3-5 for the Week

3 Earnings to Watch:

1. Michael Kors (KORS) reports Tuesday morning. This would be a great indicator for not only the growth of Michael Kors but also how the luxury brand is doing. Keep in mind, Fossil last week lowered guidance. Recommended move: Buy small position for speculation

2. Home Depot (HD) will also report on Tuesday morning. Home improvement is a growing field especially after Hurricane Sandy. Recommended move: Stay out but watch

3. Retail space. A string of retail companies will be reporting at the mid of the week. Limited Brands (LTD) reports on Wednesday close. Limited Brands has performed relatively well and will likely continue to show strong growth with Victoria’s Secret tremendous profitability. Thursday includes Ross Stores, Target, Walmart and Gap. Gap stands out the most from this group as it has had a tremendous run and turnaround in management however is pulled back some with current market headwinds. Recommended move: Buy Limited Brands as there is strong likelihood of a earnings beat.

5 Moves to make:

1. Short Dell (DELL) before the earnings as it is clear that both Dell and HP has a lot of ground to make up in comparison of Apple and other competitors. The PC market is declining rapidly. Both Dell and HP are value traps.

2. Buy heavily into Apple (AAPL) this week before the holiday season officially starts. Apple has pulled back 5% last week and over 21% since its high in September. The growth of this company is still not done and the problems it faces will be resolved. The supply concern is overblown due to the demand of their products however this is a good sign for this company.

3. Questcor (QCOR) is considered very cheap still. After recommending the stock last week it is clear that this company has still room to run. The fears are overblown about its one and only drug Acthar. The one problem is the current lawsuits it faces as well as the volatility of the stock due to the large amount of short interest. If the stock goes below $22 though, consider getting in due to the huge fundamentals that it is on. Also look at the recent quarter which was a blowout; that is often overlooked.

4. AIG is a great stock to own and is definitely still on my buy list. The stock has pulled back a bit and I believe that at $31 it would make this stock look cheap. The CEO, Robert Benmosche was recently on AIG and showed the continued growth of AIG and that the fears of Hurricane Sandy are a bit overblown. Either way if the Treasury sells out the remaining 15% of its stake the stock will have huge run to grow. The time of when the Treasury will sell is yet to be determined however keep in mind the book value of this stock is now at $60 almost twice the market value.

5. Buy some Gold! The Gold ETF (GLD or IAU) are both great buys with the huge problems the market is facing. The market will continue to have a lot of headwinds going coming down to the end of the year and portfolio protection is crucial to not get wiped out.

Note: 

Bon-Ton and Cosi are both positions that I use to own. I am interested to see how Bon-ton aka Carson’s is doing after a huge rally after the summer. Also Cosi reported its first profitable quarter last time and I wish to see how this stock will trade. The reason I sold Cosi and Bon-ton is due to the lack of trading and volatile in both names.