5 Stocks to Buy on a Downturn and How to Do It

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I got several emails from readers and Options Investing Newsletter subscribers expressing concern over today's market swoon.

While I never like to make light of another person's anxiety, I find it hard to understand why these pullbacks scare anybody who has followed the stock market for more than a couple of years. From a technical standpoint, this type of weakness is normal and healthy. In fact, I am surprised and even a bit dismayed that the bearishness has not come harder and faster or lasted for longer stretches. Heck, if you only lived through last July, August and September, what we saw Thursday was nothing.

Pullbacks where the bears never really take charge disappoint me because I am a long-term investor. I like to buy stocks of strong companies. I look for candidates that do one of two things: lead the market in the rallies that inevitably follow one- to multiple-day declines; or persist to the upside during episodes of carnage.

Here I consider ways to get long five stocks that meet one of those criteria on today's market burp.

Lululemon(LULU) . With few exceptions, there might not be a company (and stock) I am more excited about.

I have written a bit about Lululemon here -- it's one of the few high-flying momentum stocks with a business model I can get behind solidly. It's also one of the few I am willing to play into earnings. I expect Lululemon to blow the doors off of the quarter when it reports in early June. If it doesn't, I will take advantage of any dips.

As the market tanked moderately today, Lululemon ran hard. She traded as high as $81.09, retreated back below the key $80 marker, but recovered and closed the session at $80.30. That close above $80 is key. For the week, Lululemon is up 7.9%.

I fully expect the stock to be the next member of the $100 club already populated by the likes of Chipotle Mexican Grill(CMG) and Panera Bread(PNRA) .