In this article we will take a look at 10 Best Stocks to Buy in 2021 According to Louis Navellier.
Louis Navellier is the founder of Nevada-based investment firm called Navellier & Associates, which has $2.5 billion worth of assets under its management. Navellier’s firm makes the bulk of its profits through growth investing. Navellier has been investing for the last 35 years. His stock-picking prowess has earned him a solid reputation in Wall Street. He established his Growth Investor advisory service in 1998 and has outperformed the S&P 500 by a 3-to-1 margin in the last 17 years.
The New York Times described Mr. Navellier as an icon among growth investors, and he is frequently sought after by media houses seeking his expert analysis. His investment strategy heavily focuses on numbers through quantitative analysis. Navellier’s system has allowed him to invest in the top stocks from 2012 to 2019.
Navellier’s portfolio is diversified and consists of small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap stocks. The fund’s portfolio value increased to $556.11 million in Q1 2021, from $552.30 million Q4 2020.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a good example of a growth stock on Navellier’s portfolio. Apple will start using in-house developed 5G modems in its iPhone lineup as soon as 2023. Apple’s in-house 5G modems and processors will make it possible for a superior integration that can tap into higher performance levels in future iPhones while reducing the cost of those components. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) plans to start manufacturing its own 5G modems to accompany its in-house M1 processors. The company recently gave $45 million worth of funding to Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) as part of efforts to facilitate R&D and capacity building.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is increasingly leaning towards making more parts for its products rather than sourcing from outside. The M1 chipset is the first example, indicating the beginning of the end of its partnership with Intel. The tech giant recently launched its new iPad Pro and iMac, powered by the M1 chip. It will source the 5nm M2 chipsets from TSMC.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is another high-ranking growth stock in Navellier’s Q1 portfolio. The company’s stock soared amid the pandemic as online demand increased. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s approach to commerce is a winning formula, especially with internet penetration at an all-time high. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) expects to continue tapping into growth opportunities by expanding its services across more regions in the world. Amazon performed exceptionally in 2020 and was one of Navellier’s favorite growth stocks. The huge e-commerce spike in 2020 delivered strong gains for the company. The e-commerce giant recently disclosed its plan to hire roughly 75,000 people who will work at its fulfillment centers in Canada and the U.S.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s 2020 Brand Protection Report revealed that the company blocked roughly 10 billion suspected fake items listing. The company hired roughly 10,000 employees in its anti-fraud and abuse department and invested more than $700 million in 2020 to block counterfeit content. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) will collaborate with Ferragamo and Valentino brands, among others, to sue counterfeiters.
Navellier reduced his stake Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) by 5% in Q1 to 22,387 shares. The company is expanding its data center capacity across Asia, indicating a huge demand for its services. It expects the expansion to contribute $21 billion in new revenue and facilitate the creation of 100,000 jobs in the next five years.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) recently signed a partnership with Darktrace to offer self-learning AI designed to improve cybersecurity.
Another notable stock in Navellier’s portfolio is NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA). The investor owns a $16 million stake in the company. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is up 66% over the last 12 months. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is rallying after the company announced a four-for-one stock split. The company’s board is also set to approve a dividend at a shareholder meeting on June 3 , which will vote on increasing the number of authorized shares of common stock to 4 billion shares.
Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates
Navellier is an exception in an industry reeling from losses. The entire hedge fund industry is feeling the reverberations of the changing financial landscape. Its reputation has been tarnished in the last decade, during which its hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. On the other hand, Insider Monkey’s research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 124 percentage points since March 2017. Between March 2017 and February 26th 2021 our monthly newsletter’s stock picks returned 197.2%, vs. 72.4% for the SPY. Our stock picks outperformed the market by more than 124 percentage points (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that significantly underperformed the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 13% through November 16th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free newsletter on our homepage to receive our stories in your inbox.
Here is a list of Louis Navellier’s stock picks in 2021. We used Navellier’s 13F portfolio for Q1’2021 for this analysis.
Best Stocks to Buy in 2021 According to Louis Navellier
10. Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $ $7,851,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 1.41%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 23
Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) manufactures, develops, and sells life science reagents, instruments, and services for the research and clinical diagnostic markets. 908 Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: MASS) and Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) has collaborated to develop an extended workflow solution for protein characterization. The stock ranks 10th in the list of best stocks to buy in 2021 according to Louis Navellier.
Earlier this month, Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share. The company reported a revenue of $243.6 million for Q3, up 22%; EPS was up to $1.12 compared to $0.92 a year ago.
Like NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), TECH is one of the best stocks to buy in 2021 based on Louis Navellier’s Q1 portfolio.
In March, Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) was upgraded at Stephens to “Overweight” from “Equal Weight” with a price target of $425. In February, Stifel also upgraded the stock to “Buy” from “Hold” with a price target of $475.
