Earnings will help reverse market meltdown: Boston Advisors
- Stocks entered correction territory on Monday, but Boston Advisors' Michael Vogelzang doesn't think a bear market is in the cards.
- "At the end of the day we really believe that the fundamentals are still pretty solid," he says.
- Morgan Stanley's Andrew Slimmon agrees and sees opportunity in financials and industrials.
Stocks tanked on Monday, but Boston Advisors chief investment officer Michael Vogelzang doesn't think a bear market is in the cards.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 459 points on Monday, after falling as much as 758.59 earlier in the day. The S&P 500 dropped 2.2 percent and re-entered correction territory. The Nasdaq composite dropped 2.7 percent.
Vogelzang told "Power Lunch" a 20 percent to 30 percent market correction would be a "very big surprise."
"At the end of the day we really believe that the fundamentals are still pretty solid. That usually prevents bear markets and market scares from getting out of hand," he said.
He added, "When earnings come out in the next few weeks … and as we start to see some growth rates and expectations for the balance of the year, it wouldn't surprise me if we arrest some of this meltdown."
Andrew Slimmon, senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, agrees.
He said, "20 percent corrections around recession — I don't see that happening. I think what's going on here is more volatility and it's a blackout period so there's not a lot of stock buybacks going into the quarter."
Slimmon sees opportunity in value stocks such as financials and industrials. While they've been hit recently, he expects "pretty good" quarters. He would avoid interest rate-sensitive stocks, which have had a pretty good rally.
As for the drop in big tech names, Slimmon told "Power Lunch" it just points to a trade that is "crowded."
He ultimately anticipates a high single-digit return for the stock market this year.
On Monday, tech shares tumbled on fears about possible regulation. Concerns about a possible trade war also weighed on the minds of investors.
In response to the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, China announced overnight Monday it had implemented tariffs on 128 types of U.S. imports.
However, Vogelzang doesn't think tariffs will have a big impact on earnings unless things "spiral out of control."
"It's really, how do you knock the global economy off of its rail, and I don't think that's going to happen with the little bit of saber-rattling and probably a little posturing and negotiating on the part of our current administration," he said.
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors, called the tariffs' impact a "contrived crisis."
"This is not a meteor coming at the Earth from outer space. If this were to really fall apart, we could simply reverse some of these policies and move forward," he said on "Power Lunch."
"Given that we've got this natural growth of earnings and natural growth of revenues that's going on in the backdrop, my sense is that some of the rhetoric will get ultimately toned down," he added.
Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets, said part of the problem for stocks is that there is a news vacuum right now as the market waits for earnings to come out.
"Companies need to come out and talk about how good their operations are and calm some of these fears," he said on "Power Lunch." "The recession is nowhere near, ... growth is real and the economy continues to expand."
— CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.