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4 Election-Proof Stocks: Biotech And Software Take The Lead

ACAD, TWLO | November 8, 2016

Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies, was a guest in Benzinga’s PreMarket Prep show in early 2016 and predicted an S&P 500 index around 2,350 to 2,450 when most traders were calling for an S&P 500 around 1,450 to 1,600.

“I stand by the call [...] I think we got a tremendous opportunity last week [even in spite of Monday’s rally],” he said on Tuesday morning, at his return to the show.

Taking into account this bullish stance, the investor shared four stocks that may be election-proof.

Biotech

Udall started with ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAD), which is trading up more than 17.8 percent on Tuesday afternoon following its Q3 report and a Bank of America upgrade.

The thing about this company, the expert explained, is that their only approved drug, currently OK'ed for a limited use, is going to go up for Alzheimer’s. “And there’s no real good treatments for Alzheimer’s right now. So, if they get approval for Alzheimer’s [...] I literally have no idea of how much upside you have.”

Another company worth noticing in the biotech space is Cempra Inc (NASDAQ: CEMP), Udall went on. The stock has lost more than 75 percent of its value over the past couple of weeks, driven by a revenue miss, concerns around solithromycin supply and negative FDA comments.

“This is a great case; you never want to buy a good chart in biotech,” he argued, adding that he believes the company’s drug will get FDA approval, helping the stock rebound to the mid- to high-teens.

Software

The investor then went into software companies. “You can almost take any beaten up software company [and get success],” he explained. There’s an opportunity of this kind in stocks like Twilio Inc (NYSE: TWLO) and Benefitfocus Inc (NASDAQ: BNFT), he said.

“I don’t see that Benefitfocus missed the quarter, and their stock has [nonetheless] gone from $48 to $28,” he pointed out. This is a company that’s “new enough so that you can’t call them ‘old school,’ they still got pretty good growth. But they are also not a brand new IPO being victimized by the fear of an IPO lockup expiry or something. So this just shows you the magnitude [...] You could basically look at 30 software names, and probably 25 of them are good buys right now. The five you don’t want to buy are the five that have yet to fall,” he concluded.

Listen to the full discussion at 58:50 in the clip below.

PreMarket Prep is a daily trading ideas show that focuses on technical analysis and actionable short term trades. You can listen to the show live every morning from 8–9 a.m. ET here, or catch the podcast here.