With new trends having the potential to disrupt current industries, the SunTrust team has focused the firm’s coverage on tech stocks with tremendous upside. We have highlighted the ones with the largest margins to the firm’s price targets.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is once again leading the charge for the top online spot in holiday sales, and the SunTrust team think that 2015 catalysts and a cheap valuation compared to historical numbers make the stock very reasonable. Current reports indicate the company is the clear pricing winner in almost all categories for holiday gift buying, with the exception of the toy arena. With solid data points being reported, the huge increase in e-commerce growth should continue to benefit the company. With some on Wall Street seemingly losing faith in Amazon founder and leader Jeff Bezos as he pushes the company into new product silos, aggressive investors may want to track the stock, looking for a solid entry point to buy shares.
The SunTrust price target for the stock is $360. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is set at $356.35. Shares closed Wednesday at $303.03.
ALSO READ: The 5 Cheapest Dow Stocks for 2015
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is mega cap tech name that the SunTrust analysts favor. They, like many on Wall Street, see positive optionality in the company’s search business, and for the first time Google seems to be making inroads into its long-sought effort to extend its search dominance into vertical search, which focuses on specific segments of online content. Many Wall Street analysts also think that Google’s cloud product belongs in the second-tier of their business lines (like Play and Nexus), and may prove meaningful in the future by offering value chain synergies with the core business. Add this to YouTube and the other growing project silos at the Internet giant, and the unabated growth may continue for years.
The SunTrust price target is whopping $675. The consensus figure is $644.01, and Google closed Wednesday at $528.77 a share.
Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) is clearly not the only company that has a big desire to be in the music streaming business, but it is the current leader in installation and use in the automotive world, and it hopes to stay that way. Many analysts on Wall Street expect a higher rate of Pandora adoption in new and used vehicles in 2015, which can help drive increased listenership and monetization of existing ad inventory. The SunTrust team thinks that consumer access to quality music catalogs will continue to be paramount for the top company in the game to drive subscriber growth. Familiarity with the Pandora brand could also help drive that growth.
SunTrust has a $30 price target, and the consensus is essentially in-line at $29.43. Shares closed Wednesday at $18.02.
ALSO READ: Meet the Preliminary 2015 Dogs of the Dow
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) is rated Buy at SunTrust, and it has become one of the classic “love it or hate it” stories on Wall Street. Twitter has been very weak lately as hopes of improving user trends and continued revenue strength with new ad formats (app downloads and buy button) being overshadowed with what seems to be huge end of the year tax-loss selling. The SunTrust team sees Twitter as one of the tech companies that will be a benefactor of the huge explosion and continued migration to online advertising. There was also chatter before the holiday of a possible change in the CEO suite in 2015.
The SunTrust price target is $58, and the consensus target is posted at $50.39. The stock closed Wednesday at $37.61.
Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) is one of the small-midcap stocks that the SunTrust team loves for 2015. With the Priceline purchase of Open Table earlier this year, chatter has increased on Wall Street about a potential buyer for Yelp. Many point to the synergies of a purchase by Yahoo, while others suggest it would be a good fit for Expedia. Either way, Yelp has a massive sales force and relationships with more restaurants than any other site, and analysts cite the outstanding 60% to 70% revenue growth over the past 12 quarters as a solid reason to like the stock going forward.
SunTrust has an $80 price target, and the consensus target is $82.10. Shares closed Wednesday at $53.
ALSO READ: RBC’s 5 Top Biotech Stocks to Buy for 2015
While technology has had an outstanding 2014, up over 25% year-to-date, and leads all S&P 500 sectors, the SunTrust stocks to buy offer investors a better risk-reward than some of the high-flying momentum names. That makes good sense for investors looking to shift aggressive capital to stocks with more upside potential.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks