The earnings season is drawing to a close and companies have given investors and analysts insights into their growth plans for the quarters ahead.
For a number of companies, this has been an opportunity to show how they are adapting to new realities, be it the growing popularity of electric vehicles or the unbroken demand for semiconductor chips.
To that end, some of Wall Street’s top analysts have highlighted these five companies that have attractive long-term prospects for investors, according to TipRanks, which tracks top performing stock pickers.
General Motors
The green tide has continued its rampage across the industry, with several high-valued names going public that many were struggling to take. While smaller, more flexible electric-only (EV) companies may find it more convenient to focus on their condensed product offerings, General Motors (GM) doesn’t want to be left behind. (See General Motors stock analysis on TipRanks)
Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities reiterated his bullish hypothesis on the stock, arguing that the company is now being recognized by Wall Street for its great plans. He wrote that “the growing EV appetite among investors for new innovative EV stories, GM’s vertical integration capabilities and converting its massive customer base to electric vehicles represent an opportunity for change in the years to come.”
Ives ranked the stock a Buy with a bullish price target of $ 85.
The analyst added that if near-term issues like global chip shortages and the aftermath of the Chevy Bolt’s recall can be mitigated, the company will have a clear path to promising to double its sales by 2030, and its share price could move even higher than it is Target.
Big plans aren’t the only thing on GM’s tool belt, as the company has developed “breakthrough” Ultium battery technology that Ives believes will help to gain market share. However, he does not foresee Tesla (TSLA) falls from its dominant position over the emerging industry.
In addition, GM has developed software and service subscription packages to accompany its strong pipeline of electric vehicles. Encouraged by the prospect of the huge monetization opportunities in this area for GM, Ives notes that it could generate up to $ 2,000 per car per year.
Out of more than 7,000 analysts, the financial aggregator TipRanks rated Ives 22nd. Its ratings were successful 82% of the time, earning it an average of 64.3% pro.
Wix.com
Web development company Wix (WIX) experienced a tough period in the first half of the year as it struggled with tough comparisons from the 2020 online and e-commerce boom, resulting in high valuations for the stock. Those tough times seem to be in the rearview mirror for Wix, according to Mark Mahaney of Evercore ISI. “It turns out the world didn’t choose to stop building websites,” he said.
(See Wix.com Risk Factors at TipRanks)
Mahaney listed the stock as a Buy with a price target of $ 255.
The analyst cited the company’s latest strong earnings report which saw a blow to sales and improved metrics in key sectors. He said that the number of new users, average revenue per user, and conversion rates were all above the company’s expectations.
Global shifts during the Covid-19 pandemic have meant that having an online footprint “is more of a must than nice-to-have for businesses around the world,” Mahaney said. He was encouraged by Wix’s involvement in the global e-commerce sector, adding that the company’s “omnichannel strategy, with the added kick of expanding its gross payment volume (especially with the world reopening), should enable Wix to double that.” The tailwind of business to participate is going online and commerce is going digital. ”
Anticipating another upward trend in the future, Mahaney said roughly half of the company’s customers are in fields that may still be constrained due to Covid-19. Wix could have a positive impact on its bottom line with the pandemic-induced restrictions being relaxed.
TipRanks ranked Mahaney # 62 out of over 7,000 financial analysts. Of his reviews, 74% were successful and they returned an average of 57%.
Netflix
As the hotly contested streaming wars continue, Netflix (NFLX) has invested in innovation beyond its strong entertainment pipeline. The production and streaming service company has officially released several mobile games as it expands into an entirely new category of content. JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth stated that “NFLX continues to be a top pick,” and he expects the fourth quarter to be a hit for the streaming giant. (See Netflix hedge fund activity on TipRanks)
Anmuth was enthusiastic about “stocks that are based on a continued strengthening of the 4Q table of contents, a greater distance from pulling forward to the pandemic, improved seasonality, and potential for greater traction in APAC, where NFLX has low penetration.”
The analyst rated the stock as a buy and opted for a price target of $ 750.
In addition to the major upcoming TV shows and movies slated for the final quarter of this fiscal year, Anmuth noted that long-term uptrends can also be found in Netflix’s plans for share buybacks. The company is also benefiting from the “global proliferation of Internet-connected devices” as consumer attention shifts from traditional cable and satellite television options.
Anmuth is confident that Netflix can continue to break into high potential markets like China. Overall, NFLX content is popular worldwide, and a “virtuoso cycle” of subscriber and revenue growth is expected to drive the company to higher ratings.
TipRanks ranked Anmuth 112th out of over 7,000 financial analysts. His stock picks were correct 69% of the time, averaging 40.9%.
square
Despite persistent fears of inflation, consumer spending continued to rise. This is good news for Square (SQ), which generates revenue from transactions through its subscription-based payment hardware and software platforms. The company has made strides on several other strategic business endeavors, including expansion into full-fledged fintech services, cryptocurrency initiatives, and high profile acquisitions. (See Square website traffic on TipRanks)
Ivan Feinseth of Tigress Financial Partners shared his bullish hypothesis about the company, writing that “SQ’s innovative capabilities will continue to drive new product launches that go beyond payment and continue to drive growth, increase ROI, increase economic profit , and accelerating shareholder value creation. ”
Feinseth rated the stock as a Buy and raised its price target from $ 295 to $ 310.
The analyst said that Square has now acquired Afterpay, “Buy Now, Pay Later” and Credit Karma Tax, in an effort to become a more well-rounded fintech company. The company has been outsourcing its banking services in-house, which is expected of Feinseth to increase its overall margins. In addition, these acquisitions are expected to enable greater integration of sellers and consumers into the overall platform ecosystem.
The broad consumer shift towards contactless payment preferences has recently helped Square, which enables the company to report strong sales in the third quarter.
Feinseth ranks 52nd out of more than 7,000 analysts in the TipRanks database. He maintains a 76% success rate on his stock picks and has had an average return of 38.8% on each over the past two years.
Nvidia
Semiconductor shortages are throwing sawdust into the engines of several industries, particularly automotive and smartphone manufacturing. Meanwhile, given the increased demand, some of the companies developing the chips are seeing impressive revenue and revenue. Nvidia (NVDA) recently released another quarter of the beat estimates, and analysts don’t expect it to wear off anytime soon. (See Nvidia Earning Date & TipRanks Reports)
One of those bullish pundits is Christopher Rolland of Susquehanna Financial Group, who wrote that NVDA had record quarters in at least two of its key end markets: data center and gaming. He added that growth in the former is expected to continue into the fourth quarter. According to the analyst, the data center has been powered by hyperscalers for cloud computing, natural language processing, and deep recommender models, while enterprise continues to be powered by vertical industries.
Rolland named the stock a Buy with a price target of $ 360.
The technology company is also seeing high demand for its network solutions with “higher dynamics for your Ethernet”. [network interface controllers], Quantum 2 switch and Bluefield 3 [data processing units]. ”
While the company’s gaming segment remained productive over the past quarter, Rolland said the growth of the industry itself is difficult to predict. However, the company’s inventory of graphics processors or GPUs could still benefit from an increase in supply. This fall is expected by Rolland as a potential tailwind in 2022.
Rolland remains confident in NVDA, viewing it as “a pure and leveraged way to invest in the future prospect of the GPU, a device we believe is experiencing a renaissance”.
TipRanks rates over 7,000 analysts and currently ranks Rolland 6th. Its stock ratings have been successful 87% of the time, returning an average of 56.9% each.