Baron Growth Fund, in its Q1 2021 investor letter, mentioned Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH). Here is what Baron Growth Fund has to say in its letter:
“While the market was focused on cyclical stocks during the quarter, we remain excited about the sustainable growth prospects of our secular-growth oriented portfolio over our five-year investment horizon. We believe that end market conditions are improving for almost all our investments, most notably for those that did not benefit from a COVID-driven tailwind last year. Bio-Techne Corporation will benefit from the reopening of research laboratories, which should reaccelerate demand for its portfolio of proteins and antigens.”
9. Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $2,282,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 0.41%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 30
Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), a consumer packaged goods food company, declared a dividend of $0.275 per share in April. Q3 net sales increased 8.5%; EPS for the same period grew 38.1% to $0.58. Q4 net sales growth is expected to be in the range of 10% to 12%, while EPS is expected to be between $0.49 and $0.55. The stock ranks 9th in the list of best stocks to buy in 2021 according to Louis Navellier. Like NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), CAG is one of the best stocks to buy in 2021 based on Louis Navellier’s Q1 portfolio.
In April the stock was rated as “Neutral” at Citi, where the price target was set at $42. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies owns 272,300 shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG).
8. Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $2,855,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 0.51%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 45
Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) reported Q1 revenue of $138.1 million up 51.3% YoY. For Q2 the company expects revenue to be between $143.5 and $146.5 million. For FY 2021 the revenue is expected to be at $612-$616 million. The stock ranks 8th in the list of best stocks to buy in 2021 according to Louis Navellier. Like NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), NET is one of the best stocks to buy in 2021 based on Louis Navellier’s Q1 portfolio.
In March, Truist upgraded the stock to “Buy” from “Hold” and also raised the price target to $110 from $75. Mizuho Securities also rated the stock as “Neutral” and has a price target of $77. ARK Investment Management owns 942,466 shares of Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET).
In its Q4 2020 investor letter, Alger Mid Cap Focus Fund highlighted a few stocks and Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE:NET) is one of them. Here is what Alger Mid Cap Focus Fund said:
“Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) provides a broad range of network services to businesses of all sizes across the world. Cloudflare’s intelligent global network spans more than 200 cities in over 100 countries. It offers network security, performance and reliability to a growing portion of global web traffic. Today. over 15% of global internet requests go through Cloudflare. Cloudflare’s serverless network design allows this global network to be a key component layer as new developments for edge cornputing. 5G and Internet of Things increase the importance of secure. reliable edge networks. Cloudflare stock outperformed in the fourth quarter following the announcement of Cloudflare One, a cloud-bas. network-as-a-service platform designed to replace the traditional enterprise network infrastructure. The Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) One solution merges existing Cloudflare access and security solutions along with new enterprise-specific features into a unified Zero Trust network that can be managed through a single “pane of glass.” or display screen. With the rapid shift to remote work caused by the pandemic, this product increases Cloudflare’s potential for winning business from enterprise customers seeking to adapt to this new business environment.
While Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) One adoption is still early. Cloudflare has already started to demonstrate an improved ability to sell to large customers. When discussing its third quarter results. Cloudflare said that it is continuing to sign up larger enterprise customers. including its first client to generate more than $10 million in annual recurring revenue. Cloudflare has just started to better monetize its more than 100.000 paying customer base. which along with continued product innovation, gives the company strong growth potential.”
7. Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $503,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 0.09%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME) provides music streaming, online karaoke, and live streaming services in China. The stock was rated as “Buy” at Citi. In March, Tencent approved a share buyback program of $1 billion. The stock ranks 7th in the list of best stocks to buy in 2021 according to Louis Navellier.
In April, Deutsche Bank initiated a coverage on the stock and rated it as “Buy” setting the price target at $25. Hedge fund Crake Asset Management managed by Martin Taylor owns 4.78 million shares of Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME).
Harding Loevner, in its Q4 2020 investor letter, mentioned Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME). Here is what the fund said:
“In China, where Tencent dominate the previously largely freewheeling consumer economy, the situation is more treacherous, if only because of the opaque and unconstrained nature of China’s regulatory authority. By encroaching onto the turf of the state-supported Chinese banking system via their payments platforms, Tencent was ‘poking the dragon’ of politically powerful, entrenched vested interests, and potentially getting their business models signed in the process.”
6. Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE: PINS)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $5,752,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 1.03%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 83
Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE: PINS) recently revealed a plan to test live events on its visual discovery platform. The feature will allow top creators on the platform to air live streams as part of a promotion that will run for multiple days. The event will take place on the Pinterest app on May 24 and 25. The stock ranks 6th in the list of best stocks to buy in 2021 according to Louis Navellier. Like NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), PINS is one of the best stocks to buy in 2021 based on Louis Navellier’s Q1 portfolio.
Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE: PINS) earned $485 million in revenue in Q1 2021, outperforming the consensus estimate by $9.89 million and was 78.3% higher than the revenue figure reported in Q1 2020. The company’s non-GAAP EPS for the same quarterly period was $0.11, outperforming the consensus estimate by $0.04. Its GAAP EPS was -$0.03, which was higher than the consensus estimate by $0.04. Last week, Arete’s analyst Rocco Strauss initiated a coverage on the stock, rating it as “Buy” with a price target of $83.
