Two growth stocks to buy ahead of this earnings season kickoff, traders say

Growth stocks are again in the lead on Thursday, rebounding from weakness earlier this year.

Quint Tatro, president of Joule Financial, last week forecast a comeback for growth stocks.

Inspired by that call, CNBC's "Trading Nation" asked for stock picks that fit these criteria: first, it had to be a growth stock outside of the mainstream names such as Apple and Microsoft, and secondly, the traders had to have expectations for a solid quarter in the upcoming reporting season.

"You've got to look a little bit under the hood and find areas that maybe aren't as loved, maybe facing a taller task," Tatro said Wednesday.

While Facebook hits all-time highs, Tatro said its smaller social media competitor Twitter is a buy here.

"Twitter is a name that really has struggled, albeit it's in much better position tradingwise than it has been, but the name obviously fell under significant pressure when, during Covid and quarantine, they struggled to add a lot of users and the traders really took part and sold the stock off considerably," Tatro said.

He said revenue growth, strong free cash flow and an increase in advertising on the platform should boost its stock performance.

"We're expecting good things from this quarter and we anticipate the stock could potentially reach new highs somewhere in the next couple of months," Tatro said.

Twitter is scheduled to report earnings on April 29. Analysts surveyed by FactSet anticipate 14 cents a share in earnings for the three months to April, up from 11 cents a share a year earlier. Sales are expected to increase 27%.

Katie Stockton, founder of Fairlead Strategies, also believes the rebound in growth stocks is just beginning. 

"One way to take advantage of that would be Paycom," Stockton said during the same interview. "It is a recovery or reopening trade in a way and it got very oversold in March and that was not just from a short-term perspective, but also an intermediate-term perspective."

The software stock managed to hold its long-term trend during the pullback, a move Stockton sees as technically bullish.

"There's some support just below $360 for Paycom. Now we have a little bit of an uptick in short-term momentum, and also some improvement in relative strength when you compare it versus the S&P 500. So I think after a few more days of consolidation here we'll see it resume higher at least for a partial retracement of that corrective base," Stockton said.

Paycom is expected to report earnings May 4. Analysts anticipate an increase in earnings to $1.41 a share for its March-ended quarter, an improvement on $1.33 a share a year earlier. Sales are expected to rise by 12%.

Disclosure: Joule Financial holds TWTR.

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