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Goldman Sachs: These 5 stocks can break higher

With the market in gridlock, Goldman Sachs has identified 14 stocks that seem to offer big upside potential. From the firm’s report, we used TipRanks’ powerful insights to pinpoint the five stocks with the most bullish Street outlook. Indeed, these are the stocks with a ‘Strong Buy’ analyst consensus right now. TipRanks’ algorithms track and rank almost 5,000 Wall Street analysts. This allows us to see the consensus from the best-performing analysts on Wall Street. This means that- as we will see below- you can immediately get the full picture on any stock mentioned in any financial report.

So with this in mind, let’s dive in now:

Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Semiconductor stocks have taken a hit in the last few days- dragged down by cautious reports from Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM). On a five-day basis, AVGO is down 4%. However Goldman Sachs sees big upside potential for AVGO of 40%. And it looks like the rest of the Street agrees. Over the last three months, 22 top analysts have published buy ratings on the stock vs just 1 hold rating. Meanwhile the average analyst price target of $322 translates into 36% upside potential.

These analysts are encouraged by AVGO’s recent announcement that it is buying back $12 billion of its stock, effective immediately. Although the buyback was widely expected, Raymond James’ Chris Caso reiterated his AVGO Strong Buy rating on the news. He believes the earnings boost makes shares look very cheap and sets out his calculations here:

We estimate the buyback – if completed – would be roughly 10- 15% accretive to FY20 EPS… FY20 non-GAAP EPS could exceed $25 per share, with the stock trading at less than 10x that earnings potential, improving on an already attractive valuation.

Plus, based on AVGO’s policy of returning half of free cash flow via dividend, Caso expects the dividend yield to hit 4% by December 2018. You can click on the screenshot below for further AVGO market activity:

 Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN)

Alexion is a US pharma stock best known for its development of Soliris, a drug used to treat rare blood disorders. From TipRanks we can see that ALXN also has the thumbs up from top Oppenheimer analyst Hartaj Singh. On April 11 he explains:

“ALXN is a top pick for us, as we believe that (1) with the company trading at the bottom decile of its historical range, (2) binary pipeline overhangs for ALXN1210 almost removed, (3) strengthening macro/FX and business fundamentals and (4) management relentlessly executing on objectives, the stock tees-up well for the remainder of 2018.”

In total, Alexion has scored 10 buy ratings and only one hold rating from best-performing analysts in the past three months. These analysts- and Goldman Sachs specifically- are predicting that Alexion will rise 44% to reach $156.

Noble Energy (NYSE:NBL)

Texas-based oil and gas stock Noble Energy boasts lucrative assets in the US as well as West Africa. RBC Capital’s Scott Hanold expects NBL to outperform peers in the next 12 months, and is also upbeat about the company’s longer-term outlook:

“NBL’s 3-year outlook provides a road map to free-cash- flow generation and flexibility to return cash to shareholders. We see operational FCF [free cash flow] break-even occurring during late 2019. This should provide a compelling valuation set-up. We estimate that NBL shares trade at 4.5x 2020 EBITDA, which is almost a turn below peers.”

Overall, as we can see from the screenshot below this ‘Strong Buy’ stock has received 4 recent buy ratings from top analysts vs just 1 hold rating. The average price target indicates 25% upside potential from current levels- with Goldman Sachs predicting an even more bullish 45%.

Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY)

This healthcare stock is an intriguing pick by Goldman Sachs. If we look at all the Street the stock has a cautiously optimistic Moderate Buy consensus, but if we limit the results to only top analysts the consensus shifts to Strong Buy:

Upside to the Goldman Sachs target stands at 46%, while the Street upside stands at 62%. Incyte is a commercial stage biopharma developing innovative treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company is struggling to gain US approval for its arthritis drug baricitinib, although the drug is already generating sales in Europe and Japan.

According to Credit Suisse, the US regulatory body is “clearly comfortable with the efficacy of the product” but “cautious on the safety profile of the higher 4mg dose [and] struggling with the more limited safety data they have for the lower 2mg dose.” Nonetheless, Raymond James analyst Reni Benjamin is staying positive. In a report on April 20 he writes:

“Given the growing Jakafi franchise which could reach peak sales of $2.5-3 billion, continued baricitinib royalties (at least from ex-US regions), the burgeoning pipeline of I/O and targeted therapies in development, and a cash position of $1.1 billion (pro forma), we continue to recommend shares of Incyte to long-term, risk-tolerant investors.”

Newfield (NYSE:NFX)

To round off this list we have another Texas-based basic materials stock. Goldman Sachs is forecasting 77% upside potential for this “Strong Buy” stock, which focuses on ‘liquids-rich unconventional resource play’ mainly in the US.

If we turn to the stock’s page on TipRanks we can see that five-star RBC Capital analyst Brad Heffern has just reiterated his NFX Buy rating. He likes its exposure to the ‘prolific’ Anadarko Basin, and ‘expects that NFX will have strongly economic inventory in the Anadarko for years to come.’ He has a $32 price target on the stock.

Plus: “NFX has also historically had a cash flow and returns-focused mentality, which we think plays perfectly into current investor preferences. We could easily imagine NFX spending below cash flow in the future in order to fund capital returns to shareholders.”

Heffern is one of six top analysts who have published buy ratings on the stock in the last three months. In the same time period, only two top analysts have stayed on the sidelines. The average analyst price target works out at 25% upside from the current share price.

Looking for further investing inspiration?

Here we focused in on one firm’s stock picks, but TipRanks also compiles ratings from top analysts across the Street. This means you can immediately pinpoint the most popular stocks at any given time. To find these stocks simply go to ‘Analysts’ Top Stocks’ under Research Tools.

The best part is that you can sort the results by upside potential. This enables you to quickly find the ‘Strong Buy’ stocks with the best growth potential.

Try it for yourself and discover your own ‘Strong Buy’ stocks now

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Harriet Lefton
Harriet Lefton, originally from the UK, began her career as a journalist specialising in the niche world of metal markets. She graduated from the University of Cambridge before becoming a qualified UK lawyer. Now she has turned her attention to the world of financial blogging, covering US stocks, analysts and all manner of things finance-related.

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