10 "Strong Buy" Stock Picks for a Spring Surge
Getty Images
Welcome back, bulls.
A stellar first quarter and a strong jobs report has sent the market into full-on rally mode. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index has now gained nearly 15% since the start of the year. And several drivers - including the growing possibility of a trade deal with China - may give the broader stock indexes a chance at hitting all-time highs this spring.
With the 10-year bull-run back on track, we turned to TipRanks' Analysts' Top Stocks tool to pinpoint some of the market's most compelling investing opportunities. This tool reveals the companies with the most bullish "Strong Buy" consensus, based on top-performing analysts' ratings of these stock picks over the last three months.
Here are 10 of the analysts' best "Strong Buy" stock picks in anticipation of a continued rally. We've ranked them by potential upside based on analyst targets - from 4% to 103%.
SEE ALSO: 19 Best Stocks to Buy for 2019 (And 5 to Sell)
Verint SystemsGetty Images
Market value: $4.1 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $64.50 (4% upside potential)
TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
Cybersecurity stock Verint Systems (VRNT, $62.04) is buzzing right now. The company delivered another robust round of quarterly financials and guidance near the end of March, leading to a big round of applause from the Street. "The Comeback Kid Delivers," writes Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, who boosted his price target from $58 to $63. VRNT has been pushing toward that target ever since.
Ives says Verint is at a real inflection point, with investments in advanced technologies - such as machine learning and robotics - beginning to pay off.
"VRNT is seeing strong demand for its Customer Engagement hybrid cloud portfolio," he writes. On the cyber intelligence front, because of Verint's strong reputation and product-based approach, "the company was able to drive strong growth and expects this trend to continue into double-digit territory throughout FY20."
"As the visibility in VRNT increases, margins ramp, and the value proposition of its analytics framework continues to take hold, we believe the multiple will further expand," Ives writes. For further insights on this tech stock, turn to TipRanks' VRNT Research Report.
SEE ALSO: The 25 Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy Now (According to Hedge Funds)
Walt DisneyGetty Images
Market value: $210.1 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $132.36 (13% upside potential)
TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
Walt Disney (DIS, $116.86) is a mainstay among analyst stock picks, and Wall Street still is largely in the bull camp. The company is gearing up to launch its own Disney+ streaming service, placing it in direct competition with powerful rivals such as Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon.com's (AMZN) Amazon Prime.
Borst is forecasting 7.5 million global subscribers by 2020, then a whopping 73 million by 2025. Disney has just completed the biggest entertainment merger in Hollywood with the purchase of many of 21st Century Fox's (FOXA) film and TV assets, and once that's done, it will own 60% of streaming provider Hulu.
"It is the dawn of a new era at Disney," Goldman Sachs analyst Drew Borst says. "The $70 bn acquisition of Fox is now closed and the approaching debut of Disney+ streaming service in late (calendar 2019) marks a momentous shift in the company's content monetization model from third-party licensing to direct-to-consumer streaming."
Despite near-term investment headwinds, the analyst is confident that Disney+ represents a positive long-term strategy. Borst thinks the service will enable DIS to develop better direct-to-consumer relationships, with higher long-run margins and better consumption data.
The analyst initiated coverage on Disney on April 4 with a "Buy" rating and $142 price target (22% upside potential). Discover more about Disney's investing potential in the TipRanks' DIS Research Report.
SEE ALSO: 9 Great Funds for This Roaring Bull Market
Amazon.comGetty Images
Market value: $901.8 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $2,125.16 (16% upside potential)
TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
While retail stocks all round the world struggle, Amazon.com (AMZN, $1,835.84) continues to deliver impressive growth quarter after quarter thanks to the company's multi-pronged approach. Not only is it America's e-commerce leader, but it's also the global leader in cloud computing with its extremely valuable Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit, and it's diving even further into media via its Amazon Prime operations.
Five-star Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein has just finished a deep dive into AWS. The results have furthered his conviction in Amazon's investing thesis, leading him to raise his price target from $1,975 to $2,085 (potential upside of 14%).
"We think AWS is well positioned as AI leads productivity improvements, forcing faster enterprise cloud adoption," Helfstein writes. The benefit for AWS is twofold: 1) most organizations will gain access to AI through their cloud platform, driving cloud adoption; 2) AI applications and services are high-margin recurring revenues that will tie-in enterprise providers. He estimates AWS revenue to increase from $8 billion in 2018 to $13 billion in 2021.
Interestingly, Helfstein also argues that with each new successful Amazon Web Services "vertical," Amazon is increasingly likely to spin out AWS into a separate unit. "We view this as possible when AMZN matures its advertising and video businesses," he writes.
The Street views Amazon as one of the best stocks to buy right now. Of the 36 analysts covering AMZN shares, 35 rate it a "Buy." For more information on Amazon's latest market activity, get a free AMZN Research Report from TipRanks.
SEE ALSO: 11 Dividend Growth Stocks Flying Under the Radar (For Now)
AphriaGetty Images
Market value: $3.2 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $15.33 (59% upside potential)
TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
Low-cost cannabis producer Aphria (APHA, $9.67) has enjoyed a tremendous run recently, with shares exploding 70% year-to-date. That's following a horrific 2018 in which the company was hit by a short report alleging that insiders profited from acquiring international assets at extortionate prices.
But an investigation by a special board committee subsequently held that these allegations were unfounded, and the stock has been back on an upward trajectory ever since.
The committee did note, however, that "certain of the non-independent directors of the Company had conflicting interests in the Acquisition that were not fully disclosed to the Board." As a result, chairman Irwin Simon has now taken over the CEO role. Simon is the founder, and former CEO of multibillion-dollar company Hain Celestial Group (HAIN), bringing with him extensive experience growing and guiding large companies in consumer markets.
"If management can execute, there is the potential for a very substantial re-rating of the stock price from current levels," top-rated Clarus analyst Noel Atkinson writes to investors. "Aphria's list of near-term operational milestones is significant, and successful execution in a timely fashion could transform the company both in terms of financial results and investor sentiment."
These milestones include the launch of cannabis oil soft gels and optimizing growing techniques at its Leamington, Ontario site. The company plans to expand production at Leamington to 70,000 kilograms of cannabis per year.
- 1
- 2