7 Rock-Solid Stocks to Hold On for Dear Life

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stocks to buy - 7 Rock-Solid Stocks to Hold On for Dear Life

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Are you ready for the market roller-coaster of 2018? Stocks are looking very volatile right now, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average experiencing its worst ever single-day point decline last week.

On the same day, the VIX volatility index spiked by a record 116%. Wells Fargo’s Scott Wren commented to CNBC: “You’ve got to get used to this — maybe not 400-point days but certainly half percent days, 100- to 200-point days, up and down.”

In such fragile market conditions, it pays to keep your portfolio full of solid stocks with consistent growth and a favorable outlook. All of the seven stocks below are up on a one-month basis. Some of them by over 10%! Plus I used TipRanks to ensure that these solid stocks also have a ‘Strong Buy’ analyst consensus rating.

This is based on the last three months of analyst ratings. I also double checked that these stocks have support not just from the Street in general, but from the Street’s best-performing analysts in particular. These are the analysts who know what it takes to beat the market.

So without further ado, let’s dive in and take a closer look at these seven stock picks now:

Boeing BA stock

Rock-Solid Stocks to Buy: Boeing (BA)

One of the world’s largest aerospace companies, Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) is going from strength to strength right now. Over the last year, share prices have exploded from $166 to $351 — with 12% growth in the last month alone. Now, Boeing has just made several exciting announcements. First, it revealed $900 million in orders at the Singapore Airshow. Then it hit the news with a potential tie up with Brazil’s Embraer.

Five-star Cowen & Co analyst Cai Rumohr says “Boeing remains our top pick for a $415 price target [19% upside].” He believes the tie up with Embraer can create multiple synergies for Boeing:

“BA’s interest in Embraer is keyed to potential synergies on complementary products by a peer it knows well from prior initiatives. Key synergies are (1) BA’s greater sales clout, (2) a more expensive service network, and (3) BA’s greater supply chain leverage; and BA’s stronger brand could help sale of both the E2 and ERJ’s bizjets.”

And don’t forget, we are also looking at a killer dividend stock. With a 2% dividend yield, BA pays out an impressive annualized dividend of $6.84. Tigress’ Ivan Feinseth notes: “BA continues to enhance shareholder returns with ongoing dividend increases and share repurchases. We believe further upside in the shares exists from current levels.”

Over the last three months, BA has received 13 “buy” ratings, with four analysts choosing to stay on the sidelines. With a $390 average price target, analysts are looking for upside of over 12% from the current share price.

MasterCard MA stock

Rock-Solid Stocks to Buy: MasterCard (MA)

Global payments MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) giant has seen shares rise from $106 to $169 over the course of the last year. Over the last month shares are up 6%. And this pattern of consistent growth goes back over the last 5 years. However, it’s only now that four-star Argus Research analyst Stephen Biggar has upgraded MA from “hold” to “buy.” He also has a shiny new $200 price target to match (18.5% upside potential).

So, why the shift in sentiment? Well MA has just reported very strong Q4 results with quarterly profits topping estimates. The company benefited from the fastest US consumer spending growth in three years, boosted by a busy shopping holiday period. Now Biggar expects lower tax rates and strong purchase volumes to keep the stock trading above its historical average earnings multiple.

He isn’t alone. This ‘Strong Buy’ stock has received just 1 “hold” rating in the last three months versus 21 “buy” ratings. Overall analysts have an average price target on MA of $195 —  indicating 16% above the current share price.

Rock-Solid Stocks to Buy: InterXion (INXN)

This top stock is a key European provider of cloud and co-location services. Currently, InterXion Holding N.V. (NYSE:INXN) supports about 1600 customers in over 40 data centers — but aggressive expansion is now on the cards.

Oppenheimer’s Timothy Horan points out that INXN has just announced the largest capacity expansion in its history. This is evidence of intensifying demand across Europe as capex spending is a major catalyst of demand for cloud companies. He now expects INXN to add 17K square meters of capacity a year in 2018-19 and says: “INXN is a critical piece of the overall cloud ecosystem in Europe. Europe is in the early stages of cloud adoption; we see a long runway for growth.”

As a result, he bumps up his INXN price target to $68 (14% upside).

From a Street perspective, INXN boasts five consecutive “buy” ratings in the last three months. No holds or sells here. Shares stayed firm over the month while the $67.60 average analyst price target indicates 12.5% upside from the current share price.

