The stock market remains near 52-week lows, and it might be the time to start looking for stocks to buy at a discount. Following September’s inflation figures, things don’t appear to change soon. The consumer price index rose 8.2% through September.
The result was higher than expected and suggested that the Fed has further to go in reducing the number. That makes it all but certain that the Fed will increase interest rates another 75 basis points on Nov. 1, when it next convenes.
Major indexes remain down significantly. Each of the Dow Jones, Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 are near 52-week lows. And as we near Nov. 1 and the Fed’s next rate decision, they are likely to fall to new lows.
None of that is particularly good news overall. Individual stocks should continue to slide. Recession fears will grow. People will suffer.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that investors can still find deals. A few stocks to buy appear ready to move upward as tailwinds put them in a stronger position than most others.
SoFi Technologies (SOFI)
SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI) stock appears to be in a position to move upward soon. By now, every reader will be aware that President Biden decided to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt on Aug. 24.
That is a strong catalyst for the all-in-one financial services firm that had long suffered as the student loan moratorium was renewed multiple times. The Aug. 24 extension through Dec. 31 represented the 7th and final extension.
That means SoFi can anticipate a resumption of refinancing activity as student loan holders have definitive information. Bank of America (NYSE:BOA) analyst Mihir Bhatia noted that student loan refinancing was SoFi’s most profitable product a month earlier. He also gave SOFI stock an upgrade on the news.
SoFi should see an uptick in loan originations later this year as students refinance to lower remaining balances. That means SoFi is in a position to move upward at any moment. Overarching economic issues may provide further volatility, but SOFI is headed upward soon. Thus, SoFi is one of the top stocks to buy.
Abbott Laboratories (ABT)
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) stock currently trades around $100. That price isn’t far from its 52-week low of $96.67. It is far from the $122 average target price for ABT stock and even farther from the $142 52-week high for shares.
During the pandemic, the company was busy selling $2.3 billion of Covid-related products and services in Q2. During Q2, the company reported $11.3 billion in sales. Those figures represented 14.3% organic growth and 10.1% growth overall.
The strong results led Abbott to raise full-year guidance to at least $4.90. That said, share prices have remained muted, declining $10 since the news was released in late July.
Investors should recognize that Abbott remains undervalued and is a firm that remains highly profitable. The majority of its profit margin figures are in the 80th percentile or higher. The company drives profit from operations, equity, assets, and capital investments in a steady manner.
It’s hard to keep a good company like Abbott down for long. It is a pharmaceutical and healthcare firm, which further shields it during recessions, which makes Abbott one of the safer stocks to buy.
Google (GOOG,GOOGL)
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG, GOOGL) stock remains at 52-week lows. The company’s past two quarters have been disappointing. It provided negative earnings surprises for EPS in both instances, each missing by more than 4.5%.
It is likely that when Google reports earnings on Oct. 25, EPS will have fallen 10.7% YoY to $1.25.
Google has headed in the right direction already. It just hasn’t shown up in share prices yet. Tech firms have to cut costs as the interest rates rise and the cost of capital increases. Google will emerge leaner. It plans to shut down its Stadia gaming service come January.
It may announce further reductions, potentially including layoffs. It will emerge from this current period a leaner, better-run firm. You can argue that it got too soft over the last decade as steady quantitative easing provided a bonanza for tech. It is now correcting for those excesses. It will improve its form and continue to dominate tech.
That said, it isn’t easy to guess when Google will return to form. The tech space is facing higher interest rates, regulatory headwinds, and a recession. But the company has provided massive returns, 19.41% annually over the last decade. So, those returns are likely to soften. But Google dominates search, and it’s difficult to see it heading much lower. Therefore, Google is on this list as one of the top stocks to buy.
On the date of publication, Alex Sirois did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
— Alex Sirois
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