Like the rest of the airlines, JetBlue has experienced a ton of turbulence in 2016, falling almost 20%. Brian Peery, portfolio manager for the Hennessy Cornerstone Mid Cap 30 Fund , said the low-cost carrier’s rebound in recent weeks proves that it is preparing for lift-off. “Having a competitive cost structure is essential to their success, and they continue to build a profitable and defensible network,” said Peery. “Combined with their new Mint service, and an expanded clientele, we think that they will continue to do well through 2016.” The Hennessy Cornerstone Mid Cap 30 Fund is up 2.5% thus far in 2016, according to Morningstar. The $1 billion fund has returned an average of 9.5% annually over the past three years, outpacing 89% of its peers in Morningstar’s mid-cap blend category. Peery is also bullish on Goodyear Tire , which is down 18% year-to-date as a result of a sharp selloff in April when the company missed Wall Street’s revenue estimate. “There are still segments of the business that are performing well, but they have some operation difficulties capitalizing on some higher margin businesses,” said Peery. “I think as 2016 progresses we expect to see those difficulties worked out and we are coming into fiscal Q2, Q3, where Goodyear traditionally does much of its business. We think the recent pullback in the stock is a great entry point and we would be a buyer of the stock.” Express is another one of Peery’s top picks. Shares of the retailer are down 16% year-to-date and 40% since April. Peery thinks Express is correctly focusing on e-commerce and outlets, rather than the traditional retail store. “While historically a very difficult and fickle segment, we think that Express has their finger on the pulse of their customers and the stock is trading at a very reasonable multiple of earning with a PE around 10,” said Peery. “Sales, earnings and margins are all trending higher and we think the stock should follow.” Finally, Peery is a fan of Casey’s General Stores , up 10% year-to-date, pointing out that it is the 5th largest pizza chain in the U.S. and the 10th largest convenience store chain. He said Casey’s, which also sells gasoline, is showing strong sales growth across all major areas of their business and that has driven earnings up over 50% from this time last year. “Because of the decrease in gasoline prices their top line revenues may look weaker over the last couple of years, but look under the hood and you find a company growing at a clip that would make others companies envious,” said Peery. “With higher fuel prices lately, we expect the top line revenues should show modest increases in the coming quarters.”
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