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Analyst Has 4 Top US Growth Stock Calls for This Week
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While the short week is always nice for those needing a break, it also tends to compact the research calls and data that come out into a shorter space. A recent research piece from the analysts at Jefferies presents the firm’s four top growth stock calls for this holiday-shortened trading week.
With the market taking a big shot to open this week, all these top growth picks at Jefferies have backed up a touch, and may provide investors with a better entry point. All four are also rated Buy at Jefferies.
Adobe Systems
This is a high-profile old-school software company that makes sense for growth accounts. Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) operates in three segments. The Digital Media segment provides tools and solutions that enable individuals, small and medium businesses, and enterprises to create, publish, promote and monetize their digital content.
The Digital Marketing segment offers solutions for how digital advertising and marketing are created, managed, executed, measured and optimized. This segment provides analytics, social marketing, targeting, media optimization, digital experience management and cross-channel campaign management solutions, as well as video delivery and monetization to digital marketers, advertisers, publishers, merchandisers, Web analysts, chief marketing officers, chief information officers and chief revenue officers.
The Print and Publishing segment offers products and services, such as eLearning solutions, technical document publishing, Web application development and high-end printing, as well as publishing needs of technical and business and original equipment manufacturers’ printing businesses.
Adobe is also a safe route for investors looking to own a company with marketing automation products, an area that has become huge. The Jefferies price target for the stock is $90. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $86.17. Shares closed on Tuesday at $79.36.
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BioMarin Pharmaceutical
This top biotech company develops and commercializes innovative biopharmaceuticals for serious diseases and medical conditions. The BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) product portfolio includes five approved products and multiple clinical and preclinical product candidates. The Jefferies analysts feel that BioMarin has an extremely attractive pipeline with three potential catalysts this year alone. Also, past concerns about management’s ability to control costs and allow the company to become sustainably profitable are fading. The company reported strong fourth-quarter numbers with all major products ahead of consensus estimates, and guidance was right in line with expectations.
The Jefferies team also feels that the company is showing confidence in drisapersen approvability, which is a drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, and it has increased from pre-NDA discussions with the FDA. While the Phase 3 data were mixed, the patient population was more severe and safety data is solid. The Jefferies analysts expect an FDA decision in the second half of this year, and they feel it is possible the company may get full approval with no need for a confirmatory study.
The Jefferies price target is $135, while the consensus target is $131.11 BioMarin closed Tuesday at $127.11 per share.
Infinera
This stock is a very solid play for investors in data networking. Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) provides Intelligent Transport Networks for network operators, enabling reliable, easy to operate, high-capacity optical networks. Infinera leverages its unique large-scale photonic integrated circuits to deliver innovative optical networking solutions for the most demanding network environments. Intelligent Transport Networks enable carriers, cloud network operators, governments and enterprises to automate, converge and scale their data center, metro, long-haul and subsea optical networks.
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Wall Street analysts have noted the stock outperformance to peers this year and attributed the strength to exposure to faster-growing Web 2.0 and cloud 100G+ optical interconnect markets. The Jefferies team points out that the company’s Cloud Xpress product is getting interest from a significant number of small data center operators, a market many did not initially anticipate.
The Jefferies price target is $27, and the consensus target is at $24.28. The stock closed most recently at $19.40.
Nike
This worldwide athletic giant is a top consumer discretionary name for investors to buy now. Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) posted very strong fiscal third-quarter earnings when it reported in March. The company also has outstanding potential upside from a turnaround in its China business, improvements in gross margins and continued innovation-driven market share gains in both basketball and running footwear. With one of the most recognizable brands in the world, long-term investors may do very well adding shares here despite the big move up in the stock this year.
The Jefferies analysts are expecting earnings per share growth in the mid-teens for the company. They cite product category growth, share gains and gross margin expansion beyond prior peaks via pricing power. That is in part due to Nike’s incredible pricing power.
Nike investors are paid a 1.08% dividend by the sporting apparel giant. The Jefferies price target is $120, and the consensus target is posted at $109.12. Nike closed at $103.42 Tuesday.
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While it is tough to buy stocks when the market is getting hammered, that is of course the best time. We are more than due for a sell-off, and it could be severe. Investors may want to scale in a little at current levels and see if prices don’t back up.
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