Here's Our New Best Stocks to Buy List

Our latest list of best stocks to buy now gives you five companies with rock-solid balance sheets and that are riding strong trends that can't be disrupted by Wall Street jitters.

Best stocks to buy now

We love these stocks, because any market downturn - like the 10% drop we just saw - will be just a small blip in these stocks' overall performance. Here's a quick look.

  • One biotech company, available at a discount, has three catalysts to propel it past previous highs and produce returns for years to come.
  • Solar energy is here to stay, and one manufacturer stands to gain as 2018 brings more solar installations than ever before.
  • An electronic payments firm that has already provided big returns for our readers has become a top provider for the U.S. trucking industry
  • We've got a "pick-and-shovel" play on the e-commerce company whose earnings are growing 25% per year.
  • Finally, there are some stocks that, whether they're up or down, are built to head much, much higher - so you can buy them at almost any time and still profit.

Now, for our five latest best stocks to buy now...

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 1: Wall Street Panic Has Turned This Fast-Growing Biotech into a Fantastic Bargain

Biotech stocks got hit with a correction several months in advance of February's market drop. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund ETF (Nasdaq: IBB) dropped 10.5% from Oct. 5 to Nov. 11.

That dip came in the wake of an unsuccessful attempt by Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare. Uncertainty led investors to jump ship on stocks with bright long-term prospects.

That panic died down, pushing IBB up past its 2017 high in January. Now, the volatility in the stock market in general has pushed down biotech stocks again. That has made one strong stock a bargain buy.

Celgene Corp. (Nasdaq: CELG) is more than 35% off its 52-week high of $147.17. Don't be fooled by the fear in the air; its fundamentals are solid.

Earnings per share (EPS) were up 24.2% in the most recent quarter from a year earlier. EPS for all of FY2017 grew more than 25%.

There are three signs of strength we want to see from a biotech company, and Celgene has all of them.

  1. A solid portfolio: Celgene's Revlimid is a top treatment for multiple myeloma, bringing in $8 billion in sales in 2017, making it the No. 2 best-selling drug in the world. On top of that, a new usage for the company's next-biggest earner, Pomalyst, could pave the way for even higher sales after the company announced positive results from a phase 3 trial on Feb. 6.
  2. Long-term patents: The company's top sellers are protected well into the 2020s, ensuring continued strong sales for years to come.
  3. A strong pipeline: Lost on the investors who bailed on Celgene is its robust pipeline. That includes Ozanimod, a treatment for relapsed multiple sclerosis that the FDA will likely approve later this year. Celgene has also established more than a dozen partnerships to bring new blockbuster drugs to market.

Celgene has missed some targets on sales and forward guidance recently. But thanks to Wall Street's overreaction to both that news and the failure in Washington, the company's forward price-to-earnings ratio is now an impressively lean 10.7, compared to 19.0 for the S&P 500.

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That puts it at a steep discount.

Celgene is "poised to show lots of long-term growth," says Money Morning Director of Technology & Venture Capital Research Michael Robinson, "and that will generate big share-price gains for years to come."

Celgene shares trade around $94 today.

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 2: This Solar Manufacturer Is Your Best Play on the Clean Energy Revolution

"Whether you like it or not, solar is here to stay."

That's according to Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors. A quick look at the numbers around the world shows he's right.

  • 25% of new electric-generating capacity in the United States came from solar in the first three quarters of 2017. That's second only to natural gas.
  • Both France and Germany totaled more than one gigawatt of new solar capacity installed in 2017. France's total is now up to 7.7 GW and should reach 18 to 20GW by 2023.
  • Spain auctioned off nearly four gigawatts in solar projects to domestic firms last summer, and the country's solar market is projected to expand 3,400% in 2018.
  • According to GTM Research, Europe's total solar demand will grow 35% in 2018.

Growth in Europe and the United States might be expected. But even Saudi Arabia is getting into the solar game in a big way.[mmpazkzone name="in-story" network="9794" site="307044" id="137008" type="4"]

It might be a surprise until you consider that one of the country's most abundant resources, other than oil, is sunlight.

Saudi Aramco, the national oil company and the most valuable enterprise in the world, is making a big push into renewable energy. The New York Times reported this month that the oil giant will invest $7 billion this year into renewable projects, with a particular emphasis on solar.

This growing trend is great news for our favorite solar manufacturer, JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS). Jinko is the world's top producer of photovoltaic cells by shipment volume, setting new records every year.

"Whether you like it or not, solar is here to stay."

The company broke the two-gigawatt mark in shipments in the first quarter of 2017. In the most recent quarter, JKS shipped nearly 2.4 GW of solar capacity, up 47.8% from a year earlier. Sales are currently on pace to finish FY2017 up 15%.

The energy revolution currently underway won't be fundamentally altered by uncertainty in the stock market. So any dip in JinkoSolar's share price is best understood as a discount as solar continues to grow.

"Solar is about to have its biggest year yet," Kent says. Investors who own shares in JKS "are looking at a very profitable 12 months ahead."

JKS trades at about $19 today.

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 3: This Pick Has Been a Winner Since 2014 and Now Brings Smart Technology to the Trucking Industry

Michael Robinson has told us on numerous occasions that the road to wealth is paved with tech. Now he adds another important insight...

Every business is a tech business - even trucking.

Our next best stock to buy isn't a trucking company, exactly. But it has become one of the leading providers of fleet and fuel management not just for trucks, but for any kind of vehicles used in business and government agencies.

