JPMorgan added fresh names to its top stock picks for February, including a medical tech company that’s rallied sharply to begin the year. The S & P 500 experienced its best January in four years , rising 6.2%. The Nasdaq Composite also had its strongest month since July, adding 10.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.8% last month. Investors began the year on a hopeful note, as slowing inflation metrics have helped propel the rally and fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve could begin to rein in its tightening campaign. The central bank hiked interest rates by 0.25 percentage point on Wednesday and signaled it expected “ongoing” increases. For February, JPMorgan added five new names to its focus list: Cenovus Energy , CMS Energy , Rogers Communications , Stryker and Treace Medical Concepts Stryker started 2023 with a bang. The medical tech stock is up 12% year to date. Analyst Robert Marcus highlighted the company’s “strong organic sales growth performance with upside potential, improving operating margins, and a healthy cadence of new innovation.” JPMorgan said new additions CMS Energy and Cenovus Energy are uniquely positioned within the industry, according to the note. Cenovus has an “attractive valuation coupled with high leverage to a narrowing WTI-WCS differential, which we expect in 2023,” wrote analyst John Royall, referring to the differential in prices between West Texas Intermediate crude oil and Western Canadian Select. “CVE is one of the very few companies in our coverage that is returning more capital to shareholders next year than this year,” he added. Cenovus shares have popped 27% in the past 12 months. Returning names on the list included fast food giant McDonald’s and tech heavyweight Amazon . Amazon’s stock fell more than 30% during the past 12 months, but it has rallied to start the year, up more than 24% in 2023. The company recently announced a wave of layoffs in January and is preparing to release its earnings on Thursday. McDonald’s reported quarterly results on Tuesday that topped analysts’ estimates . However, the company’s shares closed lower by more than 1% after CEO Chris Kempczinski provided a cautious outlook for 2023. The CEO said he is anticipating a “mild to moderate” recession in the U.S. and a “deeper and longer” downturn in Europe, tempering investors’ enthusiasm. The bank removed the following companies from its focus list: AtriCure, Boston Scientific and Regions Financial. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this story.
