5 Rocket Stocks to Buy This Week

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Monday's early trading is kicking off a quiet start to the week -- just what investors need to keep this "shadow rally" going. Since the market made a near-term bottom back on June 4, this rally has accounted for nearly 90% of the gains that the S&P 500 has turned out in all of 2012. But investors are still anxious about investing in stocks.

That lack of participation in the rally is bound to have some interesting effects on investors' behavior as we approach Fall 2012. As investors go "risk on" to catch up to the climb that equities have made this year, they're going to help to propel stock prices even further -- especially when the toxic effects of treasuries start taking their toll.

It's one thing to sacrifice a negative real yield when stocks are super volatile; but big treasury exposure becomes a whole lot harder to justify when equities enjoy a 20% bull rally. And as I write, a 20% year is almost exactly where stocks' current trajectory has us pointed.

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That's why we're turning to a new set of Rocket Stocks this week.

For the uninitiated, "Rocket Stocks" are our list of companies with short-term gain catalysts and longer-term growth potential. To find them, I run a weekly quantitative screen that seeks out stocks with a combination of analyst upgrades and positive earnings surprises to identify rising analyst expectations, a bullish signal for stocks in any market. After all, where analysts' expectations are increasing, institutional cash often follows.

In the last 164 weeks, our weekly list of five plays has outperformed the S&P 500 by 76.63%.

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