Top Stocks for December 2021

The Russell 1000 Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. It represents approximately 92% of the total market capitalization of all listed stocks in the U.S. equity market. For this reason, it is considered a bellwether for large-cap investing. Some of the largest companies in the index include Apple Inc. (AAPL), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and The Walt Disney Co. (DIS). The Russell 1000 provided a total return of 30.4% over the past 12 months. This market performance number and all data below are as of Nov. 24, 2021.

Here are the top five stocks across all sectors with the best value, the fastest growth, and the most momentum.

Value investing is a factor-based investing strategy that involves picking stocks that you believe are trading for less than what they are intrinsically worth, usually by measuring the ratio of the stock’s price to one or more fundamental business metrics. A widely accepted value metric is the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Value investors believe that if a business is cheap compared to its intrinsic value, (as measured by its P/E ratio, in this case) the stock price may rise faster than that of others as the price comes back in line with the worth of the company. These are among the stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing P/E ratio:

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• UWM Holdings Corp.: UWM Holdings operates as a wholesale mortgage lender. The company originates, sells, and services residential mortgage loans across the U.S., including government loans. UWM employs 8,600 people. The company announced in early November financial results for Q3 of its 2021 fiscal year (FY), the three-month period ended Sept. 30, 2021. Net income sank 77.3% as revenue fell 62.4% compared to the year-ago quarter.
• United States Steel Corp.: United States Steel is a steel producer with operations in the U.S. and Central Europe. The company makes high value-added steel products, including its proprietary XG3 advanced high-strength steel. It serves the automotive, construction, appliance, energy, containers, and packaging industries. U.S. Steel has an annual raw steelmaking capability of 26.2 million net tons. The company announced in late October that it will begin a new share repurchase program under which it will buy up to $300 million of its outstanding common stock. U.S. Steel also announced that it was increasing its quarterly dividend to $0.05, an increase of 400% from the previous quarter. The dividend is payable on Dec. 9, 2021 to stockholders of record as of Nov. 8, 2021.
• Qurate Retail Inc.: Qurate Retail is an e-commerce services company that reaches 218 million homes and operates through seven retail brands: QVC, HSN, Zulily, Frontgate, Ballard Designs, Garnet Hill, and Grandin Road. It partners with television networks, e-commerce sites, streaming services, social pages, mobile apps, and print catalogs to provide video and digital commerce services. 
• Sage Therapeutics Inc.: Sage Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that develops novel therapies for people with debilitating brain disorders. The company targets diseases and disorders of the brain within key areas such as depression, neurology, and neuropsychiatry. It markets ZULRESSO, a drug for treating postpartum depression, and has a number of drugs in its development pipeline.
• Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.: Bio-Rad Laboratories develops and manufactures a wide array of products for the life science research and clinical diagnostic markets. Its customers include university and research institutions, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and applied laboratories. The company operates globally and employs roughly 7,800 people worldwide.

These are the top stocks as ranked by a growth model that scores companies based on a 50/50 weighting of their most recent quarterly YOY percentage revenue growth and their most recent quarterly YOY earnings per share (EPS) growth. Both sales and earnings are critical factors in the success of a company. Therefore ranking companies by only one growth metric makes a ranking susceptible to the accounting anomalies of that quarter (such as changes in tax law or restructuring costs) that may make one or the other figure unrepresentative of the business in general. Companies with quarterly EPS or revenue growth of over 2,500% were excluded as outliers.

