As they do each year, the major Wall Street firms we cover here at 24/7 Wall St. provide lists of stocks that they feel will be the top performers for the coming year. This year has been a veritable train wreck, with everything from a wild election, the COVID-19 pandemic that crippled the economy on and off and killed hundreds of thousands, and a roller-coaster stock market that dropped 35% in less than a month and has since rallied to all-time highs. Nonetheless, the analysts across Wall Street are doing their jobs, and the top picks are coming out fast.
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A new BofA Securities research report features 11 stocks for 2021, one picked from the firm’s research coverage universe for each of 11 sectors. These picks are in line with the firm’s investment themes for the year, including value over growth, small caps over large, cyclical over defensive and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. The list is intended for the full year and all the stocks are rated Buy. It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.
Communication Services
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is a top consumer media company with multiple streams of income to push revenue. It is the largest publicly traded media and entertainment company and a global leader in producing high-quality, branded, family entertainment.
Key assets include its theme parks (six locations globally, which are slowly reopening), the ABC TV Network, ESPN, FX, National Geographic and other cable networks, iconic film studios Disney, LucasFilms, Marvel, Pixar, 20th Century Fox), Star India, direct-to-consumer streaming platforms (Disney+, 66% Hulu stake and ESPN+) and consumer products.
This is a giant reopening play for the theme parks, and the company’s Disney+ streaming product has been a massive success.
The BofA Securities price target for the shares is $192, and the Wall Street consensus target is $173.46. Walt Disney stock was last seen trading at $170.45 a share.
Consumer Discretionary
This is an ideal contrarian play for investors looking for ideas that will benefit from the reopening of the economy and travel. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) is one of the largest hotel owners/operators in the world, with over 5,600 properties and over 912,000 rooms in 113 countries and territories across 16 major brands. Its diverse mix of globally recognized brands includes the Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Hilton, Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn.
In June 2020, Hilton began a worldwide rollout of Hilton CleanStay, a new program to deliver an industry-leading standard of cleanliness and disinfection to Hilton properties. This is the ideal way to make travelers more comfortable with rooms many people use over the course of even a month. The pandemic rapidly changed guest behavior, priorities and concerns. Hilton responded with start-up style speed, grounded in more than a century of hospitality know-how to provide reassurance to travelers.
BofA Securities has a $120 price target on Hilton Worldwide stock, while the consensus target is $103.40. Tuesday’s final trade was reported at $102.95.
Consumer Staples
Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) have rallied nicely off levels posted in March but still offer solid upside. This is the world’s largest retailer, operating retail stores under the formats of Walmart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam’s Club locations in the United States, as well as a growing e-commerce business. Internationally Walmart also operates locations in several countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
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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 2019 revenue of $514.4 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.2 million associates worldwide.
Shareholders receive a 1.50% dividend. The $175 BofA Securities price target compares to the $162.28 consensus target. Walmart stock closed on Tuesday at $144.20.
Energy
This energy giant is a safer way for investors looking to be positioned in the energy sector. Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) is a U.S.-based integrated oil and gas company, with worldwide operations in exploration and production, refining and marketing, transportation and petrochemicals. The company sports a sizable dividend and has a solid place in the sector when it comes to natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Earlier this month the company gave some solid 2021 guidance, and the analyst noted this at the time:
Chevron provided guidance around capital expenditures through 2025. On a headline basis, the company expects to spend $14 billion in 2021 ($9.7 billion in cash capital expenditures), and $14-$16 billion annually in 2022-2025 relative to Chevron’s prior out year guidance of $19-22 billion, which excluded the Noble transaction. The company remains focused on investments in the Permian, other unconventionals, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Holders of Chevron stock receive a 6.12% dividend, which the analysts feel comfortable will remain at current levels. BofA Securities has set a $97 price target. The consensus target is $101.78, and the last trade on Tuesday was reported at $84.36.
24/7 Wall St.Financials
Insurance companies tend to do well regardless of the economy, and this industry giant may be an outstanding pick-up for investors. Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) is the largest publicly traded personal lines insurance company, with about 12% of the personal lines market (one in eight households).
Allstate is primarily a direct writer. Besides a full array of personal lines P/C products (preferred, standard and nonstandard auto insurance, and homeowners’ insurance), the company also offers life insurance and annuity products.
Shareholders receive a 2.03% dividend. The BofA Securities price objective is a whopping $151. The consensus target is much lower at $119, and Allstate stock closed at $106.19 on Tuesday.
