The stock market offers no shortage of investment opportunities. Thousands of companies are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, and countless mutual funds and exchange-traded funds are vying for a share of our hard-earned cash.
The sheer number of choices makes picking winning stocks challenging. Knowing when it could be a good time to buy is even tougher.
Yet, that's what professional fund managers, investors, and traders do daily.
Of course, many things can go wrong, derailing even the most well-researched investment thesis. Nobody has a crystal ball.
Related: Billionaire fund manager Griffin predicts Fed rate cuts in 2024
Nevertheless, Wall Street professionals have years of experience and access to resources that most Main Street investors can't imagine. That's an edge that makes their stock ideas worth paying attention to.
Luckily, pros like Wall Street veteran Stephen Guilfoyle are sharing their best trade ideas with TheStreet.
Guilfoyle's career stretches back to the 1980s on the stock exchange floor. It's safe to say, he's seen a thing or two over the decades.
His investment style is best described as hybrid. He blends economic, fundamental, and technical analysis to determine what stocks are worthy of his hard-earned money.
Read on to learn why a post-earnings swoon in the shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) makes it Guilfoyle's single-best trade now and what could change his mind.
Single best idea?
Palantir Technologies is consistently growing sales and its footprint. It's seemingly in a class by itself as the [artificial intelligence] AI-driven leading provider of data-supported, data-focused software platforms purposefully crafted to serve the needs for both security and privacy, resulting in potential solutions for both public and private sector clients.
Why do you like it?
The firm seems driven to succeed and better able to work with less highly polished data than supposed competitors. Boot camps are used to boost sales rather than traditional salespeople. The ridiculously strong balance sheet, driven by strong cash flows and no debt load, puts it in a class by itself.
Related: Analysts reboot Palantir stock price target after earnings
Palantir ended the first quarter with a cash position of $3.87 billion and current assets of $4.44 billion. Current liabilities add up to just $751 million, including $238 million in deferred revenue, which is not truly a financial obligation.
You will search for a long time before you find another balance sheet as clean and strong as this one. This balance sheet is a reason, in my opinion, to invest in this name, on its own merits (Palantir boasts a current ratio of 5.91, a level high enough for Guilfoyle to characterize it as absurdly good).
What could go wrong?
Palantir's competition could catch up. Not soon, mind you, but it could and probably will. Other than that, a loss in confidence by the federal government in the US could shift my thesis, given that much of the firm's business relies on the US government.
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Stephen Guilfoyle owns Palantir Technologies shares.
Single Best Trade does not represent investment advice from TheStreet. All investments should be researched carefully through consultation with an investment professional.
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