Whether it is speculation that a stock will be bought or earnings estimates that appear to be way below where they might actually come in, or a combination of both, we found three stocks that are rated Buy and may be just about ready to go much higher.
Atmel
This company was recently reported to be considering a sale. Atmel Corp. (NASDAQ: ATML) is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry’s broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with intelligent and connected solutions focused on the industrial, automotive, consumer, communications and computing markets.
Many Wall Street analysts like the company’s big presence in the overall microcontroller market. Some also believe the company will be a very important Internet of Things player due to the company’s leadership in sensors and the concept of “sensor hub.” Atmel also possesses key IP in memory, security and analog technologies.
The analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey reported recently that they think the company is looking for a buyer, and they listed three reasons why they upgraded the stock to Buy recently:
- The revenue profile has dramatically de-risked.
- Margins are well on the way to a solid recovery.
- The retirement of the company’s CEO could very well signal a willingness to proceed with a sale of the company.
Atmel investors are paid a 1.65% dividend. The SunTrust price target for the stock is $12. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $9.49. The shares closed Thursday at $9.88.
Nimble Storage
This stock has rallied nicely and UBS thinks there is a ton of room to run. Nimble Storage Inc. (NASDAQ: NMBL) had a hot IPO debut back in December of 2013 and has been crushed back to right around the original offering price after doubling early last year. Nimble has developed a hybrid storage architecture engineered from the ground up to seamlessly integrate flash and high-capacity drives. Nimble’s flash storage solutions enable the consolidation of all workloads and eliminate storage silos by providing enterprises with significant improvements in application performance and storage capacity.
The stock has broken out recently racing from $22 up to near $30 on rumors that it could also be an acquisition candidate. The UBS team thinks that a deal for Nimble could make sense as the cost might be close to around $3 billion, and Nimble offers a strong next-gen offering based on its CASL file system designed for a mix of flash and disk. They cite Cisco, Oracle and even Hewlett-Packard as possible interested parties.
The company is also finally getting close to profitability, an aspect that could certainly intrigue an inquiring company looking to add storage solutions to an existing product line.
The UBS price target is $40, higher than the consensus target of $33.75. The stock ended Thursday’s trading at $28.83 per share.
Rite Aid
This company has analysts all over Wall Street jumping on board. Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) is one of the nation’s leading drugstore chains, with nearly 4,600 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia. Many on Wall Street see the company very favorably positioned in health care, given its geographic overlap with Medicaid expansion, as well as its push into clinics.
Many analysts also feel that current underlying fundamentals remain very strong and that management’s 2016 guidance likely will prove conservative, with upside from the deal with McKesson and perhaps an earlier than expected close of the EnvisionRx acquisition.
The analysts at UBS think the company could blow past earnings expectations when it reports fiscal first-quarter 2016 on June 18. They feel that overall consensus guidance of EBITDA of $279 million is way too low. In comparison, the UBS team has an EBITDA estimate much higher at $309 million. They cite a very difficult fiscal first quarter last year and see none of the circumstances that were in play then affecting the company now. The transition to McKesson also weighed down the quarter last year.
The UBS price target for the stock is $10, the same as the consensus target. The stock closed Thursday at $8.96 a share.
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These all look like actionable trades that could be put on now. One note of caution, these are only appropriate for aggressive accounts with a very high risk tolerance.
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