Top Rocket Stocks for Week of Feb. 18

Updates from 5:45 a.m. EST

For my weekly Rocket Stocks column, I like to find beaten-up stocks that I believe may snap back in the coming days because of a specific catalyst. I constantly check the 52-week lows and analyst downgrades lists, hoping to spot an oversold gem from which readers and fellow investors can profit.

As I have pointed out before, picking stocks ahead of catalysts is the best way to profit for near-term traders.

Who cares if we are in a bull or bear market? Even if the market has a catastrophic week, at least a few hundred of the roughly 8,000 public companies will go up. It's our job to find the stocks most likely to do that.

This week's Rocket Stocks portfolio includes names like Crocs (CROX Quote - Cramer on CROX - Stock Picks), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote - Cramer on HPQ - Stock Picks) and Apple (AAPL Quote - Cramer on AAPL - Stock Picks).

But before we look at this week's picks, let's review how last week's picks fared.

• Century Aluminum (CENX Quote - Cramer on CENX - Stock Picks): Up 13.6% on the week.
• National Oilwell Varco (NOV Quote - Cramer on NOV - Stock Picks): Up as much as 13% and ending the week up 8%.
• Alcoa (AA Quote - Cramer on AA - Stock Picks): Up 5.6% on the week.
• J. M. Smucker (SJM Quote - Cramer on SJM - Stock Picks): Up 5.2% on the week.
• Southern Union (SUG Quote - Cramer on SUG - Stock Picks): Up 3.1% on the week.
• American Railcar Industries (ARII Quote - Cramer on ARII - Stock Picks): Up 2.9% on the week.
• Microsoft (MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks): Up 1.8% on the week.
• NYSE Euronext (NYX Quote - Cramer on NYX - Stock Picks): Flat for the week.
• Cisco (CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks): Down 1.5% on the week.
• Microvision (MVIS Quote - Cramer on MVIS - Stock Picks): Down 8.8% on the week.
• Syntax-Brillian (BRLC Quote - Cramer on BRLC - Stock Picks): Down 12.4% on the week.

Now let's take a look at the Rocket Stocks for the Week of Feb. 18-22.

First up this week is Kaiser Aluminum (KALU Quote - Cramer on KALU - Stock Picks), which is set to report earnings on Tuesday. As its name suggests, Kaiser manufactures and sells fabricated aluminum products used principally for aerospace and machinery end products. Down substantially from $80, where it was tradign in mid-December, Kaiser offers a nice play ahead of earnings now that it trades around $68.

Over the past two weeks there has been a massive amount of capital returning back into the aluminum stocks. Stocks like Alcoa (AA Quote - Cramer on AA - Stock Picks) and Century Aluminum (CENX Quote - Cramer on CENX - Stock Picks) have massively outperformed the boarder market since mid-January. Both Alcoa and Century handily beat analysts' fourth-quarter estimates aided by strong international demand.

Kaiser also has a great balance sheet with its return on assets at 14% and its return on equity over 20%. Kaiser has a low debt to revenue growth ratio with $60 million in debt and 11% revenue growth.

With a tight float and strong outperformance by its lesser peers, Kaiser could crush earnings this quarter.

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