Investing

Analyst Says Jump on These 4 Top Stocks on Any Weakness

Lee Jackson

Published: August 7, 2017 10:00 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 9:23 am

Often companies will post solid results and investors sell the shares anyway, and that plays right into the time-honored Wall Street axiom of “Buy the rumor, and sell the news.” While in many cases that is not bad advice, especially in the current stock market that is trading at nosebleed multiples, it does make sense to look at each company and its commentary for clues to what’s coming up, not what has been completed.

The analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey said just that in a series of recent reports by urging clients to jump on the shares of two companies that displayed weakness, despite either solid results or investors not looking at the tailwinds that could push prices higher down the road. They are also positive on two additional companies that reported very solid results. All four companies are rated Buy at the firm.

Activision Blizzard

This company remains a top pick on Wall Street, and SunTrust says to buy the dip now. Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) develops and publishes online, personal computer (PC), video game console, handheld, mobile and tablet games worldwide. It develops and publishes interactive entertainment software products through retail channels or digital downloads and downloadable content to a range of gamers.

The company reported outstanding results that the beat estimates and raised forward guidance. The SunTrust team feels that the guidance is conservative, and with multiple game releases coming the rest of this year, the stock remains a top buy.

The key drivers for the company include the planned launches of “Call of Duty: WWII” (November 3 release date), for which management is already guiding to sales growth for the franchise in the fourth quarter, and “Destiny 2,” which is scheduled to debut September 8.

Shareholders are paid a small 0.50% dividend. The RBC price target for the stock is $72, and the Wall Street consensus target is $64.25. The stock closed Friday at $62.01 per share.

Westlake Chemical

This is another stock that the analysts are suggesting clients buy on any weakness. Westlake Chemical Corp. (NYSE: WLK) is a petrochemicals producer with more than $7 billion in 2017 estimated revenues in two businesses: Olefins and Vinyls. The Olefins business produces ethylene, polyethylene and co-products.

The Vinyls business produces PVC and also sells caustic soda. In 2016, the company acquired North American PVC and chlor-alkali producer Axiall for $3.8 billion. The acquisition more than doubled Westlake’s PVC capacity and increased chlor-alkali capacity by over four times.

The SunTrust team feels that many on Wall Street are missing the synergies and bullish demand and pricing trends from the Vinyls silo. While the company missed earnings estimates for the most recent quarter, it attributes that to maintenance and an outage.

Westlake shareholders are paid a 1.09% dividend. he SunTrust has set its price objective at $77, and the posted consensus target price is $72.79. The stock ended last week’s trading at $69.97 a share.

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CyrusOne

This is a top pick among the data center stocks across Wall Street. CyrusOne Inc. (NASDAQ: CONE) designs, builds and operates facilities across the United States, Europe and Asia that give its customers the flexibility and scale to match their specific growth needs. Specializing in highly reliable enterprise-class, carrier-neutral data center properties, the company provides robust data center infrastructure to ensure the continued operation of IT equipment for a rapidly growing list of organizations that now nears 900, including nine of the Fortune 20 and more than 160 of the Fortune 1000 or equivalent-sized companies.

Many analysts feel that some of the best returns in the data center sector may be found in the smaller players in the space such as CyrusOne. The company trades at numerous lower multiples than its bigger competition, and the SunTrust analysts feel that the discount valuation is not warranted given the recent surge in leasing and above-average growth. The company has also exhibited faster deployment times, rapid new market expansion and low churn among customers, and all are bullish reasons for buying the stock.

The analysts noted this in their report.

Following the company’s conference call and follow-up call with management, we have increased confidence that Cyrusone will remain an industry leader deploying low-cost data center space to the growing cloud service provider market. Further, we believe such deployments will continue to pull additional enterprise customers into the the company’s ecosystem, driving continued double-digit interconnection growth comparable to the US peers

CyrusOne unitholders are paid a solid 2.88% distribution. The $64 SunTrust price target compares with the consensus target set at $62.28. The shares closed on Friday at $58.59.

Yelp

This is a top internet play from the SunTrust team. Yelp Inc. (NASDAQ: YELP) provides free and paid business listing services to businesses of various sizes, as well as enabling businesses to deliver targeted search advertising to large local audiences through its website and mobile app.

Yelp also provides other services, including Yelp platform, which allows consumers to transact directly on Yelp; Yelp deals that allow local business owners to create promotional discounted deals for their products and services; and gift certificates products for local business owners to sell full-price gift certificates directly to customers. The Yelp platform also enables consumers to complete food delivery transactions, book spa and salon appointments, order flowers, make winery reservations and more.

The company posted very solid quarterly results, and it announced it is selling Eat24 to GrubHub while still staying a partner. In addition, Yelp announced a $200 million share buyback. The analysts are very positive on the company’s Request a Quote segment, which some on Wall Street feel could drive as much as $50 million in revenue in 2018. The unit has grown from a million inquiries in 2016 to almost 2.5 million in the first quarter of 2017.

The SunTrust team raised its price target on the shares to $44 from $35. That compares to a posted consensus target of $31.31, which surely will be heading higher. The stock closed trading on Friday at $40.05, up over 20% on the day follow news of the deal with GrubHub.

These four companies still hold solid upside potential for clients. With earnings out of the way, investors can look for good entry points, and as noted, any weakness in the shares should be bought.