Daily Archives: May 22, 2018

Growth Stocks

7 Triple-A Stocks to Buy — With 100% Street Support

Which top stocks are Wall Street analysts the most bullish on? Stocks with no “hold” or “sell” ratings and a pure “Strong Buy” analyst consensus. These are the stocks that make the most compelling investing opportunities and are definitely worth keeping a close eye on.

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 settings to match your investment strategy. In this case, I selected filters for stocks of all market cap size with a “Strong Buy” consensus from analysts and best-performing analysts alike. These are the top analysts with the highest success rate and average return.

Here I specifically select stocks with big upside potential from the current share price. This is based on the upside potential from the current share price to the average analyst price target.

Now let’s delve into these seven top stocks to buy now:

Stocks to Buy With 100% Street Support: Alibaba (BABA)

baba stock

Source: Flickr via UNClimateChange (Modified)

Does Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) ever disappoint? With 11 back-to-back analyst ‘buy’ ratings and an average price target of $247 (27% upside potential) it looks like the answer is a resounding no. On May 18 top-rated MKM Partners’ analyst Rob Sanderson has just ramped up his price target from $260 to $280. He is now predicting big upside potential of 44% from the current share price. Bear in mind that last year share prices exploded over 60%.

Sanderson is feeling the heat following the company’s “strong quarter and encouraging outlook”. Most notably he believes “the narrative on the stock is shifting from concern over investment spending to a focus on profit growth and long-term opportunity.” For Sanderson the company’s big spending projects (think the Cainiao logistics platform, Lazada in Southeast Asia, and food delivery platform Ele.me), are “absolutely” worthwhile.

And don’t forget Alibaba’s new retail strategy. The company’s goal to mix online and offline retail is changing the face of retail in China. For example, smart pop-up stores are connected to BABA’s Alipay online payment system while facial recognition technology is used to track customers. According to Sanderson: “We think this business will ultimately be as high a margin, or better than the existing marketplace model.”

Stocks to Buy With 100% Street Support: Electronic Arts (EA)

Electronic Arts Inc. EA Stock Is Simply Too Cheap Right Now

Source: Shutterstock

‘An embarrassment of riches.’ This is how Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter describes the fiscal Q4 results from video game giant Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA). Even though Epic’s Fortnite is the hottest game on the internet, nothing can stop EA’s soaring success right now.

Top Jefferies analyst Timothy O’Shea puts his spin on the results here: “EA is now the third straight US video game publisher to post strong results despite Fortnite being the hottest game in years, suggesting Fortnite is more about expanding the market than cannibalizing it.” He has a $150 price target on EA (14% upside potential).

Specifically, EPS of $1.28 was well ahead of $1.16 consensus and full year guide of $4.85 seems conservative. At the same time, EA announced a huge new buyback of $2.4 billion over 2 years, double the current buyback. And looking forward, O’Shea is confident that “The F’19 setup seems very strong with the release slate anchored by FIFA and Battlefield, EA’s two biggest franchises.”

Clearly the Street is in one mind here. In the last three months, EA has received 10 consecutive ‘buy’ ratings. This comes with a $146 price target (11% upside potential).

Stocks to Buy With 100% Street Support: American Tower Corp (AMT)

Source: Shutterstock

American Tower Corp (NYSE:AMT) is capitalizing on the robust demand for telecommunications tower space. The company operates towers and distributed antenna systems in the US, Mexico, Brazil and India. “The strong demand we experienced in late 2017 for our telecommunications real estate further accelerated in 1Q 2018” commented CEO James Taiclet in the company’s recent earnings call.

And the future is just as bright: “We remain confident that our U.S. macro tower business, complemented by our franchise small cell installations, extensive international portfolio and innovation initiatives will continue to drive strong growth and attractive total returns for many years to come.”

The Street agrees — 5 analysts have published recent AMT buy ratings. One of these is top-rated Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan. In the next two years, 4G advanced LTE is likely to be aggressively deployed to support massive wireless data growth. This drives demand for tower leases, which have pricing power on limited supply. Consequently, Horan is expecting double-digit revenue growth for AMT with a 15% free cash flow growth. Bear in mind AMT already “has the strongest balance sheet in the group.”