Carillon Tower Advisers, in its Q1 2021 investor letter, mentioned Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE: PINS). Here is what Carillon Tower Advisers has to say in its letter:
“Pinterest is an operator of a pinboard-style social media website that enables users to create theme-based image collections for events, hobbies, and other personal interests. The firm delivered another quarter of both earnings and forward guidance above investor expectations, sending shares higher. Strength was driven by notable user growth and a return of advertising spending. We remain excited about an increase in video content, new analytics tools for advertisers, and an increasing shift towards ecommerce.”
5. Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $2,493,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 0.44%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) deals with the manufacturing of natural gas and diesel engines, as well as hybrid and electric powertrains.
The company reported a $603 million net income in Q1 2021, equivalent to $4.07 per diluted share. It performed better than the Q1 2020 net income of $511 million, or $3.41 per diluted share. Cummins declared a healthy quarterly dividend of $1.35 per share. FY 2021 revenue guidance has been raised to 20-24% compared to estimates of 12.26%
Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) is optimistic that the ongoing COVID19 vaccinations will help restore economic activity, including the demand for its products. Its EBITDA forecast for 2021 is between 15.5% to 16.0%.
In April, the stock was upgraded at Jefferies to “Buy” from “Hold” with a price target of $325.
4. Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $284,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 0.05%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 53
Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a healthcare company that offers services and programs to uninsured and underinsured people in the U.S. The company is currently acquiring Magellan Health and is expected to finalize the process within the second half of 2020. Centene agreed to acquire Magellan Health for $2.2 billion earlier this year.
Centene generated $29.98 billion revenue in Q1 2021, outpacing the consensus estimate by $470 million.
In its Q3 2020 investor letter, FPA Capital Fund highlighted a few stocks and Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) is one of them. Here is what FPA Capital Fund said:
“CNC was the Fund’s 2 nd worst performer for the quarter. The company is a managed care organization (discussed in more detail in prior commentaries). The stock declined on election uncertainty and on the increased likelihood that the Supreme Court might strike down the Affordable Care Act due to the death of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg. CNC does have the headline risk, but the stock is trading at 10x 2021 price to earnings multiple versus its long term historical average of 16x. 6 Its COVID-19 costs appear to be in line with expectations and the worst long term effect from a repeal of the Affordable Care Act is estimated to be a 10% hit to earnings. 7 We believe that any likely political scenarios would not cause a major longterm disruption to the company while its valuation appears to price in a much more dire scenario.”
3. Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $2,870,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 0.51%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM) is a mining company that explores gold, as well as other metals such as lead, zinc, silver, and copper.
The company earned $2.87 billion in revenue in Q1, which was 11.2% higher YoY, and outperformed the consensus estimate by $290 million. The stock was rated as “Overweight” at JPMorgan in February, while Bernstein rated it as “Outperform” setting the price target of $72 in January.
2. Nio Inc. (NYSE: NIO)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $2,539,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 0.45%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 28
Nio Inc. (NYSE: NIO) is a Chinese EV manufacturer currently planning to enter the U.S market. The company already has a robust lineup of electric vehicles, including ES8, ES6, and EC6. It also has the most compelling approach to charging, which involves setting up battery swap stations where NIO EV owners can have their batteries swapped in the same amount of time it would fuel an ICE vehicle. The company has already rolled out the subscription-based battery swap project in China.
The company reported that it sold 7,102 vehicles in April 2021, a 125% gain compared to its vehicle deliveries in April in the previous year. The Chinese EV manufacturer reported $1.22 billion in revenue in Q1, 481.8% higher YoY and more than the consensus estimate by $160 million.
Nio Inc. (NYSE: NIO) current Q2 2021 revenue forecast is between $1.24 billion and $1.29 billion. The company is currently receiving subsidies for its battery swapping approach. The company plans to set up battery swapping stations in Norway and other parts of Europe.
In April, CLSA’s Soobin Park initiated a coverage on Nio and rated the stock as “Buy,” setting the price target at $50.
1. Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO)
Navellier’s Stake Value: $1,187,000
Percentage of Louis Navellier’s 13F Portfolio: 0.21%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 27
Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) is a mining company that deals with copper mining, smelting, and refining. It has operations in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, and Mexico. Copper prices have been on the rise thanks to the ongoing economic recovery. This is helping Southern Copper.
The company reported its Q1 2021 earnings per share at $0.99, outperforming the $0.91 consensus estimate. Its adjusted EBITDA for the same quarterly period was $1.55 billion, twice the figure it reported in Q1 2020. Copper production dropped to 239.1K metric tons representing a 1.5% drop YoY in Q1.
In February, Citi’s Alexander Hacking upgraded the stock of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) to “Neutral” from “Sell” and has set a price target of $70.
You can also take a peek at Billionaire Andreas Halvorsen’s Top Stock Picks and Billionaire Lee Ainslie’s Top 10 Stock Picks.
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Disclosure: None. 10 Best Stocks to Buy in 2021 According to Louis Navellier is originally published on Insider Monkey.
