Rocket Stocks for the Week

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By Jonas Elmerraji

BALTIMORE (TheStreet) -- It may be hard to believe, but it was an entire year ago that once-fabled investment banking giant Lehman Brothers crumbled on the national stage. Now, 12 months later, investors are looking at a very different stock market.

While the year may have been brutal for companies around the world, in the last week, the S&P 500 managed to deliver another set of gains for 2009, eking out a 1.34% improvement over the course of the last five trading days. And once again, Stockpickr's Rocket Stocks, our weekly list of beaten-down stocks that have both short-term catalysts for growth and long-term investment potential, fared much better than the market.

In fact, if you'd invested in each of last week's picks, you'd have outperformed the S&P by 2.6%. And as of this week, our Rocket Stock picks from the past nine weeks have outperformed the S&P 500 by 22.5%.

Here's a look at how last week's Rocket Stocks fared.

Last week's top performer was Campbell Soup(CPB Quote). Campbell's, the world's biggest soup maker, delivered guidance above estimates last week, pushing the company's stock up 5.48%. The company was followed closely by BP(BP Quote) and Allos Theraputics(ALTH Quote), which rang in at 5% and 4.4%, respectively.

Zales(ZLC Quote) and Abbott Labs(ABT Quote) also managed to beat the market last week, scoring approximately 3% and 2%, respectively, in the last five trading sessions.

Now ont o this week's list.

While the SPDR Gold Trust(GLD Quote) ETF isn't necessarily a stock, it certainly meets the Rocket Stocks criteria. With gold prices flirting with $1,000 right now and commodity ETFs coming under increasing scrutiny, this fund looks like the best in breed. That's because the SPDR Gold Trust doesn't just invest in paper; it actually buys up gold bullion for every share the fund issues. And with economic uncertainty still going strong, gold is a good place to be.