Lazard, Zoetis and Private Bancorp Shares Will Power Ahead Says Palisade CIO

The S&P 500 fell almost 7% in the third quarter, the worst showing in four years. Investors should not believe that the worst is over yet, however, because the next few weeks could still be rocky, said Dan Veru, chief investment officer at Palisade Capital Management. 'We are in the pre-earnings period where you don’t have a lot of information,' said Veru. 'Companies are subject to rumor and innuendo and things are just going to be volatile for a little while longer.' Despite his unease about the current state of the market, Veru said there are a few financial and healthcare names he would recommend buying at current levels. For example, he is bullish on Chicago-based lender Private Bancorp (PVTB), which has seen its shares rise 15% so far in 2015 even as other banks have struggled. 'They do predominantly commercial loans to growing businesses and I think the company is incredibly well-positioned,' said Veru. 'Everything that we see shows that interest rates are going to move higher over time which will improve profitability for their bank as well as many other banks.' Elsewhere in the financial sector, Veru is positive on Lazard’s (LAZ) stock, which has dropped 13.5% year-to-date, even though the M&A business has been robust on Wall Street this year.