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4 Jefferies Franchise Stock Picks With Big Upside Potential
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With almost all the first-quarter earnings releases in the book, many of the firms we cover on Wall Street have refined and tweaked their lists of top stock recommendations to institutional and high net worth clients. In a new research report, Jefferies listed some of the firm’s top current franchise picks.
We screened the Jefferies list for some of the top stocks that the firm likes now. We selected four that have outstanding upside potential for investors.
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is a big video game player with teens, whether it be on gaming consoles or mobile. The company’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft was a huge top-20 Mobile (iPhone, iPad, and Google Play) chart winner last year. In addition, top console winners include last summer’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, which was another huge hit in the Call of Duty franchise, which has propelled earnings for the industry powerhouse.
This stock is a top franchise pick at Jefferies, and they like many feel the solid product line, which includes Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, expanding Hearthstone and Destiny digital content offerings and Call of Duty Online being offered in China will help continue strong product sales. The company also recently settled a long simmering shareholder lawsuit, which helps remove some headline risk overhang.
Activision investors are paid a 0.9% dividend. The Jefferies price target for the stock is $26. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $27.61. Shares closed Friday at $25.49.
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Applied Materials
This stock is a semiconductor capital equipment leader that has lagged the overall tech market over the past year. Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) is actually now trading below all the moving averages, and for patient investors it may be a high-quality pick now. The company is the global leader in precision materials engineering solutions for the semiconductor, flat panel display and solar photovoltaic industries. Applied Material’s technologies help make innovations like smartphones, flat screen TVs and solar panels more affordable and accessible to consumers and businesses around the world.
The analysts are very positive on the stock and see Applied Materials benefiting not only the semiconductor side of the business, but also from larger, higher resolution and flexible screens on the display side of the business. Jefferies and other analysts were disappointed when the merger with Tokyo Electron was called off recently, and some think that has contributed to the slide in the stock’s price.
Applied Materials investors are paid a 2% dividend. The Jefferies price target is $28, and the consensus target is at $26.73. The stock closed last Friday at $20.14 a share.
EPAM Systems
This company primarily provides software product development services worldwide. EPAM Systems Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) offers product research, design and prototyping, product development, component design and integration, full life-cycle software testing, product deployment and end-user customization, performance tuning, product support and maintenance, and porting and cross-platform migration.
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Many analysts on Wall Street believe that EPAM is one of the top new breed vendors with the largest social, mobility, analytics and cloud or SMAC exposure, and it is also one of the companies best positioned to generate hyper-growth.
The Jefferies price target is $70, and the consensus is lower at $68.04. Shares closed Friday at $66.52, down over 2%.
Western Digital
Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) is an industry-leading developer and manufacturer of storage solutions that enable people to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content. Its HGST and WD subsidiaries are long-time innovators in the storage industry. The company provides a full portfolio of compelling, high-quality storage products with effective technology deployment, high efficiency, flexibility and speed. The products are marketed under the HGST, WD and G-Technology brands to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure providers and consumers.
The stock is down 16% from last year’s highs due to concerns over PC demand and the pickup in NAND adoption. Many also think that cloud/Web 2.0 investments will increase hard disk drive demand next year. The company is a leader in the total addressable hard disk drive market at a very impressive 43% of total market share.
Western Digital investors are paid a 2.1% dividend. The Jefferies price objective is posted at $123, and the consensus target is $112.33. The stock closed Friday at $95.23.
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High-quality stocks at good prices are hard to come by after a multiyear market rally. The Jefferies picks are designed for the long-term growth investors with the time and the capital to be patient.
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