Pioneer seasonal expert John Person has a few underloved stocks that he thinks can surprise investors as we head into the end of the year.

Stocks for the holidays. We’re here with John Person, who’s going to tell us what to look for this holiday season.

Well, I think that this holiday, especially with where the markets have traded, really surprised a lot of people in the strength of the breakouts. There have been some stocks that haven’t really participated in the overall rally in the S&P.

I know a lot of people will probably maybe abandon looking at one name in particular, but with Best Buy (BBY), I think there’s a chance for the stock to see at least a little pop. I don’t think people are just going to go shop all at Amazon (AMZN).

You've got to remember that Black Friday is a very popular giveaway day with sales to attract people into stores. I like Best Buy especially at value levels of where it’s at and this October low trend of where prices are. Another stock that might be a surprise to the upside is Sears Holdings (SHLD).

Really? Wow!

Yeah, I think Sears also will be doing some powerful marketing, and could see a boost. If there is performance chasing with funds that are behind the progress of the S&P’s performance, they might be looking for maybe some values or stocks that are undervalued for adding to their portfolio. So these two company names they have limited risk, they’re near their annual lows right now; might have a play going into the December time frame.

Do you see the retailers in that space, you know the mid-level retailer like Sears...I mean JCPenney (JCP) had a challenge trying to get its house in order, and you have the dollar stores on one end and the Walmarts (WMT) but do you see a trend of people moving back up the spending scale?

You know, if it wasn’t for the overvaluation in Nordstrom’s (JWN) or Macy’s (M), for example, which I think will really win the holiday department store war so to speak. Macy’s is also a value play, but I think it’s a little overstretched where we are at this point in early October. So, if we do see at least maybe a 3%, 4%, or 5% correction in Macy’s, I would go with Macy’s as an upside surprise going into year’s end.

So the midline retailers are where you’re going to look.

Yes. Another stock that I think has had at least knocked down a lot of attention and it’s under the radar screen is Costco (COST). Costco also has a shot at making a new high, a breakout high, as we head into the holiday season. They’re certainly going to do a bang-up job of sales headed into the holidays.

I bet. With spending the way it is and as long as it increases, it’s a great place to get everything you need.

Pretty much.

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