2 Tech Giants Highlight Jefferies Growth Stocks to Buy This Week

Investing

Published: August 1, 2016 8:20 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 5:04 am

With the earnings season all but over, and the NFL season right around the corner, Wall Street is already looking toward the third and fourth quarter, trying to handicap how the year will wind up. One thing is for sure, the surprising rally out of the Brexit sell-off has fooled many managers as cash levels remain huge and skeptics still abound. One very noticeable trend is portfolio managers leaning on mega-cap and large-cap liquid companies to produce gains.

This week the analysts at Jefferies are focusing their top growth stock picks on some of those very large and liquid stocks, and two of them are technology leaders that posted outstanding second-quarter earnings. All four of the stocks we highlight make good sense for long-term growth accounts with a degree of risk tolerance.

Amazon

This company is the absolute leader in online retail, and it is also a dominant player in cloud storage business. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) serves consumers through retail websites, which primarily include merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors and those offered by third-party sellers. In addition, the company serves developers and enterprises through Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides compute, storage, database, analytics, applications and deployment services that enable virtually various businesses.

AWS is the undisputed leader in the cloud now, and many top analysts team see the company expanding and moving up the enterprise information value chain and Addressing a larger total available market. The company has had numerous recent product announcements, including Aurora for relational database engine, Quicksight for business intelligence and AWS Database Migration Support Service.

Amazon reported a very strong quarter with good revenue and unit growth acceleration. Jefferies notes that net sales rose 31% year over year, and while forward guidance was somewhat mixed, the firm thinks it reflects normal seasonal operating spending conditions as the company prepares for the holiday season, which is busier every year. The sales guidance was better than expected, but the GAAP operating income came in lower. Jefferies also sees Amazon opening 18 new fulfillment centers in the third quarter alone, versus just six in last year’s third quarter.

The Jefferies price target for the stock is $950, and the Wall Street consensus price objective is $863.71. Shares closed Friday at $758.51.

Alphabet

The search giant continues to expand and is even working on a driverless car now. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) provides online advertising services in the United States, the United Kingdom, and rest of the world. The company offers performance and brand advertising services. It operates through Google and Other Bets segments. The Google segment includes principal Internet products, such as Search, Ads, Commerce, Maps, YouTube, Apps, Cloud, Android, Chrome, and Google Play, as well as technical infrastructure and newer efforts, such as Virtual Reality.

The Google segment also sells hardware products comprising Chromecast, Chromebooks, and Nexus. The Other Bets segment includes businesses, such as Access/Google Fiber, Calico, Nest, Verily, GV, Google Capital, X, and other initiatives.

Jefferies points out the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter results, with the best top-line growth since the third quarter of 2014. Paid clicks came in above Wall Street estimates, growing 29%, while Google websites paid click growth was 37%, with YouTube and mobile accounting for much of this strength. EBIT margins also continued to see outstanding growth at 39%, versus 37.5% in the same period last year.

Jefferies raised its price target to a remarkable $1,000, and the consensus target is $936.50. The shares closed Friday at $791.34, up over 3% on the day.
Nike

This stock was hit hard when a good earnings report came with guidance well below estimates. Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities.

Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse, which designs, markets and distributes athletic lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories, and Hurley International, which designs, markets and distributes surf and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories. With one of the most recognizable brands in the world, long-term investors may do very well adding shares here despite the big move up in the stock this year.

Nike is benefiting from consumer preferences for “athleisure.” With its extensive product line and recognizable worldwide branding, the stock continues to roll year after year. Driven by its digital business as well as inline and factory stores, Nike now anticipates achieving $16 billion in revenue by the end of fiscal year 2020. Over the next five years incremental growth in Nike Brand Direct to Consumer (DTC) revenues is expected to be driven by e-commerce sales, which are projected to grow to $7 billion. The company also expects to drive wholesale growth in the mid-to-high single-digit range over the next five years.

Jefferies cites spending on brand initiative and some currency headwinds as contributing to the less than expected forward outlook. They caution the stock could be weak for a while but noted that futures were up 17% and the long-term prospects for the shoe and apparel giant remain positive.

Investors receive a 1.15% dividend. The $65 Jefferies price target compares with the consensus target of $66. Nike closed at $55.50 on Friday.

Starbucks

The retail giant has traded sideways for the most part since last fall and could be poised to breakout. Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) operates as a roaster, marketer and retailer of specialty coffee worldwide. Its stores offer coffee and tea beverages, packaged roasted whole bean and ground coffees, single-serve and ready-to-drink coffee and tea products, juices and bottled water.

The company also licenses its trademarks through licensed stores, as well as grocery and national foodservice accounts. The company offers its products under the Starbucks, Teavana, Tazo, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Evolution Fresh, La Boulange, Ethos, Starbucks VIA, Starbucks Doubleshot, Starbucks Refreshers and Starbucks Discoveries Iced Café Favorites brand names.

The analyst recently met with the chief financial officer and came away confident that the company will return to same-store sales growth of 5% in the fiscal fourth quarter of this year, versus 4% in the fiscal third quarter. Jefferies also sees improvements in marketing, noting a demand shift to healthier products. While rising wages remain an issue, the firm sees offsetting margin gains as well.

Starbucks shareholders receive a 1.4% dividend. Jefferies has a $65 price objective, and the consensus target price is $66.43. The stock closed on Friday at $58.05.

All four of these companies are iconic and offer growth investors solid upside and a degree of safety in their size. With the market posting all-time highs, investors may want to scale in capital.