The market is cheap, so we can hold off on the usual anecdotes and get right down to business. All of this week’s Rocket Stocks have direct catalysts, which could propel them higher or lower, independent of how the market performs.

Short Alberto-Culver (ACV): I am leery of anything tied to the consumer, especially personal beauty products, which is why I think shares of Alberto-Culver should be avoided going into this week’s earnings report. Alberto-Culver, which operates in the personal health care products space, could see a substantial decline in earnings this quarter, with weakness across all of its branded beauty care items.

Couple in the recent weakness in Helen of Troy (HELE), and Estee Lauder (EL), as well as the fact that Alberto-Culver trading at the high end of its historical valuation with a forward P/E of 15.7 and enterprise value/EBITDA of 9.9, and you can see why the stock could fall from here.

Long American Express (AXP): At $16, trading near its 52-week low and down 70% for the year, shares of American Express could likely move into the $18 to $19 range based on bottoming fundamentals and an extremely negative sentiment. Sporting the highest-risk adjusted yield (4.7%) and the lowest net write-offs (4.3%) vs. Citigroup (C), Capital One (COF) and JPMorgan (JPM), American Express should be trading for a premium to the group, not at a discount. My guess is that the stock works higher from here.

Long Amgen (AMGN): Amgen was hit particularly hard on Friday as rumors surrounding a possible Pfizer (PFE)-Wyeth (WYE) merger took some speculative winds out of Amgen’s sails. Even still, Amgen is the fastest-growing large-cap biotech company, with one of the deepest pipelines and largest current cash flows. I think the recent decline in the stock sets up well as a trading opportunity.

Long EMC (EMC): With positive earnings from Apple (AAPL) and IBM (IBM), EMC, which already pre-announced quarterly earnings of 23 cents or 24 cents per share on sales of about $4 billion vs. analyst estimates of 21 cents per share on $3.9 billion in revenue, could move higher.

Long New York Community Bankcorp (NYB): The one bank that actually rejected TARP capital form the government should be respected by investors, not hated, as its position near its 52-week low suggests. Recently, NYCB CEO Joseph Ficalora hinted that it might surprise to the upside, saying: “Recently, our spreads have been widening out."

For more ideas, check out this week’s Rocket Stocks portfolio.

To find the snapbacks and potential breakouts on a regular basis, check out these Stockpickr portfolios, which I use in my own research each week:

Always check the Biggest Percentage Losers, a list of stocks that lost big the day before, because they can snap back hard.

When you check this list on Stockpickr, you can see which stocks are owned by the quality hedge funds and mutual funds. Pay attention to those. The funds will be buying at the lower prices and likely supporting the stock.

Ditto for the 52-week-low list. You must check the above two lists every day if you hope to find volatile stocks that can snap back

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume: These are potential breakout plays.

Stockpickr's System Trades of the Day: These are trades triggering that day in various back-tested trading systems we've developed.

Stocks With Unusual Options Activity: Perhaps someone knows something?

Latest Activist Situations: These are stocks that hedge funds are accumulating shares of and demanding change in. Believe me, these hedge funds piggyback each other. And once they start rocking the boat, things happen quickly. This should be on the must-view list.

One final place to frequent is the Answers section on Stockpickr, where ideas such as those presented in this article are thrown around daily. And you can further discuss your ideas and share opinions in Stockpickr's Member Forums section.

By James Altucher. At the time of publication, Altucher had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Posted on Jan. 25, 2009