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Can Apple Keep Driving Dow? Two '99' Stocks With Earnings Due

X Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 indicated tiny increases early Tuesday. That followed whisper-thin gains Monday as megacap Apple (AAPL) continued to ascend. Meanwhile, two companies with best-possible 99 Composite Ratings are on tap with earnings: graphics and AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), laser maker Coherent (COHR). Online travel giant Priceline (PCLN), with a 98 CR, also reports Tuesday.

Apple rose 2.7% to 153.01 in Monday stock market trading, hitting yet another record high and becoming the first company to top an $800 billion market cap intraday. Apple has surged 32% in 2017, the best performer by far in the Dow Jones industrial average, as investors bet the upcoming iPhone 8 will be a huge success. Apple has added 255.7 points to the Dow this year, accounting for 20% of the Dow's total rise.

Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to fractional gains vs. fair value. Apple was indicated about 0.4% higher.

Apple, also the biggest component of the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq composite, pushed those two averages to record highs Monday. The Nasdaq and, to a lesser, extent, the S&P 500 are getting a boost from the FANG internet stocks of Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL). That makes the current rally heavily reliant on a handful of big-cap techs. (Amazon hit a closing high Monday, while Alphabet set a new all-time best.)


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99 Composite Stocks

Coherent and Nvidia have 99 Composite Ratings, which mean that they outperform 99% of all stocks based on a combination of fundamental and technical factors. While you should never buy a stock on ratings alone — these two 99 CR plays aren't close to buy zones — winning stocks in history often have a 95+ CR near the start of their runs.

Coherent

Analysts expect Coherent to report EPS of $2.55, up 155% vs. a year earlier, according to Zacks Investment Research. Keep in mind that Coherent's Q4 earnings crushed views by 44%, so investors may be expecting a big beat above official estimates.

Coherent revenue should double to $404 million. The 104% estimated gain would be the fifth straight quarter of improving year-over-year changes.

Among other applications, Coherent's lasers are used in the making of organic light-emitting diode screens, increasingly popular with TVs and smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy 8 has an OLED screen with the upcoming Apple iPhone 8 expect to use it as well. Coherent rose 4.6% to a record high Friday as Universal Display (OLED), with OLED ticker, skyrocketed on its blowout Q1 earnings and strong guidance.

Coherent retreated 3.4% to 217.58 on Monday, but the stock is well extended from any proper buy point for now.

Nvidia

Analysts expect EPS to increase 43.5% to 66 cents, as revenue grows 46% to $1.91 billion.

Nvidia has expanded from graphics chips for PC gaming to widespread use in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving applications.

Nvidia has been consolidating for three months, recently trading just above its 50-day moving average, closing Monday down 1% at 102.77. Nvidia has a potential 121.02 buy point.

Priceline

Wall Street forecasts EPS to drop 16.5% to $8.80 while revenue rises 13.3% to $2.15 billion.

Priceline hit an intraday high on Monday, closing up 26 cents to 1903.91. Priceline is well extended from an early February breakout.

Priceline had a 99 Composite Rating as of Friday, but dipped to 98 on Monday.

Overseas Markets

Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.3% Tuesday after soaring 2.3% to a 17-month high on Monday. The Shanghai composite edged up 0.1% while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng popped 1.3%.

In European morning trade, stocks in the U.K., France and Germany rose about 0.4%-0.6%.

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