With the Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start to summer right around the corner, many investors are thinking about vacations instead of which top stocks to buy, and after one of the most volatile trading weeks in the past year, it makes sense to take a breather and look for some new opportunities. With stocks priced almost to perfection, it may be smart to shift to companies that have better upside potential.
We screened the Jefferies top stock calls for this week, and found four that fit the bill perfectly as candidates that could be set for a significant move higher. All are rated as Buy, and all are more suited for aggressive growth accounts.
Delphi Automotive
This company used to be owned by General Motors and is one the newest additions to the Jefferies Franchise Picks portfolio. Delphi Automotive PLC (NYSE: DLPH) is a global supplier of vehicle electronics, transportation components, integrated systems and modules, and other electronic technology. The company is one of the most geographically diversified suppliers in the world, with a goal of generating an equal portion of sales from North America, Europe, Asia and the rest of the world.
Jefferies cites the 30% growth of advanced driver assistance systems for autonomous vehicles, which provides safety at a moderate cost. A recent report noted this:
Delphi is the global Electrical/Electronic Architecture (E/EA) leader with 25% market share (55% annual revs). The growing need for vehicle complexity management (wiring/cabling +50% since 2012) suggests E/EA is nearing an inflection point (and is undervalued). Original equipment manufacturers will be more inclined to rely on the company’s expertise in a segment increasingly intertwined with both complex hardware (cabling, wiring, harnesses etc.) and software (Multi-domain, SoC) needs.
Delphi shareholders are paid a 1.35% dividend. The Jefferies price target for the shares was recently raised to $106 from $100. The Wall Street consensus target is set at $98.10, and the stock closed Monday’s trading at $87.10 per share.
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Exact Sciences
The Jefferies team says investors should stand their ground on this company. Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS) is a molecular diagnostics company that is focused on the early detection and prevention of the deadliest forms of cancer. The company has exclusive intellectual property protecting its noninvasive, molecular screening technology for the detection of colorectal cancer. Cologuard is included in the colorectal cancer screening guidelines of the American Cancer Society, and stool DNA is included in the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer.
The stock was hit hard last week, and the Jefferies team noted this in the report:
The stock was the target of a short report recently, which we believe was consistent with the outstanding bearish view. We see Cologuard tracking to >$200M in 2017 revenue currently, which barely accounts for recent guideline and payor wins. We also note the company has secured positive coverage for ~197 million lives and that S&M/test fell 40% year-over-year in the first quarter. Further, though the Protecting Access to Medicare Act could reduce CMS reimbursements, this is limited to 10% per year through 2020. We’re buyers on weakness, continue to look for 15% long term revenue growth.
Jefferies has a price target for the shares of $35, and the posted consensus target price is $35.25. The stock closed most recently at $31.80 per share.
Kite Pharma
The stock had consolidated a big move higher back in March, and it may be poised for a leg up. Kite Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: KITE) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is focused on the development and commercialization of cancer immunotherapy products to target and kill cancer cells. It offers engineered autologous cell therapy, which is an approach to the treatment of cancer.
The company’s therapy involves modifying a patient’s T cells outside the patient’s body, or ex vivo, causing the T cells to express chimeric antigen receptors, or T cell receptors, and then reinfusing the engineered T cells back into the patient.
The Jefferies team noted this in their research report:
We completed a survey of doctors to gauge the outlook for Axi-cel for patients with aggressive Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and found respondents were very positive. Respondents suggested they’d use Axi-cel in 32%-41% of patients in 2018 and 2019, which is much higher than our current estimates of 5%/12%.
The $101 Jefferies price target compares with a consensus target that is much lower at $85.54. The shares closed trading on Monday at $71.57 apiece.
Palo Alto Networks
This stock was a momentum traders dream before it crashed back to earth. Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW) is helping to lead a new era in cybersecurity by protecting thousands of enterprise, government and service provider networks from cyber threats, and the company boasted a staggering year-over-year billing growth. Unlike fragmented legacy products, its security platform safely enables business operations and delivers protection based on what matters most in today’s dynamic computing environments: applications, users and content.
The Palo Alto Networks security platform has new features that were introduced to help security professionals overcome the distractions and time spent on problems caused by the overwhelming volume of alerts and manual processes associated with operating many discrete security products, and, instead, expands breach prevention capabilities and boosts operational efficiency.
The analysts recently upgraded the shares to Buy and said this in the report:
Our work suggests that the primary cause of the recent weakness has more to do with a major product cycle than sales execution or competitive issues. The anticipation of a new product doesn’t always lead to a delay in purchases of software, but we find that it happens in the security appliance hardware market. We estimate that about 60% of the company’s products were refreshed in February, and while we don’t expect an immediate snapback, we expect business momentum to improve in the next two quarters.
Jefferies has set its price target at $150. The consensus price objective is $142.97, and the share price ended Monday at $117.11.
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These four top stocks to Buy are trading well off highs and offering aggressive accounts some very decent upside potential. Again, these are more appropriate for accounts with a higher risk tolerance.
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