Source: Shutterstock

Rock-Solid Stocks to Buy: Amazon (AMZN)

Shares in disruptive e-commerce stock Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are trading up by 13.6% over the last month. Given the volatility of the market during this time- that’s very impressive. But it’s also not surprising. A relentless stream of positive announcements has ensured that AMZN stays in the spotlight for all the right reasons. Just a few days ago, AMZN reported a standout fourth quarter earnings beat- and today it has revealed plans for free two-hour Whole Foods grocery delivery for Prime users.

Aegis Capital’s Victor Anthony says “Amazon is disrupting almost every industry it touches and these strong results bear that out. We expect the company to continue to invest heavily across logistics, fulfillment, digital content, devices, India, AWS, and physical stores, and those investments should continue produce high returns.”

With a $1,709 price target (21% upside), he instructs investors to “Buy the stock for the share gains in retail, strong AWS growth and overall company margin expansion overtime.”

We can see from TipRanks that AMZN also has a very strong Street outlook right now. In the last three months Amazon has received 34 “buy” ratings versus just two “hold” ratings. And good news for investors is that with upside potential of 16%, Amazon looks set to keep soaring for a long time to come.

Edwards Lifesciences EW stock

Rock-Solid Stocks to Buy: Edwards Lifesciences (EW)

Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:EW) is a firm market leader in the heart valve market. In fact, EW created the first commercially available heart valve back in 1960- and it’s still transforming heart technologies more than 50 years later. Right now, shares are up by an impressive 9.8% over the last month.

The word on the Street is clear: this is a stock to buy. EW has 100% support from the Street right now. Indeed, in the last three months it has received 11 back-to-back buy ratings. With an average analyst price target of $150, analysts see the stock soaring 15.6% from the current share price. Bear in mind, shares are already up from $105 to $130 over the last three months.

Canaccord analyst Jason Mills knows what he is talking about when it comes to EW stock. On his EW ratings he scores a 94% success rate and 10.6% average return. So it’s telling that he has just raised his price target to a bullish $174 from $140 previously.

The analyst cited three key reasons for his bullish take: 1) strong business fundamentals 2) its accelerating domestic transcatheter valve replacement business, and 3) its savvy approach to the underpenetrated structural heart markets.

Caution! Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ) Stock Masks Underlying Trouble

Rock-Solid Stocks to Buy: Mondelez (MDLZ)

One of the world’s largest snack manufacturers, Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) owns all the best billion-dollar brands from Ritz and Oreo to Toblerone and Cadbury. And as an investment opportunity, Mondelez is also looking pretty sweet right now. Shares rose marginally over the month- but it is the future that looks most exciting with the stock looking seriously undervalued compared to peers.

RBC Capital’s David Palmer is clear that ‘outperformance is the norm for Mondelez’. He “forecasts 2018 to be a year of steady topline improvement and double-digit total returns with additional stock upside potential through M&A.”

Specifically, Palmer is a fan of the company’s stepped-up snacking innovation (like Milka and belVita) alongside its improving US cookie share trends. He ramped up his price target to $56 accordingly (27% upside potential).

Overall the company has scored five “buy” ratings in the last three months versus just one “hold” rating. This also includes a critical stock upgrade by Soc Generale’s Warren Ackerman. He calls fourth quarter results “solid” and notes that emerging markets are rebounding strongly.

For this ‘Strong Buy’ stock analysts are predicting (on average) a further 17% upside potential to $51.67.

Raytheon Company (RTN)

Source: Shutterstock

Rock-Solid Stocks to Buy: Raytheon (RTN)

Shares in major US defense contractor Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) have shot up by over 37% in the last year alone (and 6% in the last month). And another boost came recently in the form of an unexpected $2.3B Patriot order. According to top Cowen & Co analyst Cai Rumohr this new Army order “extends the program’s visibility and suggests that revenues will be on a solid ramp over the next several years.” In fact, if you include expected orders, Patriot is now for its best year since 2008’s record $3.8 billion.

Plus, this stock certainly has the thumbs up from the Street. Seven analysts have published “buy” ratings on RTN in the past three months, with an average price target of $190. Even with prices moving higher, the price target is still 9.4% above the current share price.

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.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/02/7-rock-solid-stocks-to-buy-for-a-volatile-market/.

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