5 Cheap Large Cap Stocks to Buy in an Expensive Stock Market

While the stock market clearly remains a better place for capital than the bond market, the reality is it is expensive. At 18 times earnings, it is pushing the envelope, and the time could be drawing near for a big correction. A new report from Deutsche Bank highlights all the known risks, including currency headwinds. It also focuses in on large cap stocks that are reasonable in a pricey market.

We screened the Deutsche Bank “What to buy now” list of large cap stocks for those from different sectors with the highest estimated 2015 earnings-per-share growth. The five we found are AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV), Avago Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and Southwest Airlines Inc. (NYSE: LUV).

AbbVie

Many Wall Street analysts feel that AbbVie can come in with an outstanding increase in first-quarter earnings. Some predict the company will increase earnings by an incredible 17% for the quarter, with sales of the company’s blockbuster drug Humira up a sizable 15%. The Deutsche Bank team projects the company will see earnings growth in 2015 of an outstanding 37%.

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Wall Street had started to become concerned over lower expectations for the company’s new hepatitis C therapy Viekira Pak, when the biggest concern was really a price war with competitors. Toss in a $21 billion purchase recently of Pharmacyclics, which some have said is way too high, and some volatility has crept into the stock.

AbbVie investors are paid an outstanding 3.3% dividend. The Deutsche Bank price target for the stock is at a staggering $80. The Thomson/First Call consensus target is lower at $69.75. The stock closed trading Tuesday at $63.61 a share.

Avago Technologies

Originally a part of Hewlett-Packard, Avago and gets a huge chunk of its business from Apple and Samsung. They are big providers in the cloud and hyperscale data center and networking sector. In fact, the company recently announced it will demonstrate its latest optical transceiver technologies for next generation data center and enterprise storage applications. As data center networks transition to 100 G speeds to support higher bandwidth demands, technical challenges emerge across various levels of the network from storage endpoints to servers to top-of-rack (ToR) and core switches.

Avago is also expected to be a huge winner in the fast-growing 4G LTE market in China. Some analysts on Wall Street feel that the market could more than triple over the next few years and drive between 300 million and 400 million devices by 2017. The Deutsche Bank team sees 2015 earnings rising an astonishing 600%.

Avago investors are paid a 1.2% dividend. The Deutsche Bank price target is $135. The consensus target is right in line at $140.95. Avago closed Tuesday at $123.10 a share.

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Bank of America

Solid first-quarter earnings were driven by lower expenses and absence of substantial legal costs, which had strangled the bank for years. The first-quarter 2015 results saw year-over-year improvement, and earnings of $0.27 per share were substantially up from a loss of $0.05 in the prior-year quarter. Some analysts think $2 per share earnings are not out of the question for the money center giant. Total 2015 earnings estimates are expected up 284% from last year.

The company has a ubiquitous presence in the United States. It provides various banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle market businesses, institutional investors, corporations and governments in the United States and internationally. It operates 5,100 banking centers, 16,300 ATMs, call centers and online and mobile banking platforms.

Bank of America investors are paid a 1.3% dividend. The Deutsche Bank price target is at $19, and the consensus target is lower at $18.22. The shares closed trading Tuesday at $15.50.

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Best Buy

Best Buy has become the retail rags-to-riches story over the past few years, as it not only has survived, but most of the big-box retailer’s competition have gone to the graveyard and the company has grown the brand smartly. Best Buy continues to combat challenging conditions by reducing costs, pricing competitively, optimizing stores and enhancing distribution. The store-within-store partnerships it has with suppliers like Samsung, Apple and Google are continuing to drive more store traffic and product sales. Best Buy’s online channel growth also looks very promising, as it continues to battle Amazon. Rumors of its demise were frankly overblown.

The company is expected to grow 2015 earnings by a very solid 27%. One other huge tailwind for the electronics giant is lower gasoline prices that are continuing to put more money in consumers’ wallets. That could start to push discretionary buying even higher this year as wage growth also kicks in.

Best Buy investors are paid a solid 2.4% dividend. The Deutsche Bank price target is $44, and the consensus target is $43.36. Shares close Tuesday at $36.45.

Southwest Airlines

This is the top large cap airline pick at Deutsche Bank, and it continues to increase its footprint and brand awareness all over the country. With the domestic market showing good strength, and the pricing environment looking very solid for 2015, revenues should stay strong and continue to grow. Tumbling jet fuel prices, which are almost 30% of Southwest’s total costs, have been a key for improving revenues and earnings. With almost no international business at this time, currency headwinds are not an issue for the airline, which Deutsche Bank views as the preferred U.S. play for pricing stability. They see 2015 earnings growth at a huge 69%.

Southwest recently announced that newly designed seats, which will be seen on new 737-800s beginning mid-2016, join other significant brand milestones, including cabin interior updates on Southwest’s 737-700s, which will begin later this year, and continued 737-800 deliveries in the new Heart livery. The industry-leading seats are wider than current seats, and include an adjustable headrest and increased leg room, as well as more personal stowage, while decreasing the overall weight of the product. That is something all travelers can appreciate.

Southwest shareholders are paid a 0.6% dividend. The Deutsche Bank price target is a massive $60, and the consensus is much lower at $55.19. The stock closed most recently at $43.03. Trading to the target would be a huge 40% gain.

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The bottom line for investors is buying high-momentum, high-volatility stocks at this time is doing so at your own risk. The market is due for a sell-off, and these lower P/E stories with solid earnings growth are a far better place to be when the inevitable correction comes.