In this article, we will take a detailed look at the 10 Stocks Market Experts are Talking About These Days.
Piper Sandler’s Chief Market Technician Craig Johnson said in a latest program on CNBC that despite the recent market volatility and “negative” headlines, he sees buying opportunities for long-term investors.
“The headlines out here are extremely negative all over the place and the sentiment toward this market is absolutely awful. Typically, you find these readings near sort of bear market lows, which is what you typically see. And if you also start to look at the VIX, it is elevated out here at this point in time. Now, technically we have broken some uptrends, we’ve closed below 50 and 200-day moving averages, but we’re getting to some pretty washed-out levels. I started looking at new highs, new lows, breadth indicators, and all these pieces. And we’re starting to get to levels where you look back and say, “Is this 1989? Is this a period of time that’s like the great financial crisis or the ’87 market crash?” And I think the answer to that is flat out no. So, we’re setting ourselves up for, I think, a potentially pretty good buying opportunity. All this negativity, and again, as Warren Buffett has said, you’ve got to be greedy when people are fearful. When people are greedy, and definitely a lot of fear out here, that seems to me to be a little bit misplaced on the charts.”
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For this article, we picked 10 stocks notable Wall Street analysts were discussing over the past few days. With each company we have mentioned the latest hedge fund sentiment. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
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10. Invitation Homes Inc (NYSE:INVH)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 28
Joshua Brown, co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a latest program on CNBC that he owns Invitation Homes Inc (NYSE:INVH) in his IRA account and believes the stock has a bright future:
“Dividend yield not high for a REIT, but I think it has a better growth story than most REITs. This is single-family rental homes. They have a portfolio of 80,000 homes in desirable suburban locations, mostly in the South and the West. It’s annualized at 8% a year total return for the last five years. So the dividend is important to that calculation, and the stock has really bided its time in this low 30s level. I think ultimately it breaks out when people feel better about the housing market and want to own REITs again.”
9. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 44
Joshua Brown, co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a latest program on CNBC that Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV) is “extremely oversold.”
“Live Nation, okay, looking for support at the 50-day. Take a look at this, folks. This is a stock that has been on the list pretty much for the last six months. For the most part, it’s above its 200-day, but its RSI is completely washed out. Relative strength is down at 21 in trading, and we say around 30 is an oversold stock. So, this is extraordinarily oversold, down 11% on the year, down 12% in just the past week. But again, look at where it is relative to that support level, that 200-day. I think she could hold.”
Baron Focused Growth Fund stated the following regarding Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“In the fourth quarter, we initiated a new position in Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV), the leader in the management and operation of live concerts at their owned and third-party venues. They are a leader in concert venue operations, tour promotions, event ticketing through Ticketmaster, and the selling of sponsorships and advertising on their website and owned venues. Live Nation’s dominant share in ticketing and unmatched scale in concert promotions are key competitive advantages for them and give them the ability to monetize tours through ticketing, sponsorships, and hig-margin food and beverage at their owned and operated venues. Concerts and live events are a secular growing business that we believe should grow at a high single-digit rate for the company as the industry grows and they take share. We believe the company has an opportunity to significantly increase pricing or add new supply given the continued consumer preference for experiences over goods and the scarce nature of these events. The company has an incredible brand, and benefits in both upcycles with strong demand, and downcycles through an increase in supply as touring is a significant part of artists’ incomes. Despite concerns about slower consumer spending growth from peak levels, the company continues to grow at a double-digit rate in revenue despite consumer worries and is now leaning in with increased marketing to grow internationally where it remains underpenetrated. The company is still generating strong cash flow with a robust balance sheet to fund venue renovations where it expects to generate 20% returns on capital. John Malone of Liberty Media still owns 30% of the business with the CEO owning a significant portion of his net worth in the stock. We believe valuation remains attractive at current levels given the double-digit growth we expect in both revenue and earnings over the coming years.”
8. Autozone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 47
Joshua Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management explained in a latest program on CNBC his bullish thesis for Autozone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO).
“This is not just recently one of the best stocks in the market — this is like a perennial All-Star. I wanted to highlight three names that are finding support at important trend lines because in this kind of market, if you want to buy strength, you should be buying strength intelligently. AZO is up 10% year to date. It’s only 5% below its 52-week high. Importantly, it is finding strong support at its 50-day moving average, which you can see in blue right there. It’s got another level at the 200, which is not far below. This is an extremely profitable company with net margins of 14% and a 23 multiple, which is not terribly expensive. It’s expecting 3% earnings growth this year. I think it’ll find that support.”
