Nasdaq 100 Watch List: April 27, 2012

Below are the Nasdaq 100 companies that are within 20% of their respective 52-week lows. Stocks that appear on our watch lists are not recommendations to buy. Instead, they are the starting point for doing your research and determining the best company to buy. Ideally, a stock that is purchased from this list is done after a considerable decline in the price and rigorous due diligence.

Watch List Summary

First on our list is Electronic Arts (EA).  the last time Electronic Arts was on our Watch list was on June 6, 2010.  At that time, Electronic Arts was trading at $15.81 with a per share earnings loss of –$2.08 and with a price-to-book ratio of 2.  By July of the next year, Electronic Arts increased in value by +58%.

Electronic Arts (EA) has the following downside targets:

• $12.77
• $10.22
• $7.66

Ordinarily, we don’t have a preference for a stock that doesn’t have earnings, however, the reason we focus on the Nasdaq 100 is because we know that lacking any value attributes, companies won’t disappear from the index until the end of each year, unless an acquisition occurs.  This usually means that stocks in this index will likely appear  to rebound due to significant institutional support and the requirement to be invested in constituents of the index.

Next on our watch list is Infosys Ltd (INFY).  Infosys appeared on our  watch list on September 9, 2011 at the price of $47.17.  Less than two months later, Infosys (INFY) increased and peaked at +30% above the price of when it was on our watch list.  Below are the downside targets to consider if purchasing INFY: 

• $38.43
• $34.11
• $29.80
• $21.17

Finally, the next company on our list is Symantec (SYMC) which last appeared on our watch list on December 16, 2011.  At the time, SYMC had a P/E ratio of 17.59 and a price-to-book ratio of 2.49.

Shortly after appearing on our December 16, 2011 watch list, SYMC rose +21%.  The following are the downside targets for anyone considering the purchase of SYMC:

• $14.24
• $13.26
• $12.20
• $10.05

Considering all of the companies on our watch list, we believe that the three that we’ve covered are reasonable investments at the current time, with money set aside for a second purchase if the stock price declines. 

Watch List Performance Review

The top five stocks on our watch list from April 29, 2011 got hammered in the market decline from June to October 2011.  Hardest hit was Akamai which fell over –40%.  Only three stocks gained more than +10% within a year.  Right out the gate was TEVA in the first month.  Nearly 9 months after our watch list, CSCO and MRVL were able to gain +10%.  The average return of all five companies in the last year was –0.10%.