It has been a roller-coaster year so far, and as we have noted recently, the ride could become a little more bumpy this summer as a ton of headline data could weigh on things.

One thing is for sure, certain sectors look far better than others, and it appears that large and mega cap stocks are still by far the best place for investors to be, especially as we go into the last six months of the election cycle.

A very interesting new research report from Baird highlights stocks from the firm’s Estimate Revision Model during its review of the S&P 500 this month. With the bias remaining solid for large caps, the analysts at Baird track favorable stocks in the various sectors which they label as in-motion or contrarian.

We picked four stocks from the report labeled as contrarian and from sectors that appear to be shaping up best for the balance of the year, and we feature them here.

EMC

This company is flat-out cheap, trading at about six times enterprise value to EBITDA, and it is being taken private in a deal with Dell. EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) is technology’s large-scale storage leader, but new avenues of flash and other storage opportunities are grinding away at the tech giant’s business. The good news for the company is that storage demands are accelerating.

The company’s majority ownership of VMware gives it a virtualization infrastructure solutions product, which includes a suite of products designed to deliver a software-defined data center, run on industry-standard desktop computers and servers. Wall Street was very positive on the platform-as-a-service opportunity and believes EMC’s Pivotal could grow to be a significant business.

Dell is buying the storage giant for a stunning $67 billion, which will make it the largest deal in tech history when completed. The computer maker plans to pay $24.05 a share in cash plus tracking stock VMware, valued at about $9 for each EMC share. This is a very interesting one among the contrarian ideas.

EMC shareholders are paid a 1.7% dividend. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target for the stock is $28.71. The stock closed most recently at $27.14 per share.
CBS

This large cap broadcaster has bounced nicely off the lows and still could be an incredible value. CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) may be in the best position of all the broadcast networks with an outstanding prime time lineup, solid sports franchises like the NFL, March Madness College Basketball, The Masters and other top programming, the venerable network could once again be an outstanding stock for shareholders.

The company is leading in the spring ratings, and is poised to continue the network’s programming dominance in 2016. The broadcasting giant is now in the midst of a significant stock repurchase process, and many on Wall Street expect the company to shrink its share base by around 25% over the next two years.

Network advertising and strong content licensing revenue drove the upside in the third-quarter earnings, which beat consensus estimates despite a slight revenue miss. Similar to the broadcasting giant’s rivals, many analysts expect CBS to look to book content licensing more evenly over this year and into 2017.

Shareholders of CBS are paid a 1.08% dividend. The consensus price target is posted at $63, and the stock closed Wednesday at $55.80 per share.

Wal-Mart

The giant retailer has acted very good since hitting a three-year low back in November. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) operates retail stores in various formats worldwide, including discount stores, supermarkets, supercenters, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, home improvement stores, specialty electronics stores, restaurants, apparel stores, drug stores and convenience stores. It also operates via retail websites, such as Walmart.com and SamsClub.com. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club.

Each week, nearly 260 million customers and members visit the company’s 11,535 stores under 72 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2016 revenue of $482.1 billion, Wal-Mart employs approximately 2.2 million associates worldwide.

Wal-Mart investors are paid a 3.01% dividend. The $64.64 consensus price target compares with the most recently closing share price of $66.41.

Nucor

This top steel company could do very well if the economy sees a solid pickup. Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel products, with operating facilities primarily in the United States and Canada. The company also is North America’s largest recycler.

Nucor products produced include: carbon and alloy steel, in bars, beams, sheet and plate; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; steel grating and expanded metal; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through the David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and HBI/DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap.

While the residential construction market could slow some in 2016 after years of a very torrid pace, top Wall Street analysts remain positive on nonresidential commercial construction. Nucor always has kept a very conservative balance sheet and is poised for slow but steady growth next year and beyond.

Nucor investors are paid a very solid 3.15% dividend. The consensus price target is set at $51.87. The stock closed Wednesday at $47.61.

Four contrarian stocks that are all big liquid members of the S&P 500, and while contrarian, they are hardly dartboard picks. They all make good sense for long time horizon growth accounts.

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