As the market rally shows, stocks still want to move higher. If it weren’t for North Korea and domestic politics, then no one would even be worried about the “fear gauge”. Instead, we’d be talking about the fantastic earnings season we just had, or the improving jobs picture, or the Fed taking its sweet time in raising rates. If you can keep your head while all your fellow investors are losing theirs, then there is still plenty of money to be made.
Today’s article has three stocks that were beating the market when stocks were soaring, and should continue to do so regardless of which way the tides take us next.
Ultra Clean Holdings (UCTT – Free Report)
It’s always great when a stock beats the market (which is what this screen is all about), but it’s even better when it eclipses its own highly-ranked industry. The electronics – manufacturing machinery space is already outperforming the market with a gain of nearly 22% this year…and Ultra Clean Holdings (UCTT – Free Report) has left its own industry in the dust. The company, which develops systems for the semiconductor equipment and flat panel industries, has soared approximately 140% this year!
Late last month, UCTT announced its fifth straight positive surprise (and 12th out of the last 13) with second-quarter earnings of 62 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 24%. It now has a four-quarter average beat of 27.7%. Revenue skyrocketed by nearly 76% from last year to $228.3 million; the Zacks Consensus Estimate was only calling for $213 million.
Earnings estimates have taken off over the past month because UCTT offered a third-quarter guidance that was well ahead of expectations. The company expects earnings per share between 62 cents and 68 cents for the quarter, while we were only expecting around 39 cents at the time. The revenue guidance of $235 million to $245 million was also well in front of Zacks expectations at $193 million.
