Apple CEO Tim Cook poses in front of a new MacBook Air with M2 chip display during Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California June 6, 2022.
Peter Dasilva | Reuters
With the brutal year 2022 behind us, we look ahead to a year of relatively predictable challenges. This requires careful investing with a longer-term perspective. To help the process, here are five stocks chosen by Wall Street’s top analysts, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their track records.
DoubleVerify Holdings
As the name indicates, DoubleVerify (dv) helps improve the security of online advertising. As a pioneer in this field, the company’s services are used by clients in the financial services, retail, automotive, travel, telecommunications and pharmaceutical sectors. (See DoubleVerify Holdings Stock Chart on TipRanks)
Truist analyst Youssef Squali sees plenty of growth opportunities, particularly in the social media space. Interestingly, DoubleVerify’s social media client list includes names like TikTok, Microsoft (MSFT) owned by LinkedIn, Reddit, Amazon’s (AMZN) Pull out, meta (META) Facebook and Instagram as well as YouTube. Given that, Squali expects that “social media as a channel has freed up additional spend for DV to attack within walled gardens, which advertisers appreciate, rather than letting these platforms ‘grade their own homework’.”
In addition, the analyst pointed out that DoubleVerify’s sophisticated software solutions help client companies protect their brand reputation while maximizing their return on advertising spend. This is especially important as the digital advertising ecosystem grows and so does competition. A safe, fraud-free, and properly targeted advertising environment also helps businesses generate traffic.
Squali is “incrementally bullish” on DoubleVerify, with a buy rating and a price target of $36. The analyst ranks 92nd among more than 8,000 analysts tracked on TipRanks. Additionally, 57% of its reviews were profitable, yielding an average 17.6% return per review.
Apple
Investors could be put off by this apples (AAPL) currently flagging demand and production problems (as evidenced by the sharp drop in share value). However, considering the value the company has returned to shareholders over the past few years, even through market downturns, these headwinds appear to be just a hiccup in the company’s long-term path.
Ivan Feinseth, analyst at Tigress Financial Partners, agreed, adding that “near-term manufacturing headwinds create a long-term buying opportunity, and the massive installed user base, expanding ecosystem and growing revenue from services continue to drive the acceleration of business performance trends and more.” become shareholder value creation.”
Feinseth is particularly optimistic about the company’s foray into the Metaverse with the launch of its mixed reality headset this year.
Additionally, Apple’s strong balance sheet and cash flow generating capabilities should position it to continue investing in growth-enhancing initiatives and enhance shareholder returns through share buybacks and dividend increases. (See Apple Dividend Date and History on TipRanks)
The analyst reiterated a Buy rating on AAPL stocks with a price target of $210. “AAPL is on our Research Focus List and in our Focus Opportunity Portfolio,” said Feinseth, who is ranked #269 out of more than 8,000 analysts on TipRanks.
The analyst’s ratings were profitable 59% of the time, and each rating has generated an average return of 10.5%.
posting balances
posting balances (BKNG) is an online platform for travel and restaurant reservations, which has of course benefited recently from the easing of Covid-related travel restrictions. The stock joins Apple in Ivan Feinseth’s “Research Focus List” and “Focus Opportunity Portfolio.”
Sustained travel demand has weathered the current macroeconomic uncertainties and that is a boon for Booking. Feinseth also points out that China’s reopening after a prolonged period of strict zero-Covid policies is “creating a massive upward catalyst”. (See hedge fund trading activity for booking stocks on TipRanks)
The company is also achieving increasing penetration of the direct travel booking market thanks to its Genius loyalty program and its concept of travel integration. “BKNG’s ability to optimize its market reach and profitability through new technologies, including machine learning and other forms of AI (artificial intelligence), allows it to expand its global reach, achieve more competitive pricing and increase profitability,” said the analyst.
Feinseth reiterated a buy rating on Booking with a price target of $3,210.
bumblebee
The challenging economic environment has created many problems for the public to think about love. This has caused investors to swipe left on the online dating service provider bumblebee (BMBL), which led to a sharp drop in share prices.
Nonetheless, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Mark Kelley maintains a solid relationship with Bumble. “We consider Bumble to be one of the most innovative companies in the global online dating space, providing consumers with a compelling and differentiated value proposition that we believe will result in long-term paying user/ARPPU growth and multi-year operational leverage history.” , Kelley remarked.
Last quarter, Bumble introduced its pre-game message feature, Compliments, which is expected to increase user engagement and thus support monetization efforts. (See Bumble Blogger Opinions and Opinions on TipRanks)
Additionally, the analyst believes Bumble’s mission to prioritize user security, accountability, and control helps the company stand out from the crowd of competing platforms. Importantly, Kelley also believes Bumble may be heading towards its prime as users increasingly open up to dating in real life after the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the dating ecosystem since 2020.
Although Kelley has lowered the short-term price target to $27 from $30, he maintains his buy rating on Bumble.
The analyst’s track record shows that his conviction is worth considering. Kelley is ranked 103rd among more than 8,000 analysts. Additionally, 70% of its reviews were successful, generating an average 31.5% return per review.
perion network
Global technology player perion network (PERI) is another stock Mark Kelley has recently vouched for. The analyst’s optimism was reflected in the reiteration of his buy rating and higher price target ($34 from $29). Recent quarterly results showed positive trends, leading to renewed conviction.
The analyst sees Perion as a “unique ad tech offering” that boasts a technology portfolio that helps advertisers and publishers scale their businesses. Perion’s growth trajectory has been a combination of organic expansion and expansion through acquisitions. Together, they’ve built a suite of assets that serve the “three pillars of digital advertising” – search, social media, and display/CTV. (See annual accounts of the Perion network on TipRanks)
Kelley expects the global digital advertising market to reach $650 billion by the end of this year. In it, the analyst estimates Perion’s exact opportunity in terms of the TAM (Total Addressable Market) at around $190 billion, excluding the $460 billion TAM estimate for Google Search.