A couple of Dow stocks made the naughty and nice list this year.
Big Tech led the charge with Apple, Microsoft, and Salesforce topping the Dow as the very best entertainers in 2021; Chevron, Boeing, and Walgreens bottomed out the index as the worst performers.
Piper Sandler primary market specialist Craig Johnson and Simpler Trading director of options Danielle Shay inspected that list– not once but twice– and picked their favorites into the new year.
“Stick with the winners here,” Johnson informed “Trading Nation” on Wednesday. “Apple has certainly made Santa’s great list this year.”
Apple is by far the very best Dow performer of 2021. Shares have increased by 78%, nearly double the gains for Microsoft. The stock is roughly 5% from its record embedded in early September.
“When you take a look at the chart, you’re still in a really nice distinct uptrend. You can see that we’ve come back, effectively retested it, and we’re getting back to retesting those old highs,” Johnson said. “So, from my viewpoint, I’m going to stick to Apple. I think it’s a present that simply won’t be returned this year.”
Shay said in the very same interview he is backing Microsoft for more gains in 2022.
“Microsoft has shown constant earnings growth, and they have also shown a really constant face income the 2 to four weeks prior to that report. So for me personally, I like purchasing long hire the profits series to benefit from the rise in [suggested volatility], in addition to offering put credit spreads going into the profits report,” she said.
Microsoft is expected to report earnings in early February.
As for the worst performers, Shay does have much optimism in a turnaround.
“We might see a little bit of a rally from Boeing however not the other 2, sadly,” said Shay.
Boeing and Walgreens have fallen 32% in 2020 and Chevron 29%.