In this scan, we look to identify the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega cap status (over $200B).
Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.
But the scan doesn't just end there.
We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.
Some of the best performers in recent decades – stocks like Priceline, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, and myriad others – would have been on this list at some point during their journey to becoming the market behemoths they are today.
When you look at the stocks in our table, you'll notice we're only focused on Technology and Growth industry groups such as Software, Semiconductors, Online...
We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.
For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.
That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.
We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.
Nowadays, to make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.
And it doesn't have to be a Russell component — it can be any US-listed equity. With participation expanding around the globe, we want all those ADRs in our universe.
The same price and liquidity filters are applied. Then, as always, we sort by proximity to new...
News over the weekend seems to have spooked investors this morning, particularly in the tech sector. And the effects are spilling out all across the market.
Are investors being a little overly dramatic here?
The bet we're making is YES.
Today's trade is not in a tech stock, just a boring old bank that has been trending higher for over a year now.
Today's relatively short-term trade has an earnings catalyst, and I'm betting it will propel us to profits.
The stock has already had a stellar run over the past 52-weeks. Will the upcoming earnings mark the top? I doubt it.
Here's a one-year chart of a technology company that specializes in mobile app growth and monetization solutions -- Applovin Corp $APP:
As strong as this stock has been, it looks like it's setting up for another leg higher. And the upcoming February 12th earnings report just may be the catalyst the market needs to send this stock flying again.
Of course, earnings can be a wild card, so it'll be important to define my risks.
Here's the Play:
I like buying an $APP February 400/450 Bull Call Spread for an approximately $11.50 debit. This means that I'll be long the Feb 400 calls and short an equal amount of the 450 calls. This debit I pay today is the most I can lose in a worst-case scenario:
I'm going to hold this trade, no matter what, through the February 12 earnings event.
On February 13th, my stop becomes $400. If $APP is below $400 per share, I'll close the spread for...