Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) & SandRidge Energy Inc. (SD) part of Leon Cooperman’s Hot List

In an interview on CNBC, Leon Cooperman, the chairman & CEO of Omega Advisors, shares some of his insights into stock investing as well as some of his stock picks like Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) & SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD).

Speaking on his stock picks, Cooperman said:

“Some we still own, in fact I’m looking at this list, last year we said, again, there is no guarantee of the future, I got lawyers. Last year we recommended Thermo Fisher ((Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)). It went up 70%. We still recommend it, we still own it. We recommended Qualcomm, I would not put new money in Qualcomm, but we still own Qualcomm. Ahead of a category called phoenix from the ashes, Qualicorp, a Brazilian health care provider, went up 80%. SandRidge ((SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD)) which we still own and recommend to five and 6.5, 6 and three-quarters.”

Omega Advisors held 47.75 million shares worth $293.19 million of SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD) at the end of the first quarter of 2014. Cooperman also held 847,800 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO), worth $101.94 million.

Explaining the behavior of the stock market, Cooperman said that nearly 50 to 60% movement in a stock is determined by the market conditions, around 20 to 30% depends on the industry/category to which the stock belongs and finally the remaining part depends on what the company does fundamentally.

Therefore, according to him, a rise or fall in the broader market is going to affect whichever stocks investors pick.

Sharing his thoughts on market trends, Cooperman said that an economic recession sows the seeds for an economic recovery and vice versa. He said that he waited in 2008 for a recovery and that is what exactly is happening and there is an expected five years of growth ahead.

To prove his viewpoint, Cooperman said: “Here, I will give you an idea, just forgive me. Okay, what normally precedes recession? Accelerating inflation, we don’t have it. Inverted yield curve, we don’t have it. Rising inventory to sales ratios, we don’t have it. Declining employment, we don’t have it. Rising initial jobless claims, we don’t have it. All the conditions that normally lead to recession are invisible. So now we are arguing how high is high. And, you know, at the end of the day we get to euphoria most likely, but we are nowhere near euphoria.”

Disclosure: none