Salesforce signage outside office building in New York.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
With markets up big year-to-date, bulls and bears seem to have completely diverged in their hypotheses on the upcoming end of the fiscal year. Some see a potential for a dot com bubble-esq surge, and others only expect a pullback.
However, it is of paramount importance for any long-term investor to take into consideration analysis on company fundamentals when picking stocks.
Therefore, we at TipRanks scrubbed through the noise and found the stocks some of Wall Street’s most accurate professionals have picked as long-term winners. Let’s take a look at what the fundamentals and top analysts have to say.
CRWD) has been capitalizing on its in-demand niche. The cybersecurity firm is experiencing elevated levels of enterprise spending on security, a positive metric heading toward its expected earnings release on December 1st. (See CrowdStrike Stock Analysis on TipRanks)
Alex Henderson of Needham & Co. recently published his hypothesis on the tech company, writing that “CrowdStrike’s platform is delivering a powerful blend of frictionless deployment and trial, exceptional scalability, and these are resulting in rapid growth which we think is sustainable over 50% for the next 3–5 years.” He was confident enough to state that “investors will be rewarded for buying and holding onto these shares.”
Henderson rated the stock a Buy, and assigned a price target of $340 per share.
Come earnings, the five-star analyst is expecting another impressive quarter and a raise of guidance from CrowdStrike, which he describes as currently succeeding in its field. Meanwhile, increased cyberattacks and high-profile hacks worldwide have increased the urgency and demand for companies like CrowdStrike.
Concerns over competition recently rattled investors and heavy selling pressure caused the stock to come down to discounted levels. Henderson sees this reaction as overblown as most key indicators are showing strong and robust growth, such as direct consumer sales and the total calculated billings.
Out of more than 7,000 analysts, TipRanks rates Henderson as #46. His stock picks have been successful 72% of the time, and have returned him an average of 52.2% on each.
Salesforce (CRM), as the enterprise level digital transformation took hold on a global scale. The cloud-based customer relationship management software has seen its valuation gain considerably over the last two years, although recently its shares have had a pullback in price. Some analysts now see a buying opportunity in the tech stock. (See Salesforce.com Website Traffic on TipRanks)
Brent Thill of Jefferies Group delineated his stance on the stock, asserting that the company is headed toward a probable earnings beat for its November 30 earnings. The analyst identified high levels of customer satisfaction among its users, as well as additional statistics indicating long-term demand for Salesforce’s services.
Thill rated the stock a Buy, and bullishly raised his price target to $360 from $325.
According to his data, the analyst reported that 83% of Salesforce customers are seeing productivity in their pipelines. Moreover, there has been healthy acceleration with the partner ecosystem fostered by the company.
The five-star analyst added that “CRM hit the trifecta of taking a breather on large M&A, focusing on integrating Slack, and delivering more margins.” He is encouraged by the outperformance by the stock in relation to a similar software-based ETF, IGV.
Financial aggregator website TipRanks currently places Thill at #181 out of over 7,000 analysts. He has been successful 65% of the time, and has returned an average of 36.3%.
BKNG), which has been capitalizing on the industry shift toward self-booking for travel experiences and transportation, and recently reported particularly impressive quarterly earnings. (See Booking Risk Factors on TipRanks)
Ivan Feinseth of Tigress Financial Partners bullishly wrote that “BKNG’s market-leading position, strengthened by its strong brand equity and diversified global footprint, together with its solid execution ability, technologically advanced platform, and realization of value from its complementary acquisition strategy, will continue to drive a rebound in return on capital.”
Feinseth rated the stock a Buy, and reiterated his price target of $3,150.
Booking’s high demand for hotels, flights, and rental vehicles instilled confidence in the five-star analyst. He also noted that the company successfully mitigated impacts from the pandemic’s lows by maintaining a strong balance sheet, which in turn allowed it to invest in new initiatives and innovations.
Additionally, BKNG’s acquisitions and investments have facilitated an expansion into its “travel ecosystem with recent in ground travel services, integrating ground travel with hotel bookings, and expanding its rental car business to include alternative forms of transportation.”
Feinseth maintains #50 out of more than 7,000 analysts on TipRanks. He has been successful with his stock picks 75% of the time, and has returned an average of 38.4% per rating.
