Top Rocket Stocks for Week of Feb. 25

Updated from 6:32 a.m. EST

Let's break it down: The recent volatility in the market has been extremely difficult to navigate. Heck, the average equity long/short hedge fund was down 4.1% in January, and AQR Capital's largest fund fell almost 15% through mid-February, not to mention all the problems at Goldman Sachs' Global Alpha fund.

However, all is not lost. As readers know, I love to look for stocks with direct catalysts ahead of them, especially in these volatile times. These catalysts can function as a sort of risk-management system. They define risk and allow for flexibility.

Whether it's Gardner Denver (GDI Quote - Cramer on GDI - Stock Picks), Robbins & Myers (RBN Quote - Cramer on RBN - Stock Picks), Tractor Supply (TSCO Quote - Cramer on TSCO - Stock Picks) or CSX (CSX Quote - Cramer on CSX - Stock Picks) -- all of which I've highlighted in my weekly Rocket Stocks articles since January -- readers need to definitely pay attention to the coming week.

This week's Rocket Stocks portfolio includes names like Mirant (MIR Quote - Cramer on MIR - Stock Picks) and NutriSystem (NTRI Quote - Cramer on NTRI - Stock Picks). But before we look at this week's picks, let's review how last week's picks fared.

• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote - Cramer on HPQ - Stock Picks): Up 6.7% on the week; the company beat first-quarter earnings estimates by 5 cents a share.
• Olympic Steel (ZEUS Quote - Cramer on ZEUS - Stock Picks): Up nearly 7% at one point and ending the week up 3.8%.
• Barrick Gold (ABX Quote - Cramer on ABX - Stock Picks): Up 2.5% on the week as gold rallied.
• Kaiser Aluminum (KALU Quote - Cramer on KALU - Stock Picks): Flat on the week despite beating earnings estimates by 37 cents a share. Longer term, I believe Kaiser is a strong stock.
• Medco Health Systems (MHS Quote - Cramer on MHS - Stock Picks): Flat for the week despite a nice quarter and increased margins.
• Pride International (PDE Quote - Cramer on PDE - Stock Picks): Essentially flat on the week despite seeing positive sector earnings from the likes of Transocean (RIG Quote - Cramer on RIG - Stock Picks).
• Nymex Holdings (NMX Quote - Cramer on NMX - Stock Picks): Down 1% on the week.
• Medtronic (MDT Quote - Cramer on MDT - Stock Picks): Down 1.3% on the week.
• Apple (AAPL Quote - Cramer on AAPL - Stock Picks): Horrible; down 5.2% this week. However, Apple is becoming even more attractive on valuations.
• Crocs (CROX Quote - Cramer on CROX - Stock Picks): Horrible; down 26.5% after issuing lackluster '08 guidance.

Now let's take a look at one of the picks from Rocket Stocks for the Week of Feb. 25-29.

GulfMark Offshore (GLF Quote - Cramer on GLF - Stock Picks) is set to report earnings Monday morning, and the company, which is highly leveraged to the creation and repair of day-rigs for the oil-drilling industry, could surprise to the upside.

For starters, GulfMark is a $1 billion market-cap company that seems to exist outside the radar of many investors and traders. GulfMark's customers employ the company's vessels for services supporting construction, position and ongoing maintenance of offshore oil and natural gas drilling rigs and platforms. Last week, Transocean noted in its earnings report that it was forced to constantly raise prices for its day-rigs due to massive demand. This demand works in GulfMark's favor.

GulfMark is in all of the right market segments, especially in the deep waters of Africa and India. The company also pushes the fact that it has zero exposure to the weakening U.S oil and natural gas market, a segment that has negatively affected its peers.

With oil trading over $100 a barrel, GulfMark could very well report a strong quarter. It also has a 13% short position and tight trading float. As a result, an earnings beat could result in a short-squeeze.

GulfMark is also extremely cheap; it has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 8.5 vs. the mean average in the industry of 13.3. The company has exceeded analysts' earnings expectations in the past four quarters by an average margin of 38.5%. It has a price-to-book ratio of 1.6, compared to about 4.5 for the industry.

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