4 Stocks Hitting New Highs While Market Sells Off

The nice thing about big stock market sell-offs is that afterwards, by checking the “new highs” list, you can see which stocks are showing strength. A stock heading higher on the day that most stocks are tanking might be worth looking at. Why is this one going up when most everything else is tanking?

With that in mind, here’s a look at a group of equities that refused to go along with the unloading early this week.

Pilgrim’s Pride PPC is in the global packaged goods business and most of that involves well-known brands of chicken. There’s the namesake, Pilgrim’s Pride, as well as Country Pride, Del Dia, Pierce Chicken, O’kane in Northern Ireland and ToRico’s in Puerto Rico.

Brazilian firm JBS, which already owns a piece of the Greeley, Colorado-based company, has proposed a buy-out at $26.50 for those shares it does not yet own.

Pilgrim’s Pride traded today at $28.64, more than 2 dollars above the proposed takeover price. It had already gapped higher than $26.50 on the JBS news in mid-August. Could it be that investors believe a higher buy-out figure might be in store, eventually?

Warner Music Group sold off with the rest of the market Monday but blasted higher today on a gap up to $45 on heavier than usual volume. A Credit Suisse analyst issued a positive new report on the company suggesting a target price of $48 as a result of increased demand for streaming services offered.

After the close, the NASDAQ-traded stock dropped back to $44.30 on news that billionaire Leon Blavatnik’s Access Industries would be selling a 2,340,000 chunk of the stock. Warner Music has a price-earnings ratio of 85, pays a 1.33% dividend yield and has average daily of volume of a relatively low 600,000 shares.

Molina Healthcare MOH stayed away from massive Monday selling and managed an all-time closing high today.

According to the company’s website, Molina provides health care services under Medicare and Medicaid programs and through state insurance marketplaces. The company serves 4.6 million members.

Earnings per share growth is -2.60% this year but the 5-year EPS growth rate is 34.40%. For a New York Stock Exchange-traded stock, it’s lightly traded with average daily volume of just 299,000 shares.

Temper Sealy International hit a new all-time high today of $48.34 after closing slightly higher Monday even with all of the selling going on around them. The Lexington, Kentucky-based company manufactures mattresses and other types of bedding equipment.

Earnings per share grew this year at 90.70%. The 5-year growth rate comes in at 44.90%. Tempur Sealy’s price-earnings ratio is 18.9. They’re paying a tiny .58% dividend. The short float at 4.05% might be related to the long-term debt to shareholder equity metric which sits at 3.67.

These 4 stocks had decent days on Monday when most others were falling and then they came back strong on Tuesday. This kind of strength in the middle of general market weakness suggests that investors might consider these for further analysis. There are no guarantees, of course, that gains can continue.

Not investment advice. Do your own research and always consult with a registered investment advisor before making any decisions.