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Three Valentine’s Day Stocks Worth Buying

One-day events can be overblown on Wall Street, but these three Valentine’s Day stocks are trending in the right direction.

Aside from Christmas, Black Friday/Cyber Monday and Alibaba’s (BABA) Singles’ Day, one-day events tend to get overblown on Wall Street. Can one day out of 365 on the calendar really move the market in a meaningful way? In general, no. And today, Valentine’s Day, is no exception, no matter how much love or candy-fueled optimism is in investors’ hearts. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few Valentine’s Day stocks worth buying.

To clarify, when I say Valentine’s Day stocks, I mean companies that generate a lot of revenue on (and especially before) Valentine’s Day. I don’t necessarily like them because of all the Cupid-inspired buying of their products, though the resulting strong February-quarter sales can’t hurt. I like the following three Valentine’s Day stocks because of their charts.

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So, without further ado, here are three Valentine’s Day stocks every investor should love—now, and well after February 14.

Valentine’s Day Stock #1: 1-800-Flowers (FLWS)

Every February, commercials for this flower-delivery giant ramp up. Saying “I Love You” is just a phone call (or, more likely these days, a mouse click) away with 1-800-Flowers. And Valentine’s Day is always big business for the nation’s No. 1 florist and gift shop, helping generate more than $230 million in its fiscal third-quarter sales each of the last two years. But Valentine’s Day isn’t 1-800-Flowers’ biggest cash cow; Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s are far bigger, as evidenced by the $554 million in the fiscal second-quarter sales the company recently reported.

Still, the current quarter is traditionally 1-800-Flowers’ second-best quarter, and analysts are expecting the company to do $236 million in sales from January through March, which would be a slight improvement over the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the stock has rebounded quite nicely this month after a rough start to the year, jumping from 9 to 10 in the first week of February after reporting those mostly impressive holiday-quarter results. The stock will have to jump another dollar to match its 52-week high just above 11, but the fact that it’s threatening to breach its 50-day moving average is a good sign.

1-800-Flowers (FLWS) is one of three Valentine's Day stocks that's trending in the right direction.

And the long-term trend in FLWS looks great—it’s up 28% in the last year and 266% in the last five years. If the stock pokes its head above its 50-day moving average, that would be an ideal time to buy.

Valentine’s Day Stock #2: The Hershey Company (HSY)

Hershey is another Valentine’s Day stock that’s been trending in the right direction of late. HSY is up 4.5% year to date and has kited from 105 to 108 since the beginning of February, putting it comfortably above its 50-day moving average. Going back further, the stock has risen more than 19% over the past 12 months, despite a huge gap down late last summer.

HSY

Hershey’s fourth-quarter sales improved 3.2%, marking the third consecutive year-over-year increase after failing to grow revenues in any of the previous four quarters. Earnings per share tumbled quite a bit, but investors seem to be focusing on the positives with this 123-year-old chocolate company. A 2.3% dividend yield certainly helps. Buy on the dips.

Valentine’s Day Stock #3: Tiffany (TIF)

Tiffany’s has gotten some bad press lately due to the proximity of its Manhattan flagship store to Trump Tower—and the waves of protesters who are driving away customers. But in the grand scheme, that’s just a minor headache on the radar for a company that’s actually doing fairly well.

The company posted simultaneous top- and bottom-line growth in its latest quarter for the first time since 2014. That’s helped push TIF stock from 77 to 81 since the beginning of the year, despite all the Trump Tower-related headlines. The stock just poked its head above its 50-day moving average last week, which could be a good buy signal.

TIF

As with HSY, TIF’s 2.3% yield helps sweeten the pot.

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Chris Preston is Cabot Wealth Network’s Vice President of Content and Chief Analyst of Cabot Stock of the Week and Cabot Value Investor .