In a new report, they highlight four stocks with earnings that will hit starting Tuesday. All are rated Buy at Cantor, and more than one could hold some big upside for those with a big risk appetite.
LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) dominates the interconnecting of business professionals. LinkedIn has more than 300 million members worldwide, with millions more being added every year, making it the most valuable social networking site for business-to-business marketing today.
The Cantor team expects good numbers when the company reports on Thursday, with double-digit growth across all business lines. They also remain positive on the stock long-term, given the company’s large addressable markets, its well-established business model, a still new but promising opportunity in sales and marketing solutions, and the stock’s relative underperformance. The stock is down 18% this year, versus a 7% gain for the S&P 500. Cantor has a $225 price target. The Thomson/First Call consensus target is $223.08. Shares closed Monday at $178.
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Shutterfly Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) has secured a quality niche in the Internet landscape for photos and is another stock the Cantor team feels is low risk in front of earnings. It reports after the close on July 30. Many Wall Street analysts have cited the firm’s positive thesis of growth opportunities, its e-commerce model, quality products and culture of innovation.
The Cantor team reports that channel checks show continued strength in the company’s paid click spending and overall search popularity, a sign of healthy demand that should contribute to a good quarterly performance. Many Wall Street analysts expect the company to continue to invest in long-term growth opportunities and adjacencies such as enterprise printing and mobile/cloud-based photo sharing. Cantor rates the stock Buy and has a $60 price target. The consensus target is $54.25. The stock closed Monday at $47.16.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) has become one of the classic “love it or hate it” stories on Wall Street. The Cantor team has come back around on the Twitter story, after being pretty negative back in the spring. In fact, they have come back so much that they expect the company to report very strong earnings, up 100% year-over-year, Tuesday after the market closes. They do caution that Twitter is up 20% since after the first-quarter results, and it has to show sequential improvement in user growth, in addition to strong profit and loss results. The Cantor Fitzgerald price target is $40, and the consensus is higher at $43.47. The stock closed Monday at $37.93.
Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) has backed off nicely from 52-week highs, offering a much better entry point for investors. The Cantor analysts expect very solid numbers when the company reports earnings on Wednesday. With the Priceline purchase of OpenTable, chatter has increased on Wall Street about a potential buyer for Yelp. Many point to the synergies of a purchase by Yahoo!, while others suggest it would be a good fit for Expedia. Either way, Yelp has a massive salesforce and relationships with more restaurants than any other site. Cantor Fitzgerald has an $80 price target, and the consensus target is $83.84. Shares closed Monday at $69.33.
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While betting on a stock in front of earnings can be a risky strategy, it could pay off big if one or more of these top stocks to buy blow out earnings. Remember, this is only suitable for very aggressive accounts with a high risk tolerance.
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