Lebenthal: Buy this stock before Apple's earnings

Published Mon, Jan 25 20161:11 PM EST

CNBC "Halftime Report" trader Jim Lebenthal believes shares of two tech stocks are poised to move higher once they announce earnings next week. In what he sees as a near-term opportunity, the money manager bought shares of Qorvo for his model portfolio and in real life as a derivative play off of Apple's earnings, which are being released after Tuesday's closing bell. In the past week, Qorvo , a semiconductor maker that supplies its products to Apple , has seen its shares rise 10 percent as investors buy the stock on expectations that Apple earnings could come in better than expected. According to data from Thomson Reuters, Wall Street predicts Apple will report Q1 earnings per share of $3.23, a 5.6 percent increase from the same period last year. Revenue is expected to reach $76.6 billion, a gain of 2.7 percent. "Expect a relief rally on Apple's earnings and guidance tomorrow not being as bad as expected," Lebenthal wrote in an email. Read More 10 stocks that nearly always rise on earnings Apart from Qorvo, the investor is also scooping up shares of Qualcomm , which are up 5 percent in the past week ahead of its earnings report scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Here's what Lebenthal wrote on the purchase: "The stock was utterly crushed on a lack of clarity in China at the last earnings release. Since then, they signed over 5 contracts with Chinese OEM's . This means clarity is returning to China for QCOM. The company may reinstate guidance for the current year at the call, also. This would be a positive. Finally, there are reports today that Samsung is picking up more QCOM product in its phones. That is a positive as well." To make room in his model portfolio for these two trades, the investor is selling out of Marathon Petroleum and General Motors , two stocks he still likes and may even buy back ahead of their earnings next week. For the time being, however, Qorvo and Qualcomm have better catalysts, according to his research. Disclosures: Jim Lebenthal is long shares of Qorvo, Qualcomm, Marathon Petroleum and General Motors.

Jim Lebenthal

Scott Mlyn | CNBC

CNBC "Halftime Report" trader Jim Lebenthal believes shares of two tech stocks are poised to move higher once they announce earnings next week.

In what he sees as a near-term opportunity, the money manager bought shares of Qorvo for his model portfolio and in real life as a derivative play off of Apple's earnings, which are being released after Tuesday's closing bell.

In the past week, Qorvo, a semiconductor maker that supplies its products to Apple, has seen its shares rise 10 percent as investors buy the stock on expectations that Apple earnings could come in better than expected.