Investing

4 Top Jefferies Growth Stock Picks to Buy Now

With the market having one of the wildest months in memory, stocks shot up and down last week as momentum continued its rampage and some technology stocks blew out numbers. A new report from Jefferies cautions that the momentum surge is getting overextended and reminded investors that the stocks tend to go down much faster than they go up. The report did focus on new growth stock ideas to buy.

The Jefferies analysts’ focus picks may seem like momentum, but truly have outstanding underlying fundamentals, and despite a few having tremendous moves lately, the Jefferies team sees plenty of upside.

Edwards Lifesciences

This company pioneered the artificial heart valve and could be poised for big growth. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) provides products and technologies to treat structural heart disease and critically ill patients worldwide. The company offers transcatheter heart valve therapy products, comprising transcatheter aortic heart valves and their delivery systems for the nonsurgical replacement of heart valves. The company also provides surgical heart valve therapy products, such as pericardial valves for aortic and mitral replacement, and minimally invasive aortic heart valve system, as well as tissue heart valves and repair products, which are used to replace or repair a patient’s diseased or defective heart valve.

The Jefferies team thinks that the company’s recent announcement that it will acquire privately held CardiAQ makes good sense going forward. CardiAQ has human implants of transcatheter mitrial valves, and Edwards is focused on the mitrial valve opportunity after its very strong success in aortic valves.

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The company has also had tremendous success with transcatheter valve replacement. Transcatheter heart valve replacements are rapidly gaining favor in the medical community for use in those patients who are deemed unsuited for open heart surgery, and they are a fast growing revenue stream for the company.

The Jefferies price target, which appears low at this point, is $155. The Thomson/First Call consensus target is $159.88. The stock closed Friday at $154.30.
Google

The technology giant blew out numbers last week and the stock was up huge. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) recently introduced Android Pay, a revamped photos and a lightweight Android derivative operating system they call Brillo, which is designed to power the Internet of Things. The company also recently announced a new mobile version for the Android OS, which is expected to be released this fall.

Google remains the undisputed leader in Internet search, and when you add in a diverse portfolio that includes everything from the Android platform, to YouTube, to the Google Wallet for automatic pay, to the Google Flights tool, continued growth is not out of the question. The Jefferies team noted that YouTube watch time accelerated a massive 60% year over year, and the average view session was up 50% to 40 minutes. The YouTube surge represented the best growth in two years.

The Jefferies analysts and others on Wall Street lauded the fine first-year job of the company’s new chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, who came to the firm last year after 20 years at Morgan Stanley. In the earnings call, she signaled discipline in expense management and also discussed capital allocation, which could leave the possibility of a dividend of buyback open, either now or in the future.

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The Jefferies price target for the stock was raised to $800 from $700. The consensus price target is posted at $716.50, but that is bound to go much higher. The stock closed trading on Friday at $699.62, up a huge 16.26%.

Infinera

This stock is another 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.

The stock’s incredible outperformance this year to peers has been attributed to the strength and exposure to faster-growing Web 2.0 and cloud 100G+ optical interconnect markets. The chief executive and the chief financial officer at the firm have continued to keep a very solid tone from the top, and they have reiterated near-term demand trends were solid.

The Jefferies team likes the stock into the second-quarter earnings print, which will be released on July 22. They also think the company could announce at the planned October 6 analysts day a Metro Core Wavelength-Division Multiplex, or WDM, product. They feel a Metro WDM product could expand Infinera’s Technology Acceptance Model from $4.5 billion to $15.0 billion.

The Jefferies price target for the stock is $27. The consensus target is at $24.50, and the stock closed Friday at $21.61 per share.

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Tesla Motors

While delays are pushing out some orders, the Jefferies team still remains confident in its fiscal year numbers. Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) designs, develops, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, electric vehicle powertrain components and stationary energy storage systems in the United States, China, Norway and elsewhere. It also provides development services to develop electric vehicle powertrain components and systems for other automotive manufacturers. The company sells its products through a network of Tesla stores and galleries, as well as through Internet.

Tesla’s new Powerwall home batteries can currently be reserved online, years in advance, with no money down and no commitment to buy. The batteries cost more than $3,000 each. It is possible that at least a portion of the early demand for the batteries will subside once the excitement dies down and the reality of $3,000-plus bills start kicking in. In the first few days of reservations after the battery announcement on April 30, Tesla booked orders worth roughly $800 million in potential revenue, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg Business.

Many on Wall Street ultimately think it is possible for the company, based on survey results, to sell 500,000 cars per year, a figure that implies only 0.5% of expected 2020 global light vehicle sales. That is a long way from the current 55,000 per year, but with new models on the way, and the company executing better in China, the analysts feel that the company can ramp up S/X production to 2,000 cars per week in the foreseeable future.

The Jefferies price target of $360 is well above the consensus objective of $288.50. The stock closed on Friday at $274.66, up almost 8%.

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Again, while some of these almost seem like straight momentum stocks, they all have a very unique edge and little competition in their respective sectors. For aggressive accounts, these stocks may make good sense.

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