Category Archives: Nasdaq 100 Watch List

Below are the top ten Nasdaq 100 companies that are within 20% of the 52-week low. This list is strictly for the purpose of researching whether or not the companies have viable business models or are about to go out of business. These companies are deemed highly speculative unless otherwise noted.

Although we track companies that are near their 52-week lows, the true benchmark for all stocks is the lowest point reached from the period of 2006 to the present.  This means that in order to determine if the company of interest is of "value," you must contrast the current data with the lowest quarterly/annual  earnings, P/E, P/B, P/S, share price during the last 3 to 4 years. 

Do not accept the fact that these companies are undervalued unless compared to the worst period after the financial crisis began.  If, as an investor, you cannot accept the potential of the stock of interest falling to, or below, the November 2008 or March 2009 lows, then your money should not be in the stock in question.  This concept is emphasized in the quote by Charles H. Dow in our posting titled "A Comprehensive View On Valuing Earnings."  

Below are the Nasdaq 100 companies that are within 21% of their respective 52-week low. 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 thorough due diligence.   

The stock that fell the most from last week's watch list was Symantec (SYMC) which lost -8.75%.  The stock that gained the most was Apollo Group (APOL) at 5.15%.  In all, the Nasdaq 100 Watch List of last week lost -3.21% as compared to the Nasdaq 100 index which lost -4.42%. 

One of my favorite stocks, Dentsply Intl (XRAY), is appearing on our list for the first time in very long time.  According to Yahoo! Finance, "DENTSPLY International Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and markets dental consumable products, dental laboratory products, and dental specialty products worldwide."  As a Dividend Achiever and a member of the Nasdaq 100, XRAY had a 15-year history of consecutive dividend increases until March 2010.  The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of the dividend is in the low twenties.  The lack of an increase in the last quarter is "acceptable" and probably prudent considering the state of our economy going forward.  XRAY is definitely a company to research and accumulate as the price gets closer to the March 2009 low.

Below are the Nasdaq 100 companies that are within 20% of the 52-week low. This list is strictly for the purpose of researching whether or not the companies have viable business models or are about to go out of business. These companies are deemed highly speculative unless otherwise noted (view all here.)

This week the lowest performing stock was Gilead Sciences (GILD). Gilead Sciences was up 0.02% for the week.

The leading gainer from last week was Qualcomm (QCOM) with a gain of 5.53%. While there are many reasons why QCOM increased so much in one week. Most market analysts attribute the gains to some syndicate operators (aka hedge fund managers or famous investors) or the fact that QCOM, in a desperate attempt to lure new investors, indicated that it would increase the dividend and buy back shares. Our reason for the shares to rise is because they were so underpriced (the value component was too difficult to ignore). It doesn't mean that QCOM can't go lower but our suspicion is that the stock could only fall for a short bit lower from the previous 52-week low. (chart below)

Pharmaceutical Products (PPDI) had the second largest gain for the week with 4.71% to the upside. PPDI is no longer on our watchlist and is tracing out a pattern of higher lows with a resistance to the upside at the $24 level. if PPDI can convincingly break above the $24 level then PPDI might be able to test the $29 level in a relatively short period of time. (chart below)

Apollo Group (APOL) gained 4.02% for the third highest gains for the week. The average gain for the last week for all companies on our Nasdaq 100 watch list was 3.02%. QCOM and APOL seem like the best companies to research for potential investment opportunties at this time.

-Touc