NASDAQ 100 Quarterly Winners

We are nearing the Labor Day Holiday so I decided to do something a little different.  Today I used Barchart to sort the NASDAQ 100 Index to find the stocks that gained the most in the last 3 months. Those stock that in hindsight, I wish I had bought 3 months ago.  There seems to be a theme here and I bet you can see what it is.

The list includes Facebook (FB) up 77.82%, Baidu (BIDU) up 44.29%, Netflix (NFLX) up 33.99%, Priceline.com (PCLN) up 19.21% and Viacom Class B (VIAB):

Facebook (FB)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 96% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend Spotter buy signals
• 17 new highs and up 77.92% in the last 3 months
• Relative Strength Index 72.30%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 39.46
• Recently traded at 41.48 with a 50 day moving average of 31.91

Baidu (BIDU)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 80% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 16 new highs and up 44.29% in the last 3 months
• Relative strength Index 64.43%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 131.47
• Recently traded at 139.30 with a 50 day moving average of 117.55

Netflix (NFLX)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 100% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 16 new highs and up 33.99% in the last 3 months
• Relative Strength Index 69.60%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 272.99
• Recently traded at 288.16 with a 50 day moving average of 249.01

Priceline.com (PCLN)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 56% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 17 new highs and up 19.21% in the last 3 months
• Relative Strength Index 57.61%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 926.54
• Recently traded at 943.38 with a 50 day moving average of 899.73

Viacom Class B (VIAB)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 88% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 15 new highs and up 16.72% in the last 3 months
• Relative Strength Index 63.72%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 77.74%
• Recently traded at 79.82 with a 50 day moving average of 73.88

5 NADSDAQ 100 Gems

Today I used Barchart to sort the NASDAQ 100 Index to find the stocks with best technical indicators and charts.  My list today includes Baidu (BIDU), Apple (AAPL), Mylan (MYL), Amgen (AMGN) and Celgene (CELG).

Please note that I am a momentum trader and select my stocks based on CURRENT momentum.  The charts cover the last 6 months to give you some HISTORY on the price action but my major keys are how many times a stock hit a new high in the last 20 trading sessions and is it showing price support by trading above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages.

Baidu (BIDU)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 96% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 15 new highs and up 50.67% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 84.48%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 131.79
• Recently traded at 138.12 with a 50 day moving average of 103.47

Apple (AAPL)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 88% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 14 new highs and up 11.75% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 73.31%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 454.49
• Recently traded at 466.65 with a 50 day moving average of 431.42

Mylan (MYL)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 100% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 14 new highs and up 18.42% in the last month
• Relative strength Index 84.62%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 34.73
• Recently traded at 36.51 with a 50 day moving average of 31.63

Amgen (AMGN)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 40% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 13 new highs and up 10.77% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 57.62%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 107.29
• Recently traded at 108.19 with a 50 day moving average of 101.98

Celgene (CELG)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 96% Barchart technical buy signals
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 13 new highs and up 19.90% in the last month
• Relative strength Index 70.91%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 143.89
• Recently traded at 147.35 with a 50 day moving average of 126.68

Baidu -- 600# gorilla you can't ingnore

Before you all jump on me and talk about the impossibility of sustained growth and the 59 times EPS ratio let me interject my reasoning. In China and the Asian continent in general Google and Baidu are not on a level playing field. Google just doesn't seem to know how to play ball in Asia. They are trying to use western rules in an eastern game and fail to realize all the referees are hometown Chinese boys.

The Chinese government will make sure Baidu succeeds in China no matter what. They have over 1/2 of the world's population and are doing much better than we are in Africa and the Middle East. Baidu even has a Japanese search engine: www.baidu.jp.

Everyday more and more analysts are initiating coverage of this stock and now even Value Line has picked up this stock and rates it #1 for timeliness.

I'll let other tell you all the negatives and I'll explain what the stock has going for it.

As I've said more and more firms are beginning to follow this stock with 21 already on board with 13 buy and 8 hold recommendations released. The numbers they project are all most too good to be true. They look for increases in sales of 66.70% this year and 51.70% next year. Even more aggressive EPS growth is forcasted with an EPS increase of 92.10% this year, 55.40% next year and a 5 year compounded growth rate of 44.89%. Presently trading around 69 they have a 74 to 78 price target. Total return for the past 3 years has been 466.7%!

There is a big investor sentiment on Motley Fool with the CAPS members voting that the stock will beat the market by a vote of 3,286 to 642 and the more experienced All Stars voting 857 to 178.

For technical coverage Barchart notes a price pull back lately but still has 10 of their 13 technical indicators signaling buy for a 72% technical buy signal. Even with the pull back the stock went up 13.92% in the last month and hit new highs in 8 of the last 20 trading sessions. It trades above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages at around 69.54 with a 50 day moving average of 63.61.

Here are the pros and cons:
Pros --

• High investor sentiment and more firms initiating coverage every week
• China will control internet access to over 1/2 of the world's population -- I empathize CONTROL
• Baidu is a Chinese hometown boy
• Wall Street predicts high double digit growth in sales and earnings
• Presently selling at 69 with Wall Street targets of 75 to 78
• 72% Barchart technical buy signal

Cons --

• 59 times PE ratio

For those of you that subscribe to the bigger fool theory even you can see there is a lot of interest in this stock and a lot more fools are jumping on board every day. Don't bet the farm on this stock but don't ignore it either. Buy a little bit and put a moving stop loss at the 100 day moving average and you should be alright.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who blogs on investing on Financial Tides and Barchart Portfolio Blogs. Please leave a comment below or email JimVanMeerten@gmail.com

Disclosure: No positions in BIDU at the time of publication

Search in a New Language - Chinese - Baidu - BIDU

Baidu (BIDU) is the leading Chinese language Internet search engine. It has been in my Jim Van Meerten/BarChart New High model portfolio on Marketocracy for some time. I add stocks to my New High Fund when I see stocks trading over 100K per day that continue to hit new highs.

BIDU's main competition in the Chinese market is SINA and SOHU. BIDU has 545M in revenue while SOHU has 485M and SINA 372M. Why do I like BIDU above the others?

As I've shared before, I use BarChart to find stocks having upward price momentum and good underlying fundamentals. BarChart's 13 technical indicators all have BIDU as a BUY for a 100% Buy rating. The stock continues to hit new highs and has hit 10 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions.

Recommendation: BIDU is trading around 375, a high price. Many think it may fall so use caution and put a stop loss around the 50 day moving average of around 330. This is not a stock to buy and hold but might be a good one for a closely monitored trading portfolio.

Give my your opinion at FinancialTides@gmail.com

Disclosure: I have no actual position is BIDU at time of publication