Signage is displayed outside of the Campbell Soup Co. facility in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Cole Burston | Bloomberg | Getty Images
This week, Wall Street looked to Washington as lawmakers tried to reach an agreement on a coronavirus aid package before the end of the year.
Both sides of the aisle seemed far from reaching an agreement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Chairman Chuck Schumer turned down Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s $ 916 billion proposal because there were fewer funds available for unemployment benefits. The stimulus package should be part of the broader expenditure account for the fiscal year, which was also not adopted.
With this in mind, new jobless claims last week reached 853,000 versus the 725,000 originally expected.
“The market is gasping for breath and is reaching for a new lead signal. Vaccines, viruses, stimuli and spending are reasonably priced in the market. People have different expectations, but they’re pretty much there as the market knows. I think Who have favourited The next step, especially if you’re a trader, is likely to be greed. And there is one greed catalyst that I find very influential, “commented George Ball, CEO of Sanders Morris Harris.
How should investors find compelling investment opportunities? By reaching out to the professionals who tend to get it right. TipRanks’ analyst forecasting service seeks to identify the top performing analysts on Wall Street. These are the analysts with the highest success rate and average return per rating.
Here are the top five best performing analysts’ top performing stock picks today:
EVO payments
For BTIG analyst Mark Palmer, EVO Payments will remain a top choice until 2021. On December 9th, the five-star analyst reiterated a buy rating and a price target of USD 30. Based on that goal, stocks could rise 17% in the coming months.
“Although the company’s shares have regained much of the value they lost in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, given their exposure to the restaurant, travel and hospitality sectors, we still view the stock as a reopening game – nearly 20% off his pre-crisis exposure – and the increasing possibility of face-to-face meetings that would allow him to re-accelerate his expansion strategy, “said Palmer.
Regarding EVOP’s expansion, the company is working to establish referral partnerships in countries that are at an early stage in the transition from cash to card payments, as was the case in Poland, Mexico, Ireland and Spain. Palmer believes the company is also likely to consider M&A in most regions of the world, including Eastern and Central Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South and Central America.
In addition, management emphasizes the fact that the B2B payments business saw virtually no churn during the pandemic.
However, the analyst admits that investors were somewhat skeptical about the adjustment to the company’s cost structure, which reduced its core SG&A by approximately 10% and improved the Adjusted EBITDA margin by 300 basis points, fearing that the Costs will rise once the effects of the pandemic wear off. However, Palmer notes that management has an obligation to maintain the margin improvement.
With a success rate of 70% and an average return of 19.9% per rating, Palmer is one of the top 100 Wall Street analysts according to TipRanks.
Zimmer Biomet Holdings
In contrast to the information in the earnings statement for the third quarter in November, Zimmer Biomet recorded a decline in the volume of proceedings in the USA, with the volume in EMEA also deteriorating. The five-star analyst Mike Matson from Needham, however, still stands with the bulls and reiterated a buy rating on December 9th. Together with the call, he has a target price of $ 168 on the stock (13% upside potential).
Looking closer at the updated numbers, management found flat fourth quarter volume year over year, compared to a 3% increase in the third quarter. For EMEA, the company predicts Q4 volume will drop double-digit year-over-year to high teens, up from a 6% decline in the third quarter, with APAC volume improving slightly.
“We assume that these trends will continue through the first quarter of 2021 before they improve. What is important is that we do not believe that these trends are specific to the ZBH and that other medical technology companies, especially those with significant commitment in Europe, growth will be slower in the fourth quarter of 2020. ” Matson explained.
However, he added, “Given our expectation of improved growth following the pandemic target and management to achieve an operating margin of 30% by the end of 2023, we expect ZBH to see stronger EPS growth over the next few years and we also see potential for P / E multiple expansion. “
Based on data from TipRanks, Matson is currently tracking a 66% success rate.
Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup has just received the RBC Capital seal of approval. The five-star analyst Nik Modi reiterates his buy recommendation and price target of USD 59. With this goal, the possible upward trend is 25%.
