There are over 5,200 stock analysts working on Wall Street, and all of them claim to have some insight into the markets. But who is the best?
Canaccord Genuity’s Richard Davis stands out as #1, according to the results of TipRanks natural language algorithms, which have sifted through 5,200 analysts’ reports on more than 5,000 actively traded stocks. In that list, Davis’s stock recommendations have a success rate of 85%, and the average return from the stocks he recommends is 46.6%.
Davis is an expert in the stock market’s technology sector, where he has compiled an enviable record as an analyst and earned the #1 spot in TipRank’s database. Let’s look at his three most recent stock calls, to find out what Wall Street’s best analyst is interested in today.
Avalara, Inc. (AVLR)
Avalara is a provider of cloud-based tax compliance software. As tax law grows ever more complicated across jurisdictions, and accountants more expensive, high-quality tax software is filling a vital niche, allowing people to handle the routine matters of tax compliance, filing, and record keeping on their own.
The company went public in June 2018, with a price range of $19 to $21 per share. It has appreciated 309% since then, quadrupling in value. Davis examined the stock on August 25, and noted, “[Avalara] is well positioned and well managed to automate desultory business tasks so that humans can focus on more value-created activities. Its current valuation is high, but we see the potential for perhaps a decade of 20%+ growth.” In line with that assessment, Davis rated Avalara as a Buy. He put a $100 price target on the stock, indicating a 16% upside potential in the next 12 months.
Davis is not alone taking a bullish stance on AVLR. The stock has a unanimous analyst consensus of Strong Buy, from 7 buy ratings in the last three months. Shares are trading for $86, and the $101 average price target suggests an upside of 17%.
Dynatrace, Inc. (DT)
Davis’s second call from August 25 was Dynatrace, a software intelligence company that had its IPO this past August 1. The company markets to medium and large businesses, with artificial intelligence software designed to manage and monitor cloud infrastructure. It’s a growing field in the software world.
In his note on DT stock, Davis says, “The company leads the way in next-gen software intelligence. The company is generating positive operating cash flow margins of 25%+ this year.” Those margins are key, and in response Davis gives DT shares a Buy rating. His $30 price target indicates confidence in a 25% upside for this newcomer to the stock markets.
Dynatrace shares have a Moderate Buy from the analyst consensus, based on 6 buys and 3 holds given in the first month of trading. The average price target of $28.44 implies an upside potential of 19% from the current share price of $23.90.
Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM)
The third stock that caught Davis’s attention recently is Salesforce, something of a household name in the cloud software world. The company was an early leader in the field of Customer Relationship Management (hence it’s ticker, CRM) software back in 1999, and remains at the head of its field today. Last week, Salesforce released blockbuster quarterly earnings numbers that beat the forecasts and guided toward accelerating growth in the next 6 months.
The quarterly results, with their 22% year-over-year revenue gain and 40% EPS beat, got Davis’s attention. He described the company’s fiscal Q2 as “solid” and raised his price target by 5.7% to $185. Davis wrote, “The results were good in every metric that mattered and allayed investor fears of a slowdown. We like the reasonable current valuation…” His price target on CRM suggests a 22% upside for the stock.
Overall, CRM holds a Strong Buy rating in the analyst consensus. The stock has racked up a total of 29 buys in the last three months, against a single hold. Shares are selling for $151, the average price target is $186, and the upside potential is an impressive 23%.
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