Our data shows that the average analyst price target of $158 indicates 15% upside potential.

Stocks to Buy With 100% Street Support: uniQure NV (QURE)

Source: Shutterstock

Dutch biotech company uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ:QURE) is staging a comeback right now. And what a comeback! The creator of the world’s first gene editing therapy, QURE is now focusing on treating haemophilia. This bleeding disorder represents a much larger market opportunity than its previous drug Glybera.

UniQure plans to kick-off a late-stage study of its hemophilia therapy, AMT-061, in Q3. The goal is to beat larger rivals Spark Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ONCE) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) with a 2020 launch. Luckily HC Wainwright analyst Debjit Chattopadhyay calculates that “Pfizer might be in a position to initiate patient screening during 1Q19, which puts uniQure at least six months ahead and armed with the patent family covering mPADUA, which gives uniQure significant commercial leverage, in our view.”

Meanwhile, in a very bullish move, top Leerink Swann analyst Joseph Schwartz ramped up his price target from $26 to $63 (107% upside potential). According to Schwartz, this is based on the eyebrow-raising pricing estimates for AMT-061 of $1.5 million per patient in the U.S. and $1 million per patient in the EU.

Plus uniQure is increasingly looking like a prime takeover target for larger biotechs with an eye on the potentially very lucrative gene therapy space. Overall we can see that QURE has received six recent ‘buy ratings’. Their average price target of $45 indicates 44% upside potential.

Stocks to Buy With 100% Street Support: Equinix (EQIX)

Source: Christopher Bowns via Flickr

This internet-connection specialist is certainly worth checking out. With four recent analyst ‘buy’ ratings and big upside potential of 37%, this stock is going places. Equinix Inc (NASDAQ:EQIX) has just announced new expansions in Amsterdam, Tokyo and Zurich to meet strong momentum in Europe and Asia-Pacific. It is now the market leader in 16 of the 24 countries in which it operates.

This comes on the back of a solid first quarter. Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan points out that “bookings remained very strong according to Equinix.” But ultimately the bottom line is that “EQIX is seeing strong demand from enterprises adopting hybrid cloud strategies; its datacenters are the key interconnection point between on-premise and the cloud.” He has just reiterated his ‘buy’ rating with a $525 price target (36% upside potential).

Note that this Top 50-ranked analyst tends to be on the money when it comes to stock picking. On EQIX specifically he is currently tracking a 78% success rate and 17% average return.

Stocks to Buy With 100% Street Support: FedEx (FDX)

FedEx stock

Delivery giant FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) is firing on all cylinders. The company boasts the leading market share in both “express” U.S. parcel delivery and a strong position in its expanding FedEx Ground segment. Luckily for FedEX, both these segments are quickly gaining ground via e-commerce volume.

Top Oppenheimer analyst Scott Schneeberger has just attended a FedEX investor meeting. He notes: “FedEx is clearly upbeat on business conditions across its segments.” In particular, “F3Q18 total revenue growth accelerated to the double-digits y/y, which we anticipate to perpetuate in F4Q18.”

All this leads him to his bullish conclusion: “Anticipating continued US/global economic growth, we expect overall margin expansion via mid-single digit top-line growth, efficiencies, and TNT synergies longer term.” FedEx acquired Netherlands-based TNT Express for a whopping $4.8 billion back in 2015. Although a massive cyberattack left a ‘lingering impact’ on TNT, ultimately favorable business conditions/effective execution mean that FedEx still sees a FY17-FY20 $1.2-1.5B Express operating income improvement.

Schneeberger has a $282 price target on FedEx — which translates into 13% upside potential. However, the Street is more bullish- the average analyst price target of $293 suggests 17% upside potential. In the last three months, nine analysts have published buy ratings on FedEx.

Stocks to Buy With 100% Street Support: Delta Airlines (DAL)

delta stock

Source: via Delta

Are you ready to fly? It’s time for Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) stock to move higher. This is according to Morgan Stanley’s Rajeev Lalwani. He believes the stock is currently unfairly valued. Delta is trading at approx 8x 2019 consensus EPS, which is “just too low.” Instead Lalwani calls a valuation on 11x multiple on 2019 estimates “about right.” He has now pushed his price target from $66 to $72 (36% upside potential).