On December 9, CPB reported that its net sales increased 7% and organic net sales increased 8% for the first quarter of fiscal 2021. Management said this shows the strong demand for its products. Additionally, adjusted earnings per share increased 31% to $ 1.02.
For the second quarter of fiscal 2021, the company was targeting revenue growth of 5% to 7% year over year, compared to revenue of $ 2.16 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2020. Also, earnings per share will be in the range of 0 $ 81 expected – $ 0.83 versus projected sales growth of 6.5% and earnings per share of $ 0.84.
However, in Modi’s opinion, the broth segment remains a key concern due to capacity constraints.
“We know that CPB is using co-packers to keep pace with demand in the short term, which is likely to weaken over time as capital investments increase. While scanner stocks continue to trend negative, we see the purchase rate increasing and repeat purchases are gradually changing prices for consumers of CPB broth, which tend to be a leading indicator of improvement, “explained Modi.
Regarding CPB’s rebound, Modi said, “We would argue that we are still in the early stages of a recovery. Yes, it will likely get restless as spending increases and advertising intensity decreases (versus many promotions a year ago) will be quarterly volatility, but we believe the company’s enhanced consumer insights and R&D capabilities are just beginning to take hold. “
Modi’s impressive track record is backed by its success rate of 75% and average return of 12.7% per review.
Marvell
After the release of the earnings report for the third quarter of the fiscal year, Credit Suisse’s John Pitzer remains optimistic about the long-term growth prospects for semiconductor company Marvell. In addition to maintaining a buy rating, he kept a target price of $ 50 on the stock, indicating upside potential of 17%.
Investors were disappointed with the pressure as the company’s ability to meet demand was negatively affected by supply restrictions. This headwind is expected to continue into the first quarter of the fiscal year. Poor corporate / local performance and headwinds in China reflected additional reasons for concern.
However, network revenue of $ 445 million, up 34.8% year over year, topped the consensus estimate of $ 432 million. In addition, management expects storage to grow 13-15% Q4 in the fourth quarter as demand for Fiber Channel recovers and the Cloud DIY Controller spikes.
However, Pitzer is optimistic as, in his opinion, the future chance will only improve. Significant 5G design wins at NOK / Samsung, an ASIC win at Tier 1 Hyperscaler, the dynamics of LiquidIO Smart NICs / LiquidSecurity HSMs in the cloud, the dynamics of Datacenter SSD Controller and the upcoming INPI acquisition should all be in favor of the Corporate effect.
“Despite short-term risks such as COVID, delivery bottlenecks and tensions between the US and China, MRVL remains one of the most strategically important assets in Semis,” said Pitzer.
Given Pitzer’s 75% success rate and the average return of 23.9% per review, he deserves more than his 40th place in the TipRanks ranking.
Hub group
On December 9th, the intermodal marketing company Hub Group announced that it would acquire NonstopDelivery (NSD), a non-asset white glove last mile service company that provides warehousing, sales, product assembly and Reverse logistics offers $ 94.5 million. Cowen analyst Jason Seidl believes the move will “expand HUBG’s supply chain solutions for its customers.”
Seidl said: “The acquisition of NSD should create opportunities for the Hub Group as its customer base will now benefit from its last mile delivery solutions and the application of NSD’s logistics technology that provides customers with real-time information and analysis for shipments. Hub The Group and NSD have been working together for about 10 years and we expect synergies to be unleashed in 2021 as technologies are integrated, cross-sell initiatives are introduced and operational efficiencies are achieved. “
In addition, the Hub Group anticipates cost savings in the millions. Seidl argues that the company will be active in the M&A market in the future.
As a result, the five-star analyst revised its EPS forecast for 2021 upwards. In addition, Seidl increased his price target from USD 62 to USD 65 (12% upside potential) and repeated a buy recommendation.
Seidl ranks 23rd on the TipRanks list and has a success rate of 77% and an average return of 20.9% per review.