Left Brain Thinking

Madhu Chaudhary, investment analyst for Left Brain Investment Research, says that while UpStart Holdings (UPST) is a new company that has rocketed from IPO to high valuations in less than a year, the company has growth prospects that are built to last. Chaudry says that the online lending platform company -- which uses artificial intelligence to look beyond credit scores to decide creditworthiness -- has just started tapping its potential markets domestically and abroad.

Freddy Garcia, vice president for investments at Left Brain Wealth Management, discusses financial advisers who redirect consumers away from stocks based on their own personal biases, and in spite of the client's wishes to take on risk and add individual stocks to their holdings. Garcia -- and host Chuck Jaffe, who has written two books on choosing and working with financial advisers -- warn against financial counselors who don't want to broaden their horizons to meet the demands and expectations of clients.

Brian Dress, director of research at Left Brain Investment Research, discusses how the firm's proprietary research system Jarvis breaks down stocks and sometimes finds issues that the analysts would have overlooked, including Crocs Inc. (CROX), a stock that showed up at the top of the quantitative analysis. Dress notes that Left Brain normally shies away from retail stocks, but that Jarvis loves Crocs' acceleration of revenue growth, rising sales and profit margins, and that has the firm dipping its toes into the footwear maker now, despite those continuing reservations on retail.

Noland Langford, chief executive officer at Left Brain Investment Research says that unlike many industries that got a boost from the pandemic but which will slow down when the recovery is complete, the push towards electronic payments and a cashless society is not going to abate. With that in mind, he favors PayPal, Square and Visa as stocks that can take advantage of the trend, and while he acknowledges the future potential of cryptocurrency, he suggests investors focus now on where the transactions can be made easily and widely, noting that today's big players will only go faster if and when the cryptos become as commonplace as credit cards.

Freddy Garcia, vice president for investments for Left Brain Wealth Management, says that the age-old fight between growth and value investors misdirects investors to pursue bad market timing, as has been evident this year when value stocks rebounded to lead the way through the first six months, but growth stocks have charged back in recent weeks. By focusing on 'sustainable revenue growth' -- a metric that many so-called 'value stocks' lack -- investors 'will be better off in the long run,' finding companies poised for positive results no matter which investment style market conditions favors at any moment.

Brian Dress, director of research for Left Brain Investment Research says that while retailers are experiencing pent-up demand as the economy reopens from the pandemic, true retail recovery plays are scarce, lacking the sustainable growth Left Brain looks for. But Revolve Group has the brands and the fundamentals to be a strong play for the recovery and beyond; moreover, Dress explains why he focuses on the growth and on the evaluations of the firm's proprietary Jarvis evaluation system, and ignores the presence of some short-sellers or the stock's price standing at all-time highs.

Noland Langford, chief executive officer at Left Brain Investment Research, says that the economic recovery and reopening are creating promising investment opportunities, but says many investors are being misled by the short-term numbers. Langford is looking for companies that won't just get a one-time bump, but rather that are poised for a few years of bounce. 'The truth-teller will be the earnings and what the revenues have done a quarter or two past this,' Langfords says. Langford's list of interesting reopening plays includes Uber, AirBnB and DraftKings.

Brian Dress, director of research at Left Brain Investment Research, says that changing market conditions have him examining stocks on more of a growth-at-a-reasonable-price basis, but that view still has him sold on Salesforce.com, which he says was underperforming when it was rising 80 percent from its March 2020 lows before cooling recently. That drop, the stock's inclusion in the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- which helps to backstop it against declines -- and its prospects for faster growth than many of its peers have Dress and Left Brain sticking with Salesforce now, thinking it can continue to outperform the market while also adding some stability to a portfolio.

Noland Langford, chief executive officer at Left Brain Investment Research, says that changing stock market conditions have him looking in different directions to find the kind of high-growth opportunities he prefers, and that has taken him to surprising places now, namely retail and commodity-driven sectors that are facing inflation, like oil and energy, While these areas of the market aren't traditionally known for their fast growth, he suggested that economic changes -- coupled with retailers 'starting to get their act together' in the anticipated post-Covid 19 buying boom -- will make it profitable to look further afield for growth as the recovery enters its next phase.

Brian Dress, director of research for Left Brain Investment Research, says that the market's recent machinations raises questions about the environment for growth and the changing spectrum of opportunities, and that it encourages investors to protect and/or take profits, but he says that investors should hold fast to core positions -- for Left Brain that's stocks like Nvidia and Roku -- where the growth story is intact so that being swayed by short-term fluctuations will only lead to bigger regrets and smaller profits in the future.