DAL deserves a higher valuation says Lalwani when you consider the following: a strong free-cash flow yield, “billions in capital returns, and an investment-grade balance sheet.” Most impressively, a free cash flow yield estimate of 10-12% in 2018 and 2019 is “well in excess” of peers.

Indeed, even with high oil prices, Delta still reported a strong first quarter. “Our economic outlook for the year is strong, both domestically and internationally,” CEO Edward Bastian said. “There is a resiliency we have created in our business structure that we have not seen over time.” In total, DAL scores 8 buy ratings with an average price target of $74. As shares are now at $53, this translates into big upside potential of 40%.

Source: Investor Place 

Cryptocurrency

Why “Dr. Doom” Is Wrong About Blockchain Technology

Michael A. Robinson

It’s little more than a “glorified Excel spreadsheet.”

At least that’s how New York University Stern School of Business economist Nouriel Roubini described blockchain technology earlier this month during a panel discussion at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif.

But Roubini, nicknamed “Dr. Doom” for predicting the 2008 financial crisis, wasn’t done there. In fact, he’s been claiming for months now that the technology, which undergirds Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as an online transaction ledger, is overhyped.

“There is no decentralization,” the notoriously liberal Keynesian economist went on to say. “It’s just bullsh-t.”

Now, I’m not going to stoop to Roubini’s level and use foul language.

Instead, I’ll just give him a new nickname: “Mr. Wrong.”

Truth is, Mr. Wrong and other blockchain naysayers couldn’t be more incorrect.

Blockchain is still in its infancy, but that means now is the best time for investors to jump in. According to Gartner, the value of blockchain could surpass $1 trillion over the next decade.

So, today I’m going to show you some cold, hard facts to prove that Roubini is, indeed, Mr. Wrong.

And then I’ll introduce you to three global industry leaders that are already using blockchain tech to improve their businesses.

I often brag about my 30-plus years spent kicking around the tech industry and Silicon Valley.

Stunning: New Innovation Will Be Like “Adding Twin Turbos to the Bitcoin Engine” – and Could Send Its Price to $100,000. Learn More…

But that’s nothing compared to these three companies and their total 215 years of experience and a combined market cap of $580.06 billion.

So I’ll take their word before I do that of a former Clinton administration official…

So, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions are perfect for exactly this type of scenario, where they can reduce costs and cut out the middleman.

Simply put, blockchain tech provides a secure way to exchange valuable digital assets on the Internet, without the need for a third party, like a bank or another large company, to mediate the transaction. It also ensures the information these digital assets contain can’t be tampered with, thus producing an “immutable ledger” of transaction data.

And beyond the international payments realm, blockchain is already improving the way a variety of industries use their technical infrastructure, from supply-chain logistics to insurance to healthcare.

So, today let’s look at three global firms that are investing in and using blockchain… upending the way entrenched industries conduct business… and remaining relevant in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.

The moves these three global blockchain leaders are making now are setting them up to take full advantage of what this tech has to offer.

They’re poised to reap the rewards.

And now, so are you.

So let’s take a look…

Global Blockchain Leader No. 1: Blue Is Betting Big

IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) has bet big on blockchain – and the company’s leaders see it as vital to its future success.

That said, IBM remains a poor investment. The company’s legacy businesses are slowing down faster than its strategic initiatives are growing. Moreover, its leadership is unfocused and neglectful toward shareholders.

But Big Blue’s work on blockchain tech is pretty much unparalleled at this point in corporate America. And that makes it an interesting company to watch and see who it partners with in the blockchain space, as some of its startup partners are likely to become great investment opportunities in the near future.

According to Google Patents, IBM has 3.9% of the “blockchain” patents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That’s more than any other company.

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The firm has developed an industry reputation as the go-to blockchain tech provider, according to an enterprise survey by Juniper. It has more than 250 active blockchain projects and 1,500 dedicated employees.

