Where to invest with stocks at records, according to two traders

Stocks kicked off November with fresh records.

The S&P 500 has added 22% this year and roared more than 30% higher off its December bottom.

With stocks at sky-high levels, MKM Partners chief market technician JC O’Hara says one corner of the market could offer value.

“If I were to put new money to work today and look for new buying opportunities, I am really liking what I’m starting to see from the health-care sector. Now remember, in 2018 health care was the best performing sector. However, year to date, health care is the second-worst performing sector just ahead of energy. So you really haven’t seen 2018 momentum continue into 2019,” O’Hara said on CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Friday.

“However, we’re starting to see individual stocks start to act well, and I think we have to be careful because if you just look at the health-care sector in general, the large weighting of Johnson & Johnson representing 10% is basically flat on the year, and that has really hidden a lot of underlying strength,” said O’Hara.

O’Hara says that strength can be seen in the RYH equal-weight health-care ETF which accounts for all the components of the sector in measure. The RYH ETF has surged 25% off December lows, ahead of the XLV health care ETF’s 18% increase.

“This positive momentum from the equal weight, from all the constituents within health care, I think that’ll carry through, and I think that’s an area we want to focus on,” he added.

John Petrides, portfolio manager at Tocqueville Asset Management, says global headwinds tied to China and trade, tensions in the Middle East, and political uncertainty in the U.S. could keep investors on their toes. However, he does like one name to hedge against any volatility.

“We still like the high dividend-yielding stocks that are low beta, low volatility relative to the market. So for example, we like Verizon,” Petrides said during the same segment.

Verizon has soared 9% in the past three months, while the S&P 500 has added 4%. It’s one of the top performers on the XLC communications services ETF.

“[With] Verizon you’re getting a 4%-plus dividend yield, the company grows its dividend higher than the rate of inflation for over the last decade or so, and they’re going to be right in the middle of the 5G rollout upgrade cycle within the telecom space and they have one of the highest quality mobile infrastructures in the world. So why not own a name like Verizon? Hit it down the fairway,” said Petrides.

Disclosure: Petrides personally owns Verizon shares; certain clients of Tocqueville do own shares of VZ.

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