The pricier the market gets, the more some investors are looking to rotate out of high-volatility names and into some lower beta stocks. With the market now trading right at 18 times trailing earnings, things are indeed pricey, and some rotation out of momentum stocks makes sense.
A recent research note from Jefferies highlights three U.S. value stock calls for this week. These are all stocks to which growth investors, especially those with big unrealized gains, may want to move some capital. All three are rated Buy at Jefferies.
National Storage Affiliates
This stock had a recent initial public offering and may offer investors a chance to still get in on the ground floor. National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE: NSA) had to lower the price on the IPO from $16 to $13 and it is trading in line with that level now. The company is a real estate investment trust focused on the ownership, operation and acquisition of self-storage properties located within the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas.
The Jefferies team points out that the company is trading at a big 25% discount to the self-storage peers in the industry on a funds-from-operations basis. The feel that investors may not understand the company and that margin should start to narrow.
The Jefferies price target for the stock is posted at $17, and the Thomson/First Call consensus target is lower at $15.67. The stock closed Wednesday at $13.60.
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Pfizer
This top pharmaceutical stock jumps to the top of the Jefferies list as the current number one global pharmaceutical pick and also a Franchise Pick. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) rocked Wall Street this year announcing a gigantic $15.2 billion purchase of Hospira. Hospira shareholders will be paid $90 a share. Hospira is a top provider of sterile injectable drugs — including those used for acute care and cancer treatment — infusion technologies and biosimilars, which are subsequent versions of drugs whose patents have expired.
In other recent solid news for Pfizer, the company’s drug Ibrance was approved for advanced breast cancer by U.S. regulators more than two months ahead of schedule, letting the drugmaker proceed with one of its most promising new blockbusters, a turn of events that Wall Street likes.
With a strong pipeline and the fact that Pfizer is the world’s largest drug manufacturer by sales value, many analysts feel the company can generate higher long-term revenues through the accelerated growth of its new drugs over the next five years, with Ibrance leading the way.
Pfizer investors are paid a solid 3.3% dividend. The Jefferies price target is set at $45. The consensus target is $37.21. Pfizer closed Wednesday at $34.30 per share.
Rock-Tenn
This stock could be poised to move higher with solid economic growth, and it is another Franchise Pick at Jefferies. Rock-Tenn Co. (NYSE: RKT) manufactures and sells containerboard and paperboard products in the Unites States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Puerto Rico. The company operates through four segments: Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, Merchandising Displays and Recycling.
The company recently teamed up with another major player in the industry, MeadWestvaco, to form a combined company that will be known as WestRock. WestRock will be the second-largest U.S. packaging company, valued at $16 billion, trailing International Paper with a market capitalization of $22.4 billion. WestRock is expected to generate net sales of $15.7 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $2.9 billion. This includes the impact of $300 million in estimated annual synergies, to be achieved over three years.
Rock-Tenn investors are paid a 1.94% dividend. The Jefferies price target is a large $84, and the consensus target is $72.14. Shares closed most recently at $66.20.
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Investors looking to move down in volatility but stay fully invested may want to consider moving capital to any of these three value stocks. The market appears to be teetering some, and now may be the time to make the move.
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