^{Source: YCharts; Petco Health and Wellness Co. Inc.}

• Upstart Holdings Inc.: Upstart Holdings is an artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform focused on improving access to affordable credit while reducing the risks and costs faced by its bank partners. Its platform uses machine learning to identify risk and approve more applicants than traditional lending models. The company originated $16.7 billion in loans as of Sept. 30, 2021.
• LyondellBasell Industries NV: LyondellBasell Industries is a Netherlands-based multinational plastics, chemicals, and refining company. The company produces a range of chemicals, polymers, and fuels. It is also the largest licensor of polyolefin technologies and the largest producer of polypropylene compounds. LyondellBasell’s products are sold in more than 100 countries. The company announced in late October financial results for Q3 FY 2021 ended Sept. 30, 2021. Net income rose more than 15 times as revenue grew 87.4% YOY. LyondellBasell said its strong results reflected robust demand for its products and tight market conditions.
• Petco Health and Wellness Co. Inc.: Petco Health and Wellness is a fully-integrated health and wellness company for pets. The company operates retail pet stores as well as an e-commerce platform through which it offers various pet-care products and services. It has more than 1,500 retail locations throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Puerto Rico, including a network of over 100 in-store veterinary hospitals.
• Nucor Corp.: Nucor is a manufacturer of steel and steel products with operating facilities throughout North America. The company makes a broad range of carbon and alloy steel products, including bars, beams, sheet, electrical conduits, precision castings, steel fasteners, insulated metal panels, steel grating, and more. It also sells both ferrous and non-ferrous metals as well as other products through its subsidiary The David J. Joseph Co. Nucor announced in October financial results for Q3 FY 2021 ended Oct. 2, 2021. Net earnings attributable to stockholders rose elevenfold as revenue grew 109.3% compared to the year-ago quarter.
• Steel Dynamics Inc.: Steel Dynamics is a steel producer and metals recycler with operation facilities throughout the U.S. and Mexico. The company produces hot roll, cold roll, and coated sheet steel, as well as structural steel beams and shapes, cold finished steel, merchant bar products, steel joists, and other products. It also produces liquid pig iron and processes ferrous and non-ferrous scrap. Steel Dynamics has steelmaking and coating capacity of roughly 13 million tons as of Dec. 31, 2020.

Momentum investing is a factor-based investing strategy that involves investing in a stock whose price has risen faster than the market as a whole. Momentum investors believe that stocks that have outperformed the market will often continue to do so because the factors that caused them to outperform will not suddenly disappear. In addition, other investors, seeking to benefit from the stock’s outperformance, will often purchase the stock, further bidding its price higher and pushing the stock higher still. These are the stocks that had the highest total return over the past 12 months.

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• GameStop Corp.: GameStop is a specialty retailer that offers games and entertainment products through its e-commerce properties and stores. It operates a chain of 4,816 stores in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe. It sells video game hardware, software, gaming accessories, and other entertainment products. The company primarily operates under the names GameStop, EB Games, and Micromania. GameStop’s stock has soared this year amid the “meme” stock frenzy. On Oct. 29, Reuters reported that Chief Operating Officer Jenna Owens was leaving GameStop after just seven months with the company. GameStop did not offer any reasons for the departure but said that it had reached a separation agreement with Owens. The departure of Owens was effective immediately and her duties were to be carried out by other senior managers at the company, said Reuters.
• Devon Energy Corp.: Devon Energy is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. It owns a portfolio of assets located in the U.S. and is primarily engaged in the exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and NGLs. The company employed 1,400 people across the U.S. as of Dec. 31, 2020. Devon Energy announced in early November that it was increasing its dividend to $0.84 per share, representing a 71% increase from the previous quarter. The company’s board also authorized a $1.0 billion share repurchase program through to the end of 2022.
• Signature Bank: Signature Bank is a full-service commercial bank focused on serving the financial needs of privately-owned businesses, whose needs are often underserved by larger financial institutions. It offers a wide range of business and personal banking products and services, investment brokerage, wealth management, and insurance products and services. Signature Bank operates 36 private client offices in New York, Connecticut, California, and North Carolina.
• Continental Resources Inc.: Continental Resources is an oil and natural gas exploration and production company. It is the largest leaseholder and among the largest producers in the Bakken oil field region of North Dakota and Montana. The company employed 1,201 people throughout the U.S., as of Dec. 31, 2020.
• Fortinet Inc.: Fortinet is a cybersecurity company serving enterprises, service providers, and government organizations worldwide. Its Security Fabric platform leverages AI and machine learning technology to provide clients with security solutions for networked, application, cloud, and mobile environments. The company serves more than 500,000 customers around the world.

The comments, opinions, and analyses expressed herein are for informational purposes only and should not be considered individual investment advice or recommendations to invest in any security or to adopt any investment strategy. Though we believe the information provided herein is reliable, we do not warrant its accuracy or completeness. The views and strategies described in our content may not be suitable for all investors. Because market and economic conditions are subject to rapid change, all comments, opinions, and analyses contained within our content are rendered as of the date of the posting and may change without notice. The material is not intended as a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any country, region, market, industry, investment, or strategy.

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