Brown Advisors Global Leaders Strategy stated the following regarding AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) is the leading replacement automotive parts retailer and distributor in the US, servicing both the Do-it-Yourself (DIY) and Do-it-for-Me (DIFM) segments of the used car market, a market that is structurally growing as the fleet expands, with a high degree of visibility into future demand of the 6+ year used car cohort, which is AutoZone’s core target market. AutoZone is expanding into the faster growing DIFM market, as well as into Brazil and Mexico. The company’s superior customer outcome is immediate parts availability and the meaningful de-risking of the balance sheets of smaller garages which do not need to hold inventory themselves. It offers a differentiated service for customers based on local availability of parts (“in stock, in market”), quick turnaround speed and advice (including free specialty tool loans so DIY customers can complete necessary maintenance at lower cost but generating enduring loyalty). All this has historically proven difficult to replicate in an e-commerce setting. While there are a small number of large companies operating in this growing market, further consolidation of smaller competitors is expected as leading retailers’ scale (depth and breadth of inventory) and network effects (proximity to customers in immediate need of repair) constitute strong moats. One of the impressive characteristics of the company’s capital allocation is that it has delivered exceptional capital discipline and deployed its cash flow into share buybacks which has reduced the company’s share count by about 85% since 2000.”
7. Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 61
Jared Holz from Mizuho said in a latest program on CNBC that he thinks Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) selloff is overdone.
“It’s been horrifying to watch—it’s basically been cut in half since last summer. They had that big analyst day that excited the street, and now we’re sitting at multi-year lows. It feels fair and not fair. The news flow out of the company and the field has impacted it dramatically, so in some respects, yes. But they’re still going to grow 15 to 20% this year, and it’s a growth entity for the next few. When you compare it to some of the other names in pharma, it’s amazing. I was talking to some investors today, and I think the sentiment on Novo is the worst among all large-cap pharma.”
The analyst talked about the Street’s reaction to Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) weight-loss drug:
“They’re going to be the market leader. I still believe it’s a two-player market in this injectable market for the foreseeable future, if for no other reason than the cost involved—the manufacturing spend and all of those things. It’s interesting because the CagriSema data didn’t really excite the street, yet they’re excited about this Roche plus Zealand asset, which is essentially the same thing as CagriSema, but investors like it. So, I think we’ve kind of gone so far in terms of the pendulum swinging out of their favor that maybe you’re right, Karen—it’s time to buy a little bit.”
ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Similarly, we used a temporary price dislocation caused by disappointing clinical trial results to purchase shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO), a Danish-based leader in diabetes and obesity treatments. Novo’s Wegovy semaglutide drug was first to market among the new generation of obesity drugs; however, the company has lost market share to portfolio holding Eli Lilly due to delays in scaling up production volumes and superior weight loss results demonstrated by Lilly’s trizepatide drugs. While the initial market reaction to Novo’s more enhanced CagriSema weight loss treatment was negative, we believe this is a more potent formulation that can better compete with Lilly’s suite. With Novo poised to have a better product portfolio and improved supply position, we find the company’s valuation very attractive given the large secular growth trends behind the diabesity market.”
6. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 68
Vivek Arya, Bank of America senior semiconductor analyst, said in a latest program on CNBC that the appointment of Lip-Bu Tan as new CEO was a very positive move by Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and he’s hopeful of a turnaround at the company.
“I think this is a very smart move by Intel’s board. We think Lip-Bu brings a very fresh outsider’s perspective to the company. There are a lot of challenges ahead of them in trying to decide the right strategy for their manufacturing group and their product pipeline. You know, there still is no AI pipeline for the company. The manufacturing side is behind. But we think what Lip-Bu brings to the table is a broad expertise around the design side. He has worked well with foundries and was at Cadence Design Systems, so he knows how to work with external tools. At Cadence, he did a lot of restructuring, so I think he brings the right level of experience, knowledge, respect, and relationships across the supply chain. But we do think, you know, turnarounds don’t happen overnight. It takes a while to really manage something that is so asset-heavy. So we just think it’s a matter of time, but this is a very strong move.”
Invesco Growth and Income Fund stated the following regarding Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC): The chipmaker reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results as revenues declined and earnings were below expectations. Management also provided weaker guidance going forward; the stock fell on the news. We sold the position during the quarter.
The chipmaker’s quarterly earnings report was weaker than anticipated as revenues declined and earnings were below expectations. Management also provided weaker guidance going forward. Given that a potential recovery appears to be further in the future than we originally anticipated, we sold the position.”
5. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 92
Joshua Brown from Ritholtz Wealth Management recently talked about Pfizer during a program on CNBC. Here is what he said about the stock that is down 7% over the past 12 months:
“This is like the worst stock on earth. It stopped going down, interestingly. It’s not going up like a lot of healthcare stocks did from the start of this year. So I missed out on that rotation by literally owning the worst healthcare stock in the world. But 18 times trailing P/E, 10 times trailing EV to EBITDA. They’ve had huge earnings challenges because they bet the ranch on COVID, and that ship has sailed. They haven’t replaced it yet with a robust enough pipeline for people to start taking their estimates higher. But that’s, I think, how I get bailed out of this thing. I’m flat. I don’t want anyone to feel bad. I have much worse stocks. But just the way that this company is being treated by investors right now, it’s like a ghost. But I think ultimately this is the type of stock where when it does turn, it’ll move too fast to catch it. And so that’s what I’m positioned for.”