Earnings Season Should Be Positive Despite Market Swoon

The market’s swoon to start the year is putting an unforgiving spotlight on fourth quarter earnings season which kicks off this week. Scotty George, chief investment strategist at Alexander Capital, said investors should not fear last quarter’s results. 'Fourth quarter earnings weren’t too bad and the fundamentals are much stronger than the market performance,' said George. 'If we can parallel disconnect two of these phenomena, the market from the economy, then the economy looks pretty good.' George said stocks are too expensive globally in the wake of the tremendous bull-run following the financial crisis. He said last week’s drop of 6 percent for the S&P 500 is 'probably appropriate' and stocks could fall further. Nevertheless, he does see them bouncing back because overall the 'trajectory for stocks is moving up.' Regarding the best sectors and stock to buy on this recent weakness, George is bullish on agriculture, water filtration and biotech names. 'There’s a lot of money to be made on the market in capital gains,' said George.