagnant sales.
Revenue likely climbed 2%-4% in the period that ends in February, keeping the company on pace to post three consecutive quarters of sales growth after two fiscal years of declining revenue.
Growth prospects are improving as the company focuses on cloud computing services in an effort to accelerate revenue growth at the world’s second-largest software maker. Customer interest in the firm’s internet-based applications has finally offset declining demand for its legacy tools.
Oracle shares, which closed on Friday at $69.97, surged about 7% on the final day of last week's trading, in anticipation of better than expected earnings. The stock is up 26% over the past six months.
3. JD.COM
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.Com (NASDAQ:JD) will report its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, Mar. 11, before the market opens. Analysts are predicting $0.19 a share earnings on sales of $33.9 billion.
The internet retailer's earnings are set to be released as the company plans to list its shipping business, JD Logistics, in Hong Kong, raising potentially billions of dollars to capitalize on China’s post-COVID e-commerce boom, Bloomberg reported last month.
The initial public offering could raise roughly $5 billion and value the unit at about $40 billion, the report said. JD’s NASDAQ-listed shares are down more than 16% from their February high and closed on Friday at $90.62.