WEEKLY NOTION: Three Stocks To Watch This Week: Amazon, Zoom Video, and CrowdStrike

Positive news about vaccines and potential COVID-19 treatments combined with an accelerating economic recovery are contributing to what looks like one of the best months for stocks ever. November comes to a close on Monday of this coming week.

As of this Friday's close, the Dow Jones has surged nearly 13% for November. If it holds its gains during Monday’s trading, the 30-component, mega cap index will have had its best month since January 1987.

The S&P 500 was up 11.3% for the month, on pace for its best performance since April.

November turned out to be the month investors decided to bet big on cyclical stocks, or companies whose growth is tied with the reopening of the economy. Financials, for example, gained more than 17% in the past month, and industrials rose nearly 15%, on strong indications that vaccines will bring the recession-hit global economy to life next year.

Amid this broad-based optimism, here are three stocks we plan to focus on next week:

1. Amazon

With the peak shopping weekend after Thanksgiving—which stretches from Black Friday to Cyber Monday—wrapping up early this coming week, investors will be eager for updated data from the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon.com.

It's anticipated that U.S. shoppers will spend $189 billion in November and December, up 33% from a year earlier and more than double the usual pace of growth, according to Adobe Analytics. Amazon captures about $0.40 of every dollar spent online in the U.S., meaning this period is crucial for the Seattle-based e-tail giant to continue on its robust growth path so far this year.

AMZN Weekly Trailing 12-month (TTM)

The early data suggest that this holiday period will bring strong sales for retailers with online capabilities able to handle the extra burden of stay-at-home shoppers due to the pandemic. 

2. Zoom Video

Zoom Video Communications will report third quarter earnings for its fiscal 2021 year after the market closes on Monday, Nov 30. Analysts are expecting $0.759 a share profit on projected revenue of $693 million.

3. CrowdStrike

Cloud-based cybersecurity platform CrowdStrike Holdings reports its latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday, Dec 2, after the market close. Analysts are expecting a nominal profit on sales of $213 million, representing a 70% jump from the same period a year ago.

Shares of the cybersecurity firm have soared more than 200% this year as more and more companies seek to secure their networks amid surging use of online services and increasing cyber attacks by rogue actors and states.

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