IBM has done pioneering work with private, enterprise-focused blockchain solutions for banking, insurance, and retail companies that want to use the technology to improve the way they, for instance, store customer data, but not broadcast that information to the general public.

IBM is partnering with the likes of Dole Food Co. Inc., Nestle SA, and Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) to improve the quality of the food supply by tracing it using blockchain tech. It’s working with A.P. Moller-Maersk Group to build out a blockchain solution for the shipping industry. And it’s teaming up with international insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. on a blockchain project to certify whether contractors have the needed liability insurance coverage.

Those examples are really just the tip of the iceberg, so we’ll be watching what steps IBM takes going forward – and to see if any of its blockchain startup partners become investible.

Global Blockchain Leader No. 2: Charging In

Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA), has been diving into blockchain at a furious pace. According to Google Patents, it has 3.2% of the blockchain patents filed with the Patent Office.

That amounts to as many as 30 patent filings over the past year or so, according to an analysis by crypto news site Cointelegraph.

This might seem like an odd position to take for the firm, in light of public statements from CEO Ajay Banga, who has joined Mr. Wrong in labeling cryptocurrencies in general as “junk.”

However, consider this…

Mastercard and other big financial companies act as middlemen in transactions, scooping up fees every time someone uses a credit card… or makes a cross-border payment.

Given that cryptocurrencies’ decentralized, peer-to-peer format represents a threat, Mastercard likely sees the potential of blockchain tech to improve its business processes, including as a means to safeguard identity data.

The market for cross-border payments alone was $18.5 trillion in 2017, so expect much more experimentation and use of blockchain tech in this industry.

In April, Mastercard filed for a patent for a system to use a semiprivate or private blockchain to store identity data, including names, street addresses, and tax identification numbers. This innovation, if it works out, could provide a way to store this data without fear of manipulation or fabrication, as well as accurately verify the data whenever that is needed.

Mastercard also wants to patent a blockchain-based, business-to-business payments system, which it announced last November. The idea is to create a more transparent way of making and tracking payments, though payments through the system are still made in fiat currencies such as U.S. dollars, not cryptocurrencies.

The company is also trying to snap up the best and brightest crypto professionals to join its team. In April, Mastercard posted “help wanted” ads for 175 new blockchain developers and other specialists in Ireland.

Global Blockchain Leader No. 3: Making Food Safer

Frank Yiannas, the vice president in charge of food safety at Walmart Inc. has not been a blockchain believer since Day 1.

A self-described early sceptic, Yiannas has since changed his mind – and it has to do with transparency in food production.

“For me… it’s more like a religious conversion,” Yiannas told the audience at MIT Technology Review‘s recent Business of Blockchain conference. “The more I got into blockchain, the more I thought this is the solution.”

Now, he’s helped the retail giant as it’s teamed up with nine leading food companies, including Dole, Driscoll’s Inc., and Nestle, in a pilot with IBM to use cloud-based blockchain tech to track food’s origins and what happens to it as it passes through the supply chain.

The importance of this project hit home following an outbreak of E. coli-tainted romaine lettuce that’s led to 53 infections in 16 U.S. states over recent days.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is struggling to pinpoint the outbreak’s origins – and Yiannas says blockchain could help.

The current system of tracing any random food’s origins – one among the 50,000-odd foodstuffs stocked on an average grocery store’s shelves – can take a week or more, Yiannas says. With blockchain tech, it takes 2.2 seconds.

No wonder Walmart is actively signing up suppliers to put information about food on a blockchain.

Walmart is also making moves to patent specific blockchain technologies.

In March, the company submitted an application for a patent involving a “Smart Package” system designed for autonomous vehicles and unmanned drones to track package contents, environmental conditions, location, and other information.

Exposing Mr. Wrong

Unlike Mr. Wrong, these three companies clearly see value and market advantage in getting in early on blockchain.

I’m right there with them.

In fact, I’m doing more than putting my money where my mouth is.

I’m currently advising my daughter to consider a career in blockchain as she enters graduate school. No doubt, understanding how this technology works would set her up for some outstanding opportunities.

Of course, I’m also interested in setting you up for the future, too.

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Source: Money Morning