Goldman's Top 25 Tactical Trades For Earnings Season

In a recent report, analysts as Goldman Sachs gave their outlook for Q1 earnings season. The report included an overview of what investors can expect and listed Goldman’s top 25 trading ideas.

“Better than feared” rally?
Analysts believe that stocks could benefit from extremely low expectations for Q1 earnings. The earnings environment in Q1 was far from ideal for much of the market, as a strong U.S. dollar weighed on exporters, low oil prices hurt much of the energy sector and historically low interest rates continue to make things difficult for financials.

Q2 recovery
Analysts are predicting that the sluggish Q1 has laid the groundwork for a bounce-back Q2. They believe that higher consumer confidence, lower earnings expectations and a sales recovery following the harsh winter could contribute positively to Q2 numbers. In addition, lower volatility in oil and forex could reduce unpredictability and worry.

Top earnings plays
Goldman analysts see the most Q1 earnings upside for the following stocks:
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co MJN
The TJX Companies Inc TJX
Wyndham Worldwide Corp WYN
Pioneer Natural Resources Co PXD
Valero Energy Corp VLO
Ameriprise Financial Inc AMP
Lazard Ltd LAZ
HCA Holdings Inc HCA
Hologic Inc HOLX
Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings LH
Barrick Gold Corp ABX
Apple Inc AAPL
Amazon.com Inc AMZN
Demandware Inc DWRE
Infinera Corp INFN
Juniper Networks Inc JNPR
LinkedIn Corp LNKD
Lam Research Corp LAM

Goldman analysts see the most Q1 earnings downside for these names:
Cabela’s Inc CAB
Coach Inc COH
EverBank Financial Corp EVER
Deere & Co DE
Kennametal Inc KMT
Microsoft Corp MSFT
FirstEnergy Corp FE

Disclosure: the author holds a short position in Amazon.