Barron's Picks And Pans: Roundtable Picks, GameStop, LKQ, Netflix, Roblox And More

Nelson Hem

Sun, Jan 24, 2021, 8:42 AM 4 min read

This weekend's Barron's cover story offers a slew of stock and bond picks from the latest Barron's Roundtable.
Other featured articles examine how last year's Barron's stock picks fared, what to focus on when investing in China and the latest signs of a speculative frenzy.
Also, the prospects for digital infrastructure stocks, video game IPOs, a video streaming leader, an auto parts supplier and more.

Cover story "28 Investment Picks to Beat the Market" by Lauren R. Rublin offers a slew of top stock and bond recommendations for 2021 from Barron's Roundtable members Rupal J. Bhansali, Scott Black, Mario Gabelli and Sonal Desai. See if Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) made the cut.

Daren Fonda's "4 Ways to Play a Boom in Digital Infrastructure" points out that cell tower stocks like Crown Castle International Corp (NYSE: CCI) and data center stocks like CoreSite Realty Corp (NYSE: COR) have lagged behind, despite their key role in the digital transformation.

In "Barron's Stock Picks Beat the Market Again Last Year. Here's How We Did It," Avi Salzman indicates that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) were among the key picks last year that helped Barron's beat the market. See how things turned out for the Barron's 2020 bearish calls though.

Even as China is criticized for its social practices (including its treatment of the Uighur ethnic minority), it is making rapid progress on its environmental actions. So says "Investing in China Isn't Easy. Focusing on ESG Can Help" by Leslie P. Norton. Find out whether Barron's believes Tencent Holdings (OTC: TCEHY) is among the stocks that are worth a look now.

In Jack Hough's "Roblox's Stock Listing and the Boom Market in Desperate Parents," the focus is on the wave of initial public offerings that is about to hit the market, now that everyone is playing video games. See how Barron's recommends that investors play this IPO boom, starting with Roblox, an online platform offering games created by users.

"GameStop Stock Is Just the Latest Sign of a Speculative Frenzy" by Randall W. Forsyth discusses how last week's short squeeze on GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) stock is the sort of action that was prevalent last August, just before the big techs stocks that drive the Nasdaq Composite topped out.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) and the rest of the FAANGs helped lift the stock market this past week, according to Ben Levisohn's "Big Tech Stages a Comeback. A Correction Could Be the Market's Next Act." See why Barron's now believes a retreat may be in the cards.

In "For All Us Netflix Skeptics, It's Finally Time to Concede," Eric J. Savitz examines how, as Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) starts to generate cash, the company has a lot more flexibility. Discover what Barron's thinks could come next from the video streaming colossus. Sports? News? Music? Perhaps even gaming?

Teresa Rivas's "LKQ Is Helping Itself to a Higher Price" explains that shares of LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ: LKQ) have been stuck in neutral for years, but 2021 could see things turn around for the specialty automotive parts supplier. See why Barron's says that the pandemic forced the company to do what it should have done long ago and now the stock is a buy.

Also in this week's Barron's: