Investing

Analyst Has 3 Dividend Stocks to Buy With 2016 Catalysts and Big Upside Potential

Lee Jackson

Published: May 31, 2016 9:40 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 7:24 am

In the kind of secular bull market we are in, investors need to be willing to roll some gains from big winners into stocks that have positive upside potential, but for whatever reasons were held back some during the big run up. Often a good strategy with a winning position is to sell half and keep half. If it goes higher it’s a great move, if it sells off, it’s a great move.

A collection of new research reports from Stifel focus on some stocks that have been somewhat held back from the big rally, but that have solid potential to regain a head of steam as we trade through the summer and into the last half of 2016. While more suited for aggressive growth accounts, they all make sense now.

Applied Materials

This semiconductor capital equipment leader has lagged the overall tech market over the past year, but its shares have bounced smartly off lows printed in February and back in December. Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) is actually now finally trading above all the moving averages, and for patient investors may be a high-quality pick now.

The company is the global leader in precision materials engineering solutions for the semiconductor, flat panel display and solar photovoltaic industries. Applied Material’s technologies help make innovations like smartphones, flat screen TVs and solar panels more affordable and accessible to consumers and businesses around the world.

The company posted solid results recently that beat expectations and it raised guidance going forward. Merrill Lynch noted that the company’s core business improved from improving semiconductor capital equipment spending. The firm also cited an increase in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) adoption by companies like Apple as a positive.

Many on Wall Street think that films companies like Applied Materials will benefit from the new Intel and Micron Technology 3D XPoint (which is pronounced 3D cross-point) technology, which is an entirely new class of nonvolatile memory that can help turn immense amounts of data into valuable information in real time.

Applied Materials investors are paid a 1.65% dividend. The Stifel price target for the stock was raised from $24 to $28. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $26.02. The stock closed Friday at $24.44 per share.

Coca-Cola Enterprises

This company reported solid earnings and is offering investors an outstanding entry point. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: CCE) is the leading Western European marketer, producer and distributor of nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages and one of the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottlers. It is the sole licensed bottler for products of Coca-Cola in Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The company operates with a local focus and has 17 manufacturing sites across Europe, where the company manufactures nearly 90% of its products in the markets in which they are consumed.

The company reported solid first-quarter earnings, though volumes dropped some. The pending merger with Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke in Germany and Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, which serves Spain and Portugal, is the next big catalyst. Shareholders approved the merger last week, and the Stifel analysts note that the S&P 500 announced that it was removing the stock from the index as a result of the merger, and any weakness due to index funds selling should be used as a buying opportunity.

Coca-Cola Enterprises investors are paid a solid 2.33% dividend. Stifel has a $65 price target for the stock, while the consensus target is posted at $56.43. The shares closed on Friday at $51.55.

Western Digital

This long-time innovator in the storage industry is a leader in the total addressable hard disk drive (HDD) market. Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) is an industry-leading developer and manufacturer of storage solutions that help to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content.

Western Digital is responding to changing market needs by providing a full portfolio of compelling, high-quality storage products with effective technology deployment, high efficiency, flexibility and speed. Its products are marketed under the HGST and WD brands to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure providers and consumers.

The most compelling news is that the company announced a stunning $19 billion purchase of SanDisk last year. This could be a strong addition to the Western Digital current offerings. The company could significantly benefit from SanDisk’s technology and portfolio leadership in the NAND flash semiconductor and enterprise flash systems market. The value of the deal for SanDisk is now $78.50 per share, down from $86.50 when it was originally struck.

The company missed earnings estimates and guidance was much lower than expected when it reported most recently, as weakness in the HDD arena persists. However, the Stifel team sees the SanDisk purchase as an accretive one, and operating savings from the integration of the two HDD businesses are not reflected in the current stock price.

Western Digital shareholders are paid a 4.45% dividend, which could possibly be cut to save free cash flow. The whopping $75 Stifel price target compares with a consensus price objective at $58.82, as well as the $44.61 closing price on Friday.

These companies are trading well off of highs printed last year, and they all have solid upside potential. These are more suited for aggressive growth accounts that can tolerate volatility.