Left Brain Thinking

Janice Quek, senior analyst at Left brain Investment Research, says that educational provider and support company Chegg Inc. is an unlikely beneficiary of the coronavirus pandemic, but has benefitted from distance-learning trends, which have dramatically sped up the company's growth trajectory. Even when the pandemic ends, Quek says she expects Chegg to keep chugging along, providing services that students will still consider essential even when everyone is back on campuses.

Mark Hines, managing director at Left Brain Investment Research, explains the firm's monthly Chosen List and explains why Qualcomm is one of the chosen ones for February, noting that while the company has more than doubled in the last few years, it has that same kind of potential looking forward, thanks to the growth of 5G technology and more.

Noland Langford, chief executive at Left Brain Investment Research says that SoftBank Group's big stake in Chinese search giant Alibaba is worth the current share price of SoftBank, meaning that the rest of the firm's businesses can fuel real growth in the company and its share price. Langford cites current management's big, active stake in the company and the turnarounds of several businesses it has invested in as other key drivers for the future.

Brian Dress, director of research at Left Brain Investment Research, explains the firm's growth-oriented investment strategy extends to high-yield bonds and why that puts Occidental Petroleum's debt into the market's sweet spot now. Coming off the purchase of Anadarko Petroleum at the worst possible time for the oil business, Occidental has been paying down debt, has great underlying growth prospects as energy businesses recover and its bonds have moved closer to investment-grade level, giving them possible upside over the next few years beyond their high rates.

Freddy Garcia of Left Brain Wealth Management says that after a year that saw explosive growth -- over 500 percent last year -- Enphase Energy has calmed down, become less risky and still has enough room to grow that it is now a core holding for the Left Brain team. Garcia explains how the reduction in risk makes the stock a core piece for all investors, though he notes that the volatility in the stock means that it's on a short leash and would be a candidate for sale if it can't live up to expectations quickly.

Janice Quek, senior analyst for Left Brain Investment Research, says that one company that's an extension of the firm's cyber-security theme -- even though it is outside of the security business -- is Datadog, (DDOG), which has experienced similarly explosive growth and has the same kind of upside potential, spurred in part by the lifestyle changes put on fast-forward by the pandemic. Despite some recent quarterly weakness, Quek says the firm has rebounded and is poised to keep the growth rolling once the world moves past the virus

Mark Hines, managing director at Left Brain Investment Research, says that investors should not be looking to the cybersecurity business hoping that the young companies boosted by the pandemic tailwind will be bought out by technology giants, but instead that they can maintain the high growth levels that spurred stock prices to record levels in 2020. He singles out Zscaler as another cybersecurity stock -- Noland Langford identified Tenable a week ago -- that is poised to continue its explosive growth through 2021 and beyond.

Noland Langford, chief executive officer at Left Brain investment Research, says that the cyber security sector -- which has seen tremendous results amid the coronavirus troubles of 2020 -- is poised to keep running for the foreseeable future, with demand accelerated by all of the remote work fostered both by the pandemic and by data breaches and hacks that have been in the news. He singled out Tenable Holdings as a cybersecurity issue that he believes can maintain the growth it has seen, and that it's still reasonably priced despite a recent run-up.

Brian Dress, director of research at Left Brain Investment Research, discusses the firm's 'fresh look' at MercadoLibre, which has gained 200 percent in 2020 but which has building business segments in five different categories that can all power continued long-term growth without much worry that the company -- which some have categorized as a beneficiary of the coronavirus economy -- will suffer a slowdown as life and business move toward normal next year.