Those drivers spend millions of dollars on gas every day. Thanks to FleetCor Technologies Inc. (NYSE: FLT), all those transactions are monitored efficiently, and the drivers can leave their wallets in the cab.

Whether it's filling up the tank or getting brakes fixed, FleetCor offers a virtual card service that will take care of the payments automatically.

That service is the result of the 2014 acquisition of Comdata for $3.45 billion, which brought in 20,000 new customers for FleetCor. Since then, the company has landed big contracts with Uber Technologies Inc. and BP Plc. (NYSE: BP). And it made a key acquisition in 2017 to enable business-to-business cross-border payments.

Michael first recommended FleetCor to readers in 2014, commenting that it was "making all the right moves" even before these strong deals.

The stock has risen 78% since then, compared to 48% for the S&P 500. It trades at $200 today.

There's still plenty of reason to like it for the long haul. With earnings projected to rise 21% this year, FleetCor combines rock-solid fundamentals with a dependable growth trend - exactly what a company needs to weather any market conditions.

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 4: Your Best "Pick-and-Shovel" Play on the E-Commerce Explosion

The "pick-and-shovel" play is based on a simple premise: While most people are chasing shiny objects, you can get rich from simple products, like digging tools, blue jeans, or... cardboard boxes.

Pick-and-shovel plays don't always seem like much fun. But if you like watching your portfolio grow steadily for years, you'll probably agree with Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald that "cardboard boxes have never been so exciting. "

The huge growth in e-commerce for industry leaders like Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) would not be possible without the makers of the cardboard boxes that so many consumer products are shipped in.

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"In 2000, the average cardboard box maker produced something on the order of 3.1 billion-square-feet worth of boxes," says Keith. "Today, that figure stands at 4.2 billion square feet, or more than enough to cover the entire city of Detroit."

According to market research firm Freedonia, e-commerce accounts for two-thirds of all cardboard box purchases today. The continued growth of online shopping, in other words, is also going to be great for the companies that make those cardboard boxes. Keith has picked one of the best.

Packaging Corp. of America (NYSE: PKG), based in Illinois, is one of the largest producers of containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States. And it's been growing at a fast clip.

Between 1997 and 2016, PKG's corrugated products line has grown 68%, much faster than the industry average. Earnings grew 23% last year and are projected to grow another 25% in 2018. PKG has also met or exceeded earnings expectations in each of the last four quarters.

PKG trades for around $120 today.

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 5: Some Stocks, Like This Tech Giant, Are Always a Good Buy

The downturn in early February didn't spare the top tech stocks. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) fell 13.4% from its January high. Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL) fell 15.2%. Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) fell nearly 8%.

But if this was indeed a "correction," it was short-lived. All those stocks have recovered and are once again approaching their all-time highs.

So yes, the drop was indeed a buying opportunity. But so is right now, after they've recovered. And if they surpass their all-time highs, it will still be a buying opportunity.

As Keith Fitz-Gerald has pointed out, it's essentially irrelevant when you get into the market. The important thing is not when you get in, but that you get in.

Some stocks, even if they seem expensive, are priced for growth...

That means Amazon.

That means Alphabet.

That means Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT).

That means Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).

That also means Apple, which is now about $5 off its high of $179.26. Back in 2013, Michael Robinson turned heads when he predicted AAPL would hit $142.85 (after stock splits).

"It's essentially irrelevant when you get into the market."

Michael was proven right, and now he has a new share-price prediction: $250.

That's in part because the company has $250 million in cash overseas. Thanks to the new tax cuts, Apple will be able to keep $210 billion of that after bringing it to the United States.

Tim Cook's team brings in $90 billion annually in adjusted earnings, and it is already putting a lot of that cash toward R&D and its advanced manufacturing fund to keep the company at the head of the pack.

Much of that cash from overseas will likely go toward buybacks and dividends that will mean big rewards for shareholders.

The bottom line is that Apple, like the rest of the "Fab Five," is a company that is committed to growth and has all the tools to keep it up for a long time.

Say you made the mistake of buying Apple just before the financial crisis of 2008. You would have immediately watched your investment crater by 50%.

But if you held on, you'd be up by about 600% by now.

So if it the market hits a rough patch and it goes on sale, Apple is a great stock to grab shares of at a discount.

If you miss the sale, and you have to pay a higher price, you should be fine then, too.

In other words, Apple is one of our best stocks to buy now. It's also one of our best stocks to buy...

Whenever.

The "Buy" Signal Is Flashing on This Crypto Trade

Tom Gentile, America's No.1 Pattern Trader, uses stringent criteria to vet his trade recommendations - showing readers 81 triple-digit winning moves in 2017 alone.

Now he's seeing the "Buy" signal on a cryptocurrency trade he thinks could turn a small stake into more than $40,000, based on his analysis.

In a special video presentation, Tom walks you through the process for placing this crypto trade. You'll get the name of the coin, watch Tom make the trade, and get all the key details - at no cost, and in under three minutes.

He's expecting this little-known coin's price to surge very soon - and everyone holding it beforehand could see massive profits. Everyone else... they may have to miss out.

Click here now to see Tom's presentation and get his crypto recommendation for free...

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About the Author

Stephen Mack has been writing about economics and finance since 2011. He contributed material for the best-selling books Aftershock and The Aftershock Investor. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

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