The stock market tumbled since the beginning of the year on concerns over rising inflation, the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes, economic contraction, and geopolitical tensions.

While optimism over a slight decline in inflation in July and better-than-expected corporate earnings helped the benchmark indexes witness some recovery over the past few weeks, the possibility of the Fed maintaining its hawkish stance, as indicated by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole economic symposium, could keep the market under pressure.

Despite the market’s overall pullback, shares of Elevance Health Inc. (ELV), Waste Management, Inc. (WM), and Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. (KOF) have gained consistently. These stocks are currently trading above their moving averages. Since their industry strength and strong fundamentals should help them maintain their momentum, these stocks could be solid investments to beat the market volatility.

Elevance Health Inc. (ELV)

Formerly known as Anthem, Inc. (ANTM), ELV is a health benefits company offering various health plans, clinical, behavioral, pharmacy, complex-care health solutions, and access to evidence-based medical therapy.

Its various brands focus on providing digitally enabled healthcare, a consumer-centered health system, and other solutions beyond traditional health insurance.

On June 7, 2022, ELV collaborated with Twill, previously known as Happify Health, and is a startup building digital therapeutics for people with chronic diseases, to develop a Sequence, a fully configurable, digital-first solution focused on maternal health.

Sequence offers evidence-based digital therapeutics, online communities, coaching, and localized resources, with care recommendations tailored for each individual in one unified platform. This should witness high demand in the coming months.

For its fiscal 2022 second quarter ended June 30, 2022, ELV’s total revenues increased 14.1% year-over-year to $38.63 billion. The company’s adjusted net income came in at $1.96 billion, up 12.5% from the year-ago period. Its adjusted EPS came in at $8.04, representing a 14.4% rise from the prior-year period. As of June 30, 2022, the company had $6.46 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Analysts expect the company’s EPS to hit $28.84 for its fiscal 2022 ending December 31, 2022, representing an 11% rise from the prior-year period. It surpassed Street EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, which is impressive.

The consensus revenue estimate of $154.91 billion for the same fiscal year represents a 13.1% year-over-year improvement. Its EPS is expected to grow at a rate of 11.9% per annum over the next five years.

The stock has gained 6.2% year-to-date and 4.6% over the past month to close the last trading session at $492.34. ELV is currently trading above its 50-day moving average of $478.21 and 200-day moving average of $468.66.

ELV’s strong fundamentals are reflected in its POWR Ratings. The stock has an overall A rating, which equates to Strong Buy in our proprietary rating system. The POWR Ratings are calculated by considering 118 distinct factors, with each factor weighted to an optimal degree.

It has a B grade for Growth, Value, Stability, Sentiment, and Quality. Click here to see the additional ratings for ELV’s Momentum.

ELV is ranked #1 of 11 stocks in the A-rated Medical – Health Insurance industry.

Waste Management, Inc. (WM)

WM provides waste management environmental services to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in North America. It offers collection, transfer, and disposal services of waste and recyclable materials, recycling brokerage services, owns, develops, operates landfill gas-to-energy facilities, and operates transfer stations.

WM’s operating revenues for its fiscal 2022 first quarter ended June 30, 2022, increased 12.3% year-over-year to $5.03 billion. The company’s adjusted income from operations came in at $907 million, representing an 11.6% year-over-year improvement.

Its adjusted net income came in at $599 million for the quarter, indicating an 11.4% rise from the prior-year period. WM’s adjusted EPS increased 13.4% year-over-year to $1.44. The company had $894 million in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2022.

The consensus EPS estimate of $5.73 for fiscal 2022 ending December 31, 2022, represents an 18.3% year-over-year improvement. Analysts expect the company’s revenue to be $19.76 billion for the same fiscal year, representing a 10.2% rise from the prior-year period. Its EPS is expected to grow at a rate of 11.7% per annum over the next five years.

The stock has gained 4.6% year-to-date and 12% over the past month to close the last trading session at $174.63. WM is currently trading above its 50-day moving average of $159.12 and 200-day moving average of $157.47.

WM’s POWR Ratings reflect this promising outlook. It has an overall A rating, which equates to Strong Buy in our proprietary rating system.

The stock has an A grade for Quality and a B for Stability and Sentiment. Click here to see the additional ratings for WM’s Growth, Value, and Momentum.

WM is ranked #2 of 15 stocks in the A-rated Waste Disposal industry.

Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. (KOF)

KOF is a franchise bottler that produces, markets, sells and distributes Coca-Cola trademark beverages. It offers sparkling beverages, waters, sports and energy drinks, and plant-based drinks and also sells Heineken beer products in its Brazilian territories.

It distributes through wholesale supermarkets, discount stores, convenience stores, retailers, points-of-sale outlets, home delivery, supermarkets, and other locations. It operates in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.

For its fiscal 2022 second quarter ended June 22, 2022, KOF’s total revenues increased 19.9% year-over-year to Mex$57.31 billion ($). The company’s gross profit came in at Mex$25.27 billion ($1.27 billion), representing a 12% rise from the year-ago period.

While its operating income increased 5.6% year-over-year to Mex$7.65 billion ($383.97 million), its net income rose 39.5% to Mex$4.63 billion ($232.18 million). As of June 22, 2022, the company had Mex$45.57 billion ($2.29 billion) in cash and cash equivalents.

Analysts expect the company’s EPS to be $3.77 for fiscal 2022 ending December 31, 2022, indicating a 2.2% increase from the prior-year period. It surpassed Street EPS estimates in three of the trailing four quarters.

The consensus revenue estimate of $11.23 billion for the same fiscal year represents a 16.8% year-over-year improvement. Its EPS is expected to grow at a rate of 13.9% per annum over the next five years.

The stock has gained 15.6% year-to-date and 12.8% over the past month to close the last trading session at $63.35. KOF is currently trading above its 50-day moving average of $58.20 and 200-day moving average of $54.96.

KOF’s POWR Ratings reflect its solid prospects. The stock has an overall A rating, equating to Strong Buy in our proprietary rating system.

It has an A grade for Stability and a B grade for Value, Sentiment, and Quality. In addition to the POWR Ratings grades we have just highlighted, one can see KOF’s Growth and Momentum ratings here.

KOF is ranked #1 of 34 stocks in the A-rated Beverages industry.

ELV shares rose $0.27 (+0.06%) in after-hours trading Friday. Year-to-date, ELV has gained 4.86%, versus a -14.03% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

About the Author: Sweta Vijayan

Sweta is an investment analyst and journalist with a special interest in finding market inefficiencies. She’s passionate about educating investors, so that they may find success in the stock market. More...

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