10 Names That Are Screaming Stocks to Buy
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in March 2018 but has since been updated and republished. Some of the picks may no longer be recommended by the original author.]
For investors prepared to put in the work, there are plenty of gems to be found. I set out to pinpoint the best stocks to buy right now using the best analysts on Wall Street as guidance. TipRanks tracks and measures the performance of over 4,700 analysts, enabling investors to identify consistently outperforming experts.
Analysts are ranked based on two crucial factors: success rate and average return-per-recommendation. Following top analysts is an easy way to identify stocks to buy that experts believe have strong investing potential.
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Investors can be reassured that these stocks to buy are the crème-de-la-crème as far as the Street is concerned.
Bearing this in mind, let’s dive in and take a closer look at the top 10 best stocks to buy:
10 Names That Are Screaming Stocks to Buy: Facebook (FB)
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Social media giant Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is one of the best stocks to bu .
Looking at TipRanks best-performing analysts, FB stock is expected to see more upside, despite tremendous growth already.
Meanwhile, top-100 analyst KeyBanc analyst Andy Hargreaves added, “We believe this provides an opportunity to purchase above-average growth at Facebook for a price that is well below average.”
He believes investors are heavily discounting FB’s growth prospects and extraordinary core momentum. His $245 price target suggests even greater upside potential.
Boeing (BA)
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One of the world’s largest aerospace companies, Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock slipped last year on trade war fears, and BA dropped again after one of its planes — the 737 Max — malfunctioned. But Head of Research at Fundstrat Tom Lee believes the market overreacted.
He has calculated that Boeing actually has a trade-war exposure of just 35.2%. To calculate this figure, Lee looked at the company’s overseas sourcing as a percentage of cost of goods sold and exports as a percentage of sales. A percentage under 40% means the company has a low trade war exposure, according to Lee.
And in this case, despite all the trade war noise, I would recommend carefully considering Boeing. After all, BA stock has received 12“buy” ratings, with eight analysts on the sidelines. With a $420 average price target, upside potential stands at nearly 20%.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN)
Source: Alexion Pharmaceuticals
Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN) is a U.S. pharma company best known for its development of Soliris, a drug used to treat rare blood disorders. And Oppenheimer analyst Hartaj Singh selected ALXN as his top stock to buy.
Singh says the stock’s risk/reward profile is oriented to the upside making this a top stock to invest in right now.
He concludes: “With a robust rare disease platform, a slowing yet cash-generating asset in Soliris, and two newly launched products in Strensiq and Kanuma, we believe that it is not a question of if, but rather when, the shares positively re-rate.”
Pioneer Natural (PXD)
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Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) is on the cusp of great things. The company is divesting all non-Permian assets. This asset sale should raise PXD about $1 billion and it transforms PXD into a pure-play on the Permian Basin. Given that this is one of the world’s most lucrative oil fields, that’s no bad thing.
B. Riley FBR analyst Rehan Rashid applauds the company’s “strategic realignment.” He says the move will enable PXD to ramp up its investment in its Permian assets.
“We believe this platform and the substantial resource base it has to offer are simply not replicable. We reiterate our ‘buy’ rating and $305 price target and add PXD to the B. Riley FBR Alpha Generator list” says Rashid. He calculates “new” resource potential of nearly 20 billion BOE (barrels of oil or equivalent).
TipRanks shows that Pioneer has received 10 buy ratings and two hold ratings from analysts in the past three months. Considering that the stock is now at $156, analysts are projecting (on average) upside potential of about 25%.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX)
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Global biotech stock Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) is a prime investing pick with a growing portfolio of cystic fibrosis (CF) drugs. This is a genetic disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs, digestive system and other organs in the body.
The company scored a key approval from the FDA for its third CF drug, Symdeko. The approval came two weeks earlier than expected and “potentially speaks to the FDA’s growing comfort with the suite of VRTX medicines” said JP Morgan’s Cory Kasimov.
“We continue to believe that VRTX’s dominance in the CF space, compelling bottom-line growth trajectory (43% CAGR through 2022), and significant free cash flow generation could potentially allow the company to substantially expand the breadth of its investor base” cheered Kasimov. So watch this space.
Overall, this “strong buy” stock scored ten buy ratings and just three “hold” rating in the past few months. Meanwhile, the average analyst price target of $211 works out to 15% upside from current share levels.
Raytheon (RTN)
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Defense giant Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) is the world’s largest producer of guided missiles. As with Boeing, you may be concerned that this stock would suffer in the event of a trade war. However, you can rest easy.
According to research firm Fundstrat, it actually has a trade-war exposure percentage of 35.2% (again, anything under 40% is considered low). And from a Street perspective, the outlook on RTN is also very bullish right now.
“Strong broad order momentum, a large Patriot backlog, and untapped financial firepower give RTN extended EPS and cash flow per share growth potential” cheered five-star Cowen & Co. analyst Cai Rumohr.
With a strong outlook for 2019 and the subsequent years, RTN has received four buy ratings from the best analysts recently. Two analysts have remained on the sidelines. The average analyst price target indicates 15% upside potential from the current share price.
Alibaba (BABA)
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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) has a “strong buy” analyst consensus rating with big upside potential of 35%. The Street is unanimous in its take on BABA as one of the best stocks to invest in right now.
I say that because in the last three months, this stock has received no hold or sell ratings from the Street. Just 100% buy ratings.
Key growth drivers to keep a close watch on include rural/cross-border/cloud/logistics. For example, AliCloud (Alibaba’s answer to Amazon Web Services) revenue is soaring with triple-digit year-over-year growth.
Skechers USA (SKX)
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Skechers (NYSE:SKX) is primed for significant expansion. The company remains notably undervalued compared to its athletic retail peers.
Following a blowout fourth-quarter earnings report, Poser is confident that the stock’s solid momentum is here to stay. “Another significant earnings beat reinforces our belief that SKX is at the beginning of a multiyear run of superior earnings growth and outsized investor returns,” he said.
According to Poser, SKX was seeing strength in “all its businesses.” The company’s domestic wholesale business iwas inflecting while the potential for growth in international markets is robust. He predicted that strong Chinese growth will enable management to meet its targeted $6 billion in revenue by 2020. This suggests an impressive CAGR rate of roughly 13%.
“A premium multiple is warranted as we are confident that the SKX business is on the verge of a material positive inflection,” Poser concluded in his report.
In the last three months, Skechers has received two buys and no holds, and an average price target of $37.50.
2U Inc (TWOU)
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Online education platform 2U (NASDAQ:TWOU) received a slew of price target increases from the Street this year. On May 7, the company reported Q1 results ahead of expectations. This marks its sixteenth consecutive quarter of outperformance. 2U’s revenue jumped 32% year-over-year.
“We believe long-term investors will be rewarded over the years as 2U disrupts and transforms the post-secondary education landscape with little credible threat over the medium term” stated Schwartz.
In the last three months, this stock to buy boasts five buy ratings from the Street’s best analysts.
MasTec (MTZ)
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Last but not least of all the best stocks to invest in, we have Florida-based specialty contractor engineer MasTec (NYSE:MTZ). The company’s work spans electric power infrastructure, oil and natural gas pipelines, renewable energy facilities and wireless networks. Strength across the board has resulted in over 80% Street support with five analysts publishing recent buy ratings. These analysts spy near 30% upside potential for MTZ.
Which best stocks to buy are the top 25 analysts recommending right now? Find out here.
TipRanks offers investors the latest insight into eight different sectors by tracking the activity of 4,500 analysts, 5,000 financial bloggers and even 37,000 corporate insiders. As of this writing, Harriet Lefton did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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