tastytrade brand cherry inside a lightbulb, pop art style, lightbulb radiates a soft glow, symboling the birth of a bright and creative process

Cherry Picks Releases Newest List of Stock Trading Ideas

By:Michael "Dr. Data" Rechenthin

The stocks that the internet chat rooms are buzzing about, semiconductors, banking stocks, Chinese stocks, and more.

  • Palantir Tech is getting a lot of attention because it's an AI stock, but one analyst likes it and another doesn't.
  • Chinese stocks with relatively low implied volatility are still expected to move more than the S&P 500.
  • Late-night TV ads aside, I lean toward buying stocks in gold companies, as opposed to physical gold.


We looked for the stocks generating the most buzz in the chat rooms. Below is what we found.

SoFi (SOFI) was launched in 2011 as a student loan refinancing company. Investors are discussing the expiration of the student loan payment moratorium as a positive for the firm. Prices reflect that and the stock is up considerably over the past few months.

Palantir Tech (PLTR) specializes in big data analytics, and there's talk that its AI innovations through large language models will provide extra growth potential. Bank of America raised its price target on the stock, while Raymond James downgraded it. Its IV Rank is high—so no matter what opinion you hold, there's a potential options play.

In all of the tables, we've made comparisons against the S&P 500 (SPY).

Most discussions on chat rooms: SPY, TSLA, NVDA, PLTR, SOFI, GME

The Chinese stocks below have a relatively low implied volatility rank (IV rank), but their expected movement is considerably greater than the S&P 500.

Chinese stocks: SPY, BABA, PDD, JD, BIDU, NITES

A friend once told me to buy utility stocks, and eventually the dividend will cover the utility bill. Let's use Duke Energy (DUK) as an example.

Duke pays a 4.38% dividend—roughly equivalent to $1.00 per share—four times per year.

Let's do the math to figure out how much stock you will need to cover a $100 per month bill:

Yearly bill = $100/month x 12 months = $1,200 required per year.

$1,200 / ($1 x 4) = 300 shares.

Those 300 shares x $92.06 last price = $27,618 worth of Duke to cover a $100 a month bill.

utilities sector etf xlu: spy, nee, so, duk, d, sre

Remember when energy was the best-performing sector? Yeah, not so much now.

Energy sector etf xle: spy, xom, cvx, cop, slb, eog

Intel (INTC) has the highest IV ranks of the bunch. NVIDIA (NVDA) has the love of "The Street" right now.

semiconductor etf (SMH): spy, nvda, avgo, intc, tsm, asml

Late-night television talking heads beseech viewers to invest in gold. In general, I tend to lean toward purchasing stocks in gold companies, as opposed to buying physical gold or Gold (GLD). Alternatively, the bullish strategy of selling puts also appeals to me. Part of my hesitance to invest directly in gold stems from an unfortunate incident 20 years ago when I misplaced a gold coin, an event that still irks me to this day.

gold miners (gdx): spy, nem, gold, aem, wpm, fnv

Banking stocks aren't doing too well.

banking stocks xlf: spy, jpm, bac, v, ma, wfc
Below are the five largest components of the Dow compared to the S&P 500 (SPY). Microsoft (MSFT) and McDonald's (MCD) are doing pretty well.

dow jones etf dia: spy, msft, unh, hd, gs, mcd

Healthcare (XLV) has not seen the bounce the rest of the stocks are seeing. Here are a list of some of the popular drugs Eli Lilly (LLY) makes: Forteo, BAQSIMI, Basaglar, Glucagon, Glyxambi, Jardiance, Jentadueto, Jentadueto XR, Synjardy, Synjardy XR, Trajenta, Trijardy XR, Prozac, Cymbalta, Zyprexa, Humalog and Trulicity.

Is coming up with drug names a job title? Why are they so difficult to pronounce?

health care xlv: spy, unh, jnj, lly, mrk

Michael Rechenthin (aka “Dr. Data”), managing director of Research and Development, has 25 years of trading expertise and markets experience. He's best known for his weekly Cherry Picks newsletter. On Thursdays, he appears on Trades from the Research Team LIVE. 

Sign up here to receive Cherry Picks every Tuesday.

For live daily programming, market news and commentary visit tastylive or the YouTube channels tastylive (for options traders), and tastyliveTrending for stocks, futures, forex & macro.

Trade with a better broker, open a tastytrade account today. tastylive, Inc. and tastytrade, Inc. are separate but affiliated companies.


Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Please read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before deciding to invest in options.

Related Posts

tastylive content is created, produced, and provided solely by tastylive, Inc. (“tastylive”) and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not, nor is it intended to be, trading or investment advice or a recommendation that any security, futures contract, digital asset, other product, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any person. Trading securities, futures products, and digital assets involve risk and may result in a loss greater than the original amount invested. tastylive, through its content, financial programming or otherwise, does not provide investment or financial advice or make investment recommendations. Investment information provided may not be appropriate for all investors and is provided without respect to individual investor financial sophistication, financial situation, investing time horizon or risk tolerance. tastylive is not in the business of transacting securities trades, nor does it direct client commodity accounts or give commodity trading advice tailored to any particular client’s situation or investment objectives. Supporting documentation for any claims (including claims made on behalf of options programs), comparisons, statistics, or other technical data, if applicable, will be supplied upon request. tastylive is not a licensed financial adviser, registered investment adviser, or a registered broker-dealer.  Options, futures, and futures options are not suitable for all investors.  Prior to trading securities, options, futures, or futures options, please read the applicable risk disclosures, including, but not limited to, the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options Disclosure and the Futures and Exchange-Traded Options Risk Disclosure found on tastytrade.com/disclosures.

tastytrade, Inc. ("tastytrade”) is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA, NFA, and SIPC. tastytrade was previously known as tastyworks, Inc. (“tastyworks”). tastytrade offers self-directed brokerage accounts to its customers. tastytrade does not give financial or trading advice, nor does it make investment recommendations. You alone are responsible for making your investment and trading decisions and for evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of tastytrade’s systems, services or products. tastytrade is a wholly-owned subsidiary of tastylive, Inc.

tastytrade has entered into a Marketing Agreement with tastylive (“Marketing Agent”) whereby tastytrade pays compensation to Marketing Agent to recommend tastytrade’s brokerage services. The existence of this Marketing Agreement should not be deemed as an endorsement or recommendation of Marketing Agent by tastytrade. tastytrade and Marketing Agent are separate entities with their own products and services. tastylive is the parent company of tastytrade.

tastycrypto is provided solely by tasty Software Solutions, LLC. tasty Software Solutions, LLC is a separate but affiliate company of tastylive, Inc. Neither tastylive nor any of its affiliates are responsible for the products or services provided by tasty Software Solutions, LLC. Cryptocurrency trading is not suitable for all investors due to the number of risks involved. The value of any cryptocurrency, including digital assets pegged to fiat currency, commodities, or any other asset, may go to zero.

© copyright 2013 - 2024 tastylive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Applicable portions of the Terms of Use on tastylive.com apply.  Reproduction, adaptation, distribution, public display, exhibition for profit, or storage in any electronic storage media in whole or in part is prohibited under penalty of law, provided that you may download tastylive’s podcasts as necessary to view for personal use. tastylive was previously known as tastytrade, Inc. tastylive is a trademark/servicemark owned by tastylive, Inc.