Which hot stocks are Wall Street analysts the most bullish on? Stocks with no “hold” or “sell” ratings and a pure “strong buy” analyst consensus rating. These are the stocks that make the most compelling investing opportunities — and I recommend keeping a close eye on them over the next few months.
Using TipRanks’ powerful stock screener, I set out to pinpoint seven stocks that command the unanimous support of the Street. You can customize the screener filters to match your investment strategy. In this instance, I searched for mega-, large- and medium-cap stocks with a “strong buy” consensus from analysts and best-performing analysts. These are the top analysts with the highest success rates and average returns.
From the results, you can immediately see a pie chart showing the spread of analyst ratings (buy, hold and sell) on each stock over the past three months. This makes it very easy to spot stocks with only “buy” ratings.
Now let’s dive in and explore the seven stock picks which all have 100% Street support:
‘Strong Buy’ Stocks: Exact Sciences (EXAS)
Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) is a healthcare company committed to helping win the war on cancer through early detection. Its key product is the non-invasive Cologuard cancer screening kit, which can be used in the privacy of your own home. Shares have more than doubled over the year to the current share price of $45. Even so, analysts are still confident that the stock has further upside potential left.
Take five-star Canaccord Genuity analyst Mark Massaro. On Sept. 7, he reiterated his buy rating with a $45 price target. Exact Sciences remains a top pick for 2017 says Massaro. He is encouraged by the company’s recent upbeat investor presentation. In particular, Massaro referred to Exact’s new financing giving it greater flexibility, potentially reduced ad spend. He is also excited about upcoming liquid biopsy development plans.
Note that Massaro has a very profitable track record on Exact stock specifically. Across his 29 EXAS ratings he has a 66% success rate and huge average return of 65.3%.
‘Strong Buy’ Stocks: Broadcom (AVGO)
This list would not be complete without semiconductor giant Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO). The stock has a record 21 straight buy ratings. In fact, the last time an analyst published a hold rating on AVGO was a year ago. And the stock has top-notch upside potential to match. From the current share price, analysts are predicting that AVGO can rise 21% in the next 12 months.
Now, as a key Apple supplier, Broadcom stands to benefit from the potential “super-cycle” of the new iPhone X. “We view the launch of the new iPhones as most positive for Broadcom with (its) content expected to increase 40% and with the number of chips increasing to eight from five,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh said in a report. “We believe the three additional chips will be needed for 3D touch, wireless charging, and RF (radio frequency).”
At the same time, AVGO is a very dividend-friendly stock. This is a situation that is only going to improve, says Morgan Stanley’s Craig Hettenbach. He calls AVGO a “cash return” story for investors.
He expects a dividend increase next quarter, saying “the company could raise it another 60%-75% after doubling it last year.” That works out as “6x the market and 7x semi peers.” Hettenbach has a bullish $290 price target on the stock.
‘Strong Buy’ Stocks: Autodesk (ADSK)
This groundbreaking 3D design company makes software for people who make things. In the last three months, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) has received an impressive nine back-to-back buy ratings. One of these bulls is Evercore ISI analyst Kenneth Talanian. Not only does he have one of the highest price targets on the stock, he also has an 88% success rate and 18.2% average return across his ADSK ratings. He believes Autodesk can reach $135 — 20.2% upside from current share prices.
“Increased confidence on the subscription conversion program, continued demonstrated expense control, and derisked guidance for F2H18 represents an encouraging setup for the stock” says Talanian. Plus “there is material upside to the stock with multiple levers for upside inclusive of the M2S (maintenance to subscription) program, moving more business to direct sales, and capturing the piracy base.” Indeed the company’s M2S program has already shown strong initial signs of success.
Overall, analysts predict that the stock has over 13% upside from the current share price. And notably even the lowest price target still means upside for this steadily rising stock.
‘Strong Buy’ Stocks: Alibaba (BABA)
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is one of the favorite top stocks for analysts right now. The world’s largest online and mobile commerce company by gross merchandise volume (GMV) has no recent hold or sell ratings. But it has received 14 back-to-back buy ratings in the last three months.
Since the beginning of the year, prices have climbed by an incredible $90 to almost $180. And now many analysts are confident BABA can go to $200 and beyond. Five-star Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein has a $190 price target on BABA. He says:
“Our positive thesis is based on the company’s unrivaled dominant position in its core business [and] its pioneer ecosystem that creates a long-standing barrier to entry.” Going forward, Alibaba has numerous drivers, including enhancing monetization, stable GMV growth and “new growth opportunities including rural/cross-border/cloud/logistics.”
“Alibaba has also been building up one of the most comprehensive business ecosystems in the world, covering a wide range of business offerings, which all together create compelling network effects” concludes Helfstein.
‘Strong Buy’ Stocks: Edwards Lifesciences (EW)
Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:EW) is a firm market leader in the heart valve market. The stock has received nine buy ratings in a row from analysts — and was placed on Goldman Sachs’ high conviction list in spring. But it is the stock’s potential upside of over 20% from the current share price that really catches the eye. At the end of August, many analysts bumped up their price targets following the company’s strong beat-and-raise quarter.
The results showed strong growth of EW’s transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) device, which is a specialized collapsible valve that can be inserted into a patient’s heart via a catheter. The device is particularly popular with older patients, as it cancels the need for major invasive surgery. CEO Michael A. Mussallem says “Strong demand for TAVR therapy resulted in total sales growth of 15 percent on an underlying basis.”
Meanwhile Goldman Sachs gave this bullish analysis the stock’s long-term prospects: “Even with strong recent sales growth, we still believe TAVR is in the early stages of penetration and adoption. In our view, the company has substantial upside as it takes share away from open heart surgery and expands the market over the coming years.”
‘Strong Buy’ Stocks: Dycom (DY)
The inclusion of this construction engineering firm in the list may come as a surprise. After all Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DY) shares are down on moderation by AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) ahead of the upcoming closure of the Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) deal.
But this short-term weakness belies the fact that Dycom has serious potential. DY will gain from fiber deployment closer to the home, and the importance of fiber to the 5G converged network. Four analysts have published recent buy ratings on the stock, with projected upside of close to 17% from the current share price.
FBR Capital’s Alex Rygiel paints a very convincing picture of DY’s longer-term outlook. “We reiterate our Buy rating, as we believe that after a few more quarters of revenue declines, DY should hit an inflection point in which growth will resume and continue for many years with the continuation of 1 Gbps upgrades and the convergence of wireless and wireline networks in the new 5G world.”
Best of all, the stock’s “12-month backlog of $2.8B, which increased 20% YOY and 16% sequentially, provides us with the visibility for this upcoming inflection.” At the same time, Dycom could also benefit from the restoration of cable/internet outages after Harvey and Irma, says Rygiel.
‘Strong Buy’ Stocks: Cognizant (CTSH)
Successful international outsourcing firm Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:CTSH), is one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies — an award it has won for nine years in a row. Meanwhile 12 analysts have published buy ratings on the stock. And their projected average price target for the company translates into 11% upside potential.
Investors are feeling increasingly confident that President Donald Trump will not make big changes to the U.S. immigration policy. CTSH brings in a huge number of workers with H-1B visas to fill skill shortages — and stricter regulations would have been very challenging to work around.
Now that immigration risk is reduced, Berenberg Bank has upgraded the stock from hold to buy. Berenberg analyst Georgios Kertsos also ramped up his price target considerably from $65 to $85 (18% upside). He believes there is big potential upside for investors and that potential U.S. tax reforms are not currently reflected in shares.
Which stocks 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.
