3 Predictions for the New Week

I went out on a limb last week, and now it's time to see how that decision played out.

• I predicted that SodaStream (SODA) would close higher on the week. The company behind the namesake beverage system that turns still water into flavored soda has seen its shares slip in recent weeks as a buyout rumor fizzled out. I figured that its earnings report on Thursday would be a good time to restore investor confidence. It was. SodaStream came through with strong financials, boosting its outlook for all of 2013. The stock rose 14%. I was right.
• I predicted that the tech-heavy Nasdaq would outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (^DJI 0.60%). This has been a tricky call lately, so how did it play out this time? Well, this was a good week to bet on tech. The Nasdaq moved 2.1% lower, and the Dow managed to close just 0.6% higher. I was right.
• My final call was for Multimedia Games (MGAM.DL) to beat Wall Street's income estimates in its latest quarter. The maker of casino games and other gaming equipment has been posting blowout quarterly results over the past year. I was banking on seeing the trend continue. Analysts were looking for a profit of $0.24 a share during the quarter, and it came through with net income of $0.28 a share. The stock jumped 11% on the news, hitting a new high. I was right.

Three out of three? Awesome!

Let me once again whip out my trusty, dusty, and occasionally accurate crystal ball to make three calls that may play out over the next few trading days.

1. Glu Mobile will close higher on the week
It's time for Glu Mobile (GLUU) to get sticky again. Shares of the mobile-apps publisher have shed nearly half of their value over the past year. It's been a difficult climate, as fickle players are tiring of games too quickly.

Glu Mobile reports on Tuesday. Yes, analysts see a 30% drop in revenue and a small deficit reversing breakeven results from the same period a year earlier. This should be the fourth consecutive quarterly loss for Glu Mobile. However, it has come through with a narrower deficit than analysts were expecting in each of those three periods. With that trend working in its favor and the stock beaten down to the point where even ho-hum results may be applauded, there's a good chance for a bounce.

My first call is for Glu Mobile to close higher on the week.

2.The Nasdaq Composite will beat the Dow this week
Tech has been a big winner in recent years, so betting on tech over stodgy blue chips has been a good bet for me more often than not.

I'm going to stick with this pick. Most of the names in the composite are just too cheap at this point, and tech should be what carries us through the economic recovery. Yes, earnings reports have been rough in some places this season, but the long-term outlook is still quite favorable, and the market is ripe for the tech-stacked secondary stocks to continue to outpace the 30 megacaps that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

3. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters will beat Wall Street's earnings estimates
Some stocks are just flat-out better than others.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR.DL) is the company behind the Keurig single-cup brewing system. It has lost patent protection for its K-Cups refills, but it's still finding a way to strike deals with the biggest players in hot beverages. Another thing it does is make analysts look like perpetual underachievers. If analysts say the company posted a profit of $0.77 a share in its latest quarter, I'll argue that it held up better than that. History's on my side!

One of my best tricks to beating the market is finding stocks that perpetually land ahead of the prognosticators. Let's go over the past year of earnings reports.

Source: Thomson Reuters.

Things can change, of course. It's been an unusually warm summer, and hot coffee it still a seasonal beverage that's consumed more when the weather turns chilly. It's also hard to get a clear read on the success that third-party coffee companies in putting out their non-Keurig K-Cups.

However, it's hard to argue against the trend. Everything seems to be falling into place for another market-thumping quarter on the bottom line.

Three for the road
Well, there are three predictions right there. Let's see how I fare this week.