First quarter growth ending March 31, 2019 was hardly expected, considering the stock market crash that transpired in March 26, 2019. Yet trading picked up at a faster pace brought about by the sharp increase in March retail sales and business inventories reported by the end of March.
Many observers believe that stock market apprehensions were overblown, not expecting a couple of Standard & Poor’s (S & P) 500 companies to deliver sharp increases in growth at the end of March.
Refinitiv, a company partly owned by the Blackstone Group, which provides financial market on a global scale, reports that 74% of financial reports released by S & P firms have so far turned in data showing growth of as much as 2.4%; starkly contrasting the 4% to 7% decline predicted by forecasters.
Moody’s Analytics Rapid Update survey reveals economists are now tracking growth at 2.4%, as opposed to the 1% expected in the earlier months of the 1st quarter. The low expectation was mainly due to the severity of the winter weather and the longest government shutdown that stifled the economy.
Still, observers and forecasters are merely expounding on growth expectations based on financial reports. What matters to investors are actual stock performances on the trading floor.
Profiling Companies as Best Growth Stocks for 2019
Lucas Downey of MAPsignals.com, gives advice that if looking for the highest quality stock, looking at company’s financials alone does not present a complete picture.
MAPsignals.com is a quantitative analyst and stock research company that looks into unusual stock market activity to pinpoint potential stocks, to and from where large investors would move their money.
Downey mentions other factors to consider such as solid fundamental history, by looking at Year-over-Year (YoY) Revenue Growth Rate and YoY Net Income Growth Rate. An aspect to consider about the company’s fundamental history as indicators of long term growth, are Year to Date (YTD) Outperformance vs. Market, and YTD Outperformance vs. Sector.