The 50 Best and Worst Stocks for Friday the 13th

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th, the first of just two in 2017, with the second one occurring in October. And while this date has struck terror into the heart of the superstitious, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has historically outperformed on this unlucky date looking back to 1950 -- although more recent returns could suggest an end-of-week struggle for stocks. Nevertheless, Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White ran the numbers on S&P stocks that have traditionally outperformed and underperformed on Friday the 13th over the past 10 years. Burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) tops the list of best stocks, while Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) supplier Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) leads the list of laggards.

CMG, for instance, has turned in a positive performance on Friday the 13th 78% of the time over the past decade, averaging a return of 0.8%. The stock could certainly use a boost, considering it has shed nearly one-quarter of its value since hitting an annual peak of $542.50 in early March. Plus, the stock's most recent rally was quickly halted by its 200-day moving average -- a trendline that has been ushering CMG lower for more than a year.

Despite the equity's long-term technical troubles, options traders have bought to open CMG calls over puts at a faster-than-usual clip in recent weeks. In fact, the stock's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 1.27 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks in the 76th annual percentile. Plus, eight of 24 analysts still maintain a "buy" or "strong buy" rating. Regardless of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.'s bullish Friday the 13th track record, the stock's slump could continue, should options bulls and/or analysts capitulate to its downtrend.

AVGO, meanwhile, has only turned in a positive Friday the 13th performance 15% of the time since the stock went public in August 2009 -- averaging a loss of 0.6%. This would only be a blip on AVGO's radar, though, considering the security is up a whopping 45.2% year-over-year. What's more, the shares tagged a record peak of $183.99 on Dec. 21, and were last seen lingering at $178.99.

AVGO put buyers have been busy in recent weeks, per the stock's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 1.47 -- in the 87th annual percentile. Echoing this is Broadcom Ltd's top-heavy Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.32, which ranks higher than 88% of all comparable readings taken in the past year. Simply stated, short-term speculators are more put-heavy than usual toward the stock. An unwinding of these bearish bets could translate into fresh tailwinds for AVGO.

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