I usually tend to favor the study and analysis of value-oriented professional portfolios over growth-oriented one. After the past week's volatility, however, I've seen many growth stocks begin to offer buying opportunities.
[Image source: InvestorPlace.com.]

Louis Navellier is a very well-known growth investor who writes the Blue Chip Growth newsletter and manages Navellier & Associates, a $4.5 billion fund focused on finding stocks that "should contribute significantly to overall portfolio outperformance against relative benchmarks."

Because the fund owns so many stocks, I'm only going to focus on Navellier's favorite industries, or themes, and the favorite ideas within each one. If you read through Navellier's 'position sheet,' it should become pretty apparent that the several themes he's currently riding in the market, are big tech, exchanges and oil service companies
Big Tech

Big technology companies seem to be the trade of the year, especially before this week's sell-off. Investors believe that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) are both going to do unbelievably well in the next few years as smartphones become more prevalent, Mac computers gain market share, and so on. Navellier has a big position in both of these stocks.

My issue with both Apple and Research in Motion is that they appear to be priced near perfection, even after the recent sell-off. Unless the market regains its momentum and turns around, I'm a skeptic about both of these stocks. As I've said before, I believe AT&T (NYSE: T) is the safest (and presumably the least volatile) way to play the smartphone surge in the United States. You can see from the chart on the left that this thesis held up during the recent downturn.

Navellier also has big positions in several other technology prominent tech names. For example, he has a position in Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO). At just 16x forward earnings, with solid growth expectations and a very clean balance sheet, Cisco is indeed a very interesting stock at these levels. An interesting strategy could be a cash-covered put sale with the recent increase in volatility. He also has a smaller position in Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM), a stock I covered here.

Exchanges

Wall Street has fallen in love with trading exchanges in the last few years. The increased capital under hedge fund management has led to more trading activity and increased commissions for the exchanges. Wall Street has eagerly bought into fresh exchange IPOs for NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) and NYMEX Holdings (NYSE: NMX) within the last year. Navellier, too, is a believer in this trend. He owns rather large positions in InterContinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) and CME Group (NYSE: CME).

InterContinental is a remarkably interesting stock. The company is focused on the trading of volatile energy and agriculture futures and other products. This leads to above-normal trading activity. These markets have recently shifted towards electronic trading, a move which should increase trading volumes and, therefore, increase sales and earnings for this company. InterContinental is also in the process of acquiring the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), which should have many benefits for the company. Most importantly, there will be significant synergies between the two companies, presumably allowing InterContinental to increase its margins.

At $130 per share, about double its trading price last year, the stock certainly doesn't look cheap, but when you consider the stock's recent drop from $170 per share, it becomes more interesting. The company is trading for about 25-30x next year's earnings expectations -- an expensive multiple. However, if the NYBOT acquisition is completed successfully and trading volumes continue to increase, who knows what the market will be willing to pay for this company's earnings.

Similarly, shares CME Group have been hit recently. The stock's current price of $540 is about 10% less than its recent high of more than $600 per share. Similar to InterContinental, trading volumes continue to surge. If the company can successfully integrate BOT operations, synergies will likely send shares higher. But, like InterContinental, high expectations for the company remain with shares trading for nearly 30x next year's earnings estimates.

Oil Service Companies

Oil service companies have also become very popular with Wall Street in recent years. Higher oil prices are sending exploration companies on more expensive projects that are economical in today's day and age. Due to huge supply, the oil service companies that perform a wide variety of important tasks at oil fields have been able to increase their prices.

Two of Navellier's favorite stocks in this space are Dawson Geophysical (NYSE: DWSN) and Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB). I recently outlined the bullish arguments behind the stock, most importantly the heightened demand for the company's services due to increased exploration initiatives.

Schlumberger is another interesting oil service company. Unlike Dawson, this company performs oilfield services such as project management, drilling measurements and IT infrastructure services. The stock seems fairly expensive here at 24x earnings with the peer average trading for about 14x earnings, but it's expected to display significant growth into next year unlike its peers Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) and BJ Services (NYSE: BJS).


Navellier's portfolio is loaded with potential investing ideas. By zeroing in on the themes Navellier is clearly playing it's much easier to digest the information, learn and potentially profit from the portfolio.