Top Wall Street analysts say buy stocks like Levi’s & Palo Alto

More than two weeks into the third quarter, the economic environment and short-term outlook continue to be tense and murky.

However, a bear market is followed by a bull market. When the rally kicks in, many investors will regret sitting on the sidelines instead of buying the right stocks sooner.

In the end, top Wall Street experts selected four stocks with long-term potential, according to TipRanks, which ranks analysts based on their performance.

Levi Strauss & Co. (LEVI) second-quarter results earlier this month gave us a look at how it navigates macroeconomic pressures. The Better than expected resultsand the company even reiterated its guidance for 2022.

Strong operational capabilities are helping retailers manage challenges effectively. After the Q2 print, Guggenheim analyst Robert Drbul dive in Levi’s performance and emerges with a reinforced buy rating and a price target of $33. (See Levi Strauss & Co Dividend Date and History on TipRanks)

“We continue to believe that the Levi’s brand remains strong and that the company’s principles of allocating capital in a strategic direction will continue to be,” said Drbul, who ranks 607 out of nearly 8,000 analysts on TipRanks. continue to generate market share. Drbul’s ratings were successful 58% of the time, returning an average of 6.9% for each rating.

The analyst also noted that Levi’s actually benefited from the increase in retail prices, which is reflected in its revenue and gross margin. Furthermore, the company’s low-end businesses (Signature Business at Walmart and Denizen and red tab businesses at Target), are also poised to profit from a shift in consumer buying patterns due to inflation. .

Palo Alto . Network (PANW) is a big name in the world of cybersecurity and is one of those companies that has managed to stand out in the broader market landscape. Its efficiency measures have helped the company adjust to higher costs due to supply chain problems and maintain profitability.

Analyst BTIG Gray Powell. (See Palo Alto Networks stock chart on TipRanks)

During the investor call held with Palo Alto’s management, Powell noted that the company did not disclose any mid-quarter updates. However, when asked if the security industry is facing a decline due to the troubles of the broader market, Palo Alto management said that the company has not seen any decline yet. any drop in demand since mid-May.

“With the mixed transition to the Next Generation Security (NGS) segment and improved performance in attached services on the traditional firewall array, we think PANW can sustain that level of performance,” said Powell. revenue growth of 20% or more and long-term margin expansion.” who see many advantages to share performance over the next 12 to 18 months.

Notably, Powell was successful with 55% of his ratings, with each rating generating 9.1% on average.

Another one of Gray Powell’s favorite stocks is the autonomous cybersecurity platform SentinelOne (S). While part of a broader market sell-off fueled by a variety of macroeconomic pressures, SentinelOne emphasized that the company is not facing any significant slowdown in demand.

In a fireside discussion, SentinelOne Management points out that because security is a very sustainable part of the IT budget (because of the growing demand for more robust and ever-evolving security solutions), the company is facing challenges. towel. Moreover, in the security space, SentinelOne believes that it is operating in the most durable area, which is a bonus. (See SentinelOne . hedge fund trading activity on TipRanks).

Powell believes that SentinelOne has some long-term growth opportunities ahead and is likely to grow significantly and steadily over the next five years or more.

“In our view, the core enterprise endpoint security target market for S is unique in that it is simultaneously experiencing a trend of increased demand and migration away from solutions,” said Powell. old,” Powell said.

The analyst is also optimistic about SentinelOne’s strategic expansion to adjacent markets, which will help expand the total addressable market.

The banking sector has entered the limelight as the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate. In this environment, the commercial banking service provider Citizens Financial Group (CFG) is benefiting from higher interest rates in the form of increased net interest income, although fee income falls (due to geopolitical tensions) and loan demand may slow.

Ahead of the company’s second-quarter earnings release on July 19, RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy Consider the company’s growth and fundamentals and reiterate your buy rating.

However, keep in mind the short-term difficulties – including Citizen’ mortgage and capital markets sensitive businesses – the analyst cut his price target to $55 from $58. (See Internal transactions of citizens’ finance on TipRanks)

However, Cassidy observed that in previous monetary policy update cycles, Citizens’ core deposits have increased. Also, in such cycles, these deposits seem to be stickier than expected. Furthermore, deposit costs are expected to remain low for the long term, leading to higher-than-normal returns in the early stages of this year’s tightening cycle.

Furthermore, despite investors’ wariness about how the economic downturn could affect People’s credit quality, Cassidy remains optimistic that the current strength of credit quality will continue. “We see that CFG and the industry have ‘better performing’ on credit and a normalization of credit trends could begin to materialize in the second half of 2022 which we believe the Company will manage. OK,” said the analyst.

Cassidy currently holds the 28th spot out of nearly 8,000 Wall Street analysts followed on TipRanks. He was successful in his ratings 66% of the time, and each of his ratings returned an average of 22.2%.