All the Wall Street firms we follow here at 24/7 Wall St. keep a list for their institutional and retail clients of high-conviction stock picks. These generally are the companies they not only like on a longer-term basis, but stocks that usually have big upside to the assigned target price. With June almost over and the second half of 2021 right around the corner, many Wall Street firms have tweaked their lists to account for potential changes the rest of the year.
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The analysts at Raymond James who contribute to the firm’s well-respected Analysts Current Favorites list of stocks to buy have to provide one stock from their coverage space for inclusion in the list, and hence it is considered the favorite choice. We screened the list, looking for companies that are not overextended or overbought, and that have the biggest percentage upside to the analysts’ price targets. We found four that appear to be very good ideas for aggressive growth investors looking to reset portfolios for the rest of the year.

It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Echostar

This is a smart way for investors to play the fast-growing communications and content sector. EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS) provides broadband satellite technologies and broadband internet services. It operates in two segments.

The Hughes segment provides broadband satellite technologies and internet services for home and small to medium-sized businesses. It provides broadband network technologies; managed services; equipment, hardware and communication solutions, as well as satellite services to service providers and enterprise customers. It also designs, provides and installs gateways and terminal equipment. This segment designs, develops, constructs, and provides telecommunication networks comprising satellite ground segment systems and terminals for mobile system operators and enterprise customers.

The EchoStar Satellite Services segment provides satellite services using its owned and leased in-orbit satellites and related licenses on a full-time or occasional-use basis to the U.S. government service providers, internet service providers, broadcast news organizations, content providers and private enterprise customers, which include aeronautical and government enterprises. It serves in North America, South and Central America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, India and the Middle East.

Raymond James has a massive $63 price target on the shares, which is well above the Wall Street consensus target of $40. The stock closed Thursday at $26.62 a share. Hitting the Raymond James target would be a gain of over 100%.

Ping Identity

This company is at the forefront of cybersecurity and the stock has awesome growth potential. Ping Identity Holding Corp. (NYSE: PING) is a leader in identity access and management. Its products safeguard enterprise applications and data by providing controls around user authentication, access and more.

Ping’s single-sign-on technology helps streamline user workflow by providing a single password for multiple applications to reduce log-ins. Additional product features include consumer identity management, Internet of Things and application programming interface management. Ping differentiates with a history of complex deployments across hybrid networks.

Ping’s core solution is at the heart of one of the biggest trends in security software: the dissolving network perimeter and security based on identity rather than physical location inside a corporate network perimeter. While demographic tailwinds were already favorable as the incremental workforce prefers work-from-anywhere (not inside the corporate perimeter) and on any device (not just corporate-issued PCs), this trend is expected to accelerate in a post-pandemic world as the remaining workforce is becoming conditioned to this.

The Raymond James rating is Strong Buy, and its price target is $40. The consensus target is just $31.88, and the last Ping stock trade on Thursday was reported at $23.45. Hitting the target price would be close to a 70% gain.
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Pure Storage

This is another tech idea with huge potential and an excellent entry point. Pure Storage Inc. (NYSE: PSTG) provides technology and data storage solutions in the United States and internationally.

The company delivers solutions based on proprietary Purity Operating Environment Software that implements enterprise-class storage services, such as data reduction, encryption and protection, as well as protocol services, including block, file and object. Its cloud data infrastructure products include FlashArray, a solution for running block-oriented storage, and FlashBlade, a solution for file and object storage.

Pure Storage also provides FlashStack and Artificial Intelligence-Ready Infrastructure converged infrastructure solutions, and subscription-based IT and data services, such as Evergreen Storage Subscription and Pure1, Pure as-a-Service and Cloud Block Store, as well as installation and implementation consulting services. In addition, it offers container data services, such as storage, data protection, data security and disaster recovery/backup for cloud-native applications.

The huge $31 Raymond James price target compares with a $27.94 consensus target and Thursday’s final print of $19.36. Pure Storage stock investors would reap a 60% gain if the target price is met.

RingCentral

Some feel this smaller cap company could be a great takeover target. RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) offers a cloud-based solution for business communications that replaces legacy and expensive on-premise communications systems. It is delivered as an application that follows the user regardless of device (office phone, smartphone, desktop, tablet). Features include voice, text, fax, audio conferencing and integration with document and customer relationship management systems.

RingCentral has separated itself as the leader in the unified communications as a service market, competing in an over $5 billion global total addressable market that is only about 10% penetrated. It has consistently grown revenue over 30% while generating healthy and growing margins. The pandemic likely has accelerated the decision to move from on-premise to cloud for many businesses, including large enterprises that typically take longer to transition. While competition has increased, particularly from Microsoft and Zoom, RingCentral has put in place a robust distribution network that positions it well to capitalize on the rapid shift to the cloud.

Raymond James has set a gigantic $410 price target, but the consensus target is even higher at $427.54. RingCentral stock popped almost 6% on Thursday to close at $285.15. Investors could pocket close to a 50% gain if the stock hits the target.

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These are four of the Raymond James analysts’ favorite technology stock picks, and all have substantial upside potential to the price targets. While more suited for growth investors with higher risk tolerance, they all make good portfolio additions at current price levels.

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