Here are four technology leaders that are all rated Buy at Jefferies.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) dominance in wireless equipment and the fact that the stock is just plain cheap makes it a top company to buy at Jefferies. While the analysts feel that there may be some weakness in telco routing, they see the company as a big benefactor of the security, switching and cloud expenditures. They see stock buybacks and operating expense cuts as a positive for earnings next year. They also see margin expansion from added software and cloud services.
The Jefferies team is also positive on the prospects for its software defined networking sales, although that may cannibalize other products in the near term. Cisco shareholders are paid a very solid 3.35% dividend. The Jefferies price target for the stock is only $24. The Thomson/First Call number is higher at $26.50. The stock closed Monday at $22.93.
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Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is another mega cap tech name that the Jefferies analysts favor, and the stock is trading at levels not seen since last April. The company posted underwhelming earnings last week that may have caught many off guard. Jefferies, like many Wall Street firms, thinks that Google’s cloud product belongs in the second-tier of their business lines (like Play and Nexus) and may prove meaningful in the future by offering value chain synergies with the core business. Add this to YouTube, which sold out most of its U.S. Google Preferred Offering, which is the top 5% of ad slots, the innovation of driverless cars, and the other growing project silos at the Internet giant, and the unabated growth may continue for years.
The Jefferies price target is posted at $700. The consensus figure is $653.65. Google closed Monday at $532.38.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was hit extra hard during the recent sell-off and is offering investors the best entry point since back in May. The company, which is a leader in DRAM chip sales, is analyst Sundeep Bajikar’s top pick for clients. The company has seen a nice streak of beating earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. Micron beat estimates by at least 35% in both cases, suggesting it has a nice short-term history of crushing expectations. With a looming memory chip shortage, the stock could have serious upside potential.
The Jefferies price target is $42, and the consensus target for the stock is $41.59. Micron closed Monday at $29.69.
SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) is another top stock rated Buy at Jefferies, and it is still down 20% from the highs posted in July. SanDisk’s quality, state-of-the-art solutions are at the heart of many of the world’s largest data centers, and embedded in advanced smart phones, tablets and PCs. The Jefferies team thinks that cloud driven demand solid state drive demand combined with a very attractive entry point makes the stock a top portfolio holding.
SanDisk investors are paid a 1.43% dividend. The UBS price target is $110, and the consensus figure is at $109.41. The stock closed Monday at $84.38.
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When quality technology stocks are put on sale, like any sale, it won’t last forever. Investors with aggressive, growth-oriented portfolios may want to consider scaling money into these top technology companies now.
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