The Cream Always Rises To The Top

August has thus far been a dismal month for the equity markets. Fear has run
rampant among traders on Wall Street, and that fear also has shaken investors on
Main Street. The fright in this market so far in August has caused the
broad-based measure of the domestic market, the S&P 500 index, to dive 8.88%
month to date as of Aug. 12. That's a huge drop in just 10 trading days, but
fortunately, not all big-name stocks have submitted to the selling demons. I'm
sure you've heard the old adage The cream always rises to the top. Well,
that's true when it comes to just about everything in life, including stocks.
To skim the cream off the top of this curdled market, I did a Bloomberg screen
of month-to-date percentage gains on the biggest 100 stocks in the S&P 500. The
results can be seen in the table below. What should come as no surprise is that
companies with stellar earnings and/or stalwart brands have managed to hold
their own even in the face of some really nasty bearish trades. Credit card
company Mastercard (NYSE: MA ) tops the list of cream-of-the-crop stocks, with
an amazing month-to-date gain of 8.23%. The stock's strength is impressive,
especially when other financial stocks are getting pounded. It should probably
come as no surprise that Mastercard shares have done so well, given its recent
quarterly earnings jump of 24% and its estimated EPS growth of 26% in 2011. The
always controversial News Corp . (NASDAQ: NWS ) has made most of its headlines
lately for the hacking scandal in the U.K., but the real headline for the owner
of Fox TV and The Wall Street Journal should be the company's stellar earnings
and dividend increase. The Rupert Murdoch led News Corp. managed to do both of
those things despite its high-profile troubles. Whatever you think of Murdoch,
you've got to hand it to the man when it comes to his business acumen and his
ability to guide the company's shares up nearly 2% while the wider market has
fallen almost 9%. As for the other companies on this list, it's a similar
story. All have staying power, all have excellent earnings and all should be
seen as stocks likely to rise to the top in even the sourest market.