Health Care
Positions in health care should continue to act well, and this is a market leader. HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA) offers health care services. The company serves patients in the United States, operating from its network of approximately 185 hospitals and 2,000 sites of care. Its hospitals provide diagnosis, treatments, consultancy, nursing, surgeries and other services, as well as medical education, physician resource centers and training programs.
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With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. The company has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44%.
Shareholders receive just a 0.61% dividend. BofA Securities has a $185 price target on HCA Healthcare. The analysts’ consensus target of $165.95 is much closer to Tuesday’s closing price of $163.27.
Industrials
Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) has a big west coast exposure and continues to rank high on Wall Street. This is the parent company of Alaska Airlines, which serves more than 100 cities through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. Despite recent challenges by other carriers for superiority in the Northwest, the company has strong customer loyalty, which has contributed to outstanding earnings and revenue growth.
Alaska Air focuses on point-to-point traffic in the Pacific Northwest. However, about 20% of its traffic connects over its hubs in Anchorage, Seattle, and to a lesser extent Portland. By developing transcontinental markets, and more recently Hawaii, the company has transformed from a largely north-south directional carrier to one with a more balanced network.
The $55 BofA Securities price target is in line with the consensus target of $54.87. The last Alaska Air Group stock trade on Tuesday was at $50.35 per share.
24/7 Wall St.Information Technology
This company was formed from the merger of RF Micro Devices and Triquint Semiconductor back in 2015. Qorvo Inc. (NASDAQ: QRVO) is a leading provider of core technologies and RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure and aerospace/defense applications. Qorvo has more than 7,000 global employees dedicated to delivering solutions for everything that connects the world.
Qorvo exceeded investor expectations in 2020, as the company managed to grow revenue 18%, based on fourth-quarter calendar company guidance, despite a double-digit percentage decline in global smartphone units and the geopolitical headwinds.
The BofA Securities price target is set at $170. The consensus target is $165.65, and Qorvo stock was last seen trading at $163.26.
Materials
Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) stock could be a solid way to play improving growth worldwide. This is the largest producer of iron ore and pellets and the largest nickel producer. Vale also produces copper, coal, manganese and ferroalloys and holds equity stakes in some steel producers/projects.
The Ferrous Minerals segment includes the extraction of iron ore and the production of pellets, manganese ore, iron alloys and coal and logistics services. The Coal segment is focused on the extraction of coal and its logistic services. The Base Metals segment involves the production of non-ferrous minerals, which include nickel, copper and aluminum.
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Vale stock comes with a 3.82% dividend yield. The BofA Securities price objective stands at $19, while the consensus target price is $18.18. Shares closed most recently at $16.80.
Real Estate
This is an ideal stock for growth and income investors looking for a safer idea for 2021. Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O) is an S&P 500 company dedicated to providing stockholders with dependable monthly income. The company is structured as a real estate investment trust (REIT), and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 6,500 real estate properties owned under long-term lease agreements with commercial tenants.
To date, the company has declared 604 consecutive common stock monthly dividends throughout its 51-year operating history and increased the dividend 108 times since its public listing in 1994, and it is a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index.
Investors receive a 4.62% distribution. The BofA Securities price objective is $74 The $68.88 consensus figure compares with a $60.93 close on Tuesday for Realty Income stock.
Utilities
With a very strong balance sheet, NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) looks poised for a solid finish to 2020. The company has two main business segments: the Florida Power & Light (FPL) regulated utility, and NextEra Energy Resources, a deregulated generator of predominantly wind, natural gas, nuclear and solar powered assets in North America. The company also holds a 65.1% share in the yieldco NextEra Energy Partners.
FPL announced last summer a groundbreaking “30-by-30” plan to install more than 30 million solar panels by 2030 and make the state of Florida a world leader in the production of solar energy. It and NextEra Energy Resources are already the world’s largest producers of renewable energy from the wind and sun. When this plan is completed, FPL expects to be the largest utility owner and operator of solar in America.
Investors receive a very safe and solid 1.87% dividend. BofA Securities has set its price objective at $81, and the consensus figure is $79.01. The shares closed Tuesday at $74.71 apiece.
These are 11 top picks for 2021 from BofA Securities, with each coming from a different sector. For investors looking to add stocks for a diversified portfolio, this is the ideal list to work from. Given the potential for year-end volatility, it may make sense to buy partial positions now and perhaps pick up the balance in January.
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