As we edge closer to the new year, we decided to see which stocks have significant support from TipRanks‘ best-performing analysts. Which top stocks will elevate your portfolio for 2018?
We turned to TipRanks’ powerful Analysts’ Top Stocks tool for the latest market insights. Top-recommended stocks are selected based on a TipRanks’ developed formula, factoring in ratings made by the best performing analysts. These are the analysts that have the highest success rate and average return. We used the following filters to find our hot stocks list:
The best part is that you can order the results by upside potential — a crucial factor in assessing a stock’s growth potential. We also scanned the stocks to ensure that they have an overall ‘Strong Buy’ analyst consensus rating.
Now let’s take a closer look at five of the most compelling stock ideas generated by the Top Stocks tool:
1. Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT)
Biopharma Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) is soaring right now, and top analysts are confident that this stock still has further room to grow. As we can see from the screenshot below, analysts are predicting that Sarepta can climb by a further 29% over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, the stock has a Strong Buy analyst consensus with 12 buy ratings and only 1 hold rating in the last three months.
Sarepta is a commerical-stage biopharma which focuses on the treatment of rare neuromuscular diseases. Primarily, the company is busy developing its product candidates for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). And SRPT recently released “very positive” results on its newest DMD therapy called golodirsen Exon-53.
Top Cowen & Co analyst Ritu Barel says she is “very encouraged” by the results and expects Sarepta to release full data in early November, including safety and tolerability findings. Five-star Barel has a confident $69 price target on Sarepta (36% upside).
2. Granite Construction (GVA)
Fast-growing Granite Construction Inc (NYSE:GVA) has shot up by over 20% in the last three months. And top analysts are predicting further upside potential of close to 16% for California-based GVA. Five-star FBR Capital analyst Alex Rygiel gives this bullish analysis of the stock’s longer-term prospects:
“We continue to believe that GVA represents an attractive investment vehicle to participate in the “Rebuild of America”, and in particular, increasing investment to repair the aging transportation infrastructure across the U.S. Numerous macro catalysts (solid domestic economic conditions, favorable public policy, and numerous federal, state and municipal funding actions), as well as company specific self-help actions, could significantly enhance revenue growth, profit margin and earnings growth over the next 3-5 years.”
Note that Rygiel has a very impressive 100% success rate and 19.2% average return across his 8 GVA stock ratings. He also has a $68 price target on the stock (13% upside).
3. Broadcom Ltd (AVGO)
All recent top ranked analyst ratings for Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) are a ‘Buy’ shows TipRanks. In fact, Broadcom has only received buy ratings from analysts in the last three months- 20 analysts to be precise. These analysts are forecasting growth for the chip giant of close to 18% over the next 12 months. This isn’t surprising given that Broadcom is on track to report $17 billion in revenue this year. With cash to burn, five-star Nomura analyst Romit Shah believes that AVGO may begin to look further afield from the semiconductor space to find its next acquisition targets.
He lists companies like CA Technologies (CA), NetApp (NTAP), Juniper (JNPR), Garmin (GRMN), Trimble (TRMB), Akamai (AKAM), F5 Networks (FFIV), Ciena (CIEN) and EchoStar (SATS) as potential targets. Although iPhone supply issues could cause AVGO shares to stall in the short-term, Shah is still confident that shares can reach $275 (12% upside). He reiterated his buy rating on the stock on October 5.
4. JD.com (JD)
While shares in JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) may have slipped slightly in the last three months, the future for this Chinese e-commerce giant still looks bright. Indeed, this ‘Strong Buy’ stock has received 5 buy ratings and just 1 hold rating in recent times and enjoys upside potential of over 23%. JD.com stands to benefit from the fast-growing Chinese middle class as well as the global trend towards online shopping. Indeed e-commerce shipping in China rose 10-fold between 2006 to 2014.
5. Amicus (FOLD)
Last but not least is global biotech Amicus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FOLD). Amicus focuses on developing treatments for a range of rare and devastating diseases. Top Leerink Swann analyst Joseph Schwartz is particularly excited about the progress of the company’s ATB200/AT2221 program for the treatment of Pompe disease. This is an inherited disorder where glycogen builds up in cells, damaging organs and tissues.
“Clinically, there’s good reason to remain excited about ATB200/ AT2221,” the analyst explains. “While Myozyme/Lumizyme (SNY [OP]) has become the standard of care (SoC) in Pompe disease, significant disease progression continues… Targeting this unmet need, next-gen agents such as neoGAA and BMN701 have emerged but have shown less benefit than ATB200/AT2221, which has been associated with a ~50% and ~100% better improvement in the 6 minute walk test (6MWT)…”
His $20 price target on the stock indicates big upside potential for FOLD of close to 33%.
