In this article, we discuss the 5 stocks receiving upgrades from analysts. If you want to see more such stocks on the list, go directly to Analysts Are Upgrading These 10 Stocks.
05. Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 32
Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) is a prominent company that offers comprehensive payment processing and technology solutions. Their offerings go beyond traditional payment services and encompass a diverse range of commerce-related tools, forming a complete omnichannel ecosystem. Their advanced technologies are utilized by more than 350 software providers across various industries, such as hospitality, retail, food and beverage, e-commerce, lodging, gaming, and numerous others. Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) aims to enable businesses in these sectors by providing the necessary tools and services to enhance their operations and streamline their payment processes. On June 14, MoffettNathanson revised their outlook for Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) from Market Perform to Outperform.
Artisan Small Cap Fund made the following comment about Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) provides integrated payments and commerce-enabling software to industries with complex payments workflows. The company’s business is built on three key components. First, its payments platform can be broadly integrated to over 400 software suites. Second, it has industry-tailored technology solutions such as SkyTab for the food and beverage industry (35% market share) and VenueNext for sports and entertainment industry (50% of NFL stadiums). And last, its products are distributed through a vast network of independent software vendors and value-added resellers. We believe the company will continue to generate attractive growth as it continues gaining market share within its core restaurant and hospitality verticals, converts payment gateway customers to end-to-end commerce solutions and enters new verticals.”
04. Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 34
Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ) is a pizza company operating in the US and internationally. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Stifel analyst Chris O’Cull has raised his recommendation on Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ) from Hold to Buy, along with an increased price target of $350, up from $320. According to the analyst’s research note issued on June 14, the stock has faced challenges in recent times, including declining delivery sales, decreased franchisee profitability, and slower unit growth. As a result, Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ) management has adjusted its long-term revenue expectations. However, following discussions with Domino’s management, Stifel believes the company will stabilize its delivery sales and achieve new record carryout sales within the next year. Stifel also anticipates improved sales performance, reduced commodity costs, and increased labor productivity, enhancing franchisee profitability and driving further unit growth.
03. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 59
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. It is one of the best household stocks to invest in. Berenberg has upgraded The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) from Hold to Buy in a note on June 14. The analyst, Fulvio Cazzol, has set a price target of $243. Cazzol believes that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) is “on the cusp of a glow-up” and considers the company’s shares attractive, especially after a decline since the beginning of the year.
ClearBridge All Cap Growth Strategy made the following comment about The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:
“The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL), which manufactures and markets cosmetics, fragrances, skin and hair care products across a number of well-known global brands including Clinique, MAC and Bobbi Brown, adds to our group of secular growers. Estee Lauder is a global leader in the prestige beauty space, which has outgrown the broader home and personal care category since 2010 and has historically been recession resilient. The company has substantial brand and pricing power and is overindexed to the highly profitable prestige skin care category. We believe the company’s most recent earnings report and 2023 guidance update, which was cut significantly due to uncertainty over China’s zero-COVID policy (China and travel retail are key growth drivers), provided an attractive entry point. At this point, we believe the stock has been significantly derisked and could see potential upside from a China recovery.”
02. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 60
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is an Irish company based in Dublin. It is a technology consultancy firm that enables customers to leverage advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence into their business processes and operations. On June 14, Piper Sandler analyst Arvind Ramnani revised their recommendation on Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN), upgrading it from Underweight to Neutral. Additionally, the analyst has increased the price target from $250 to $316.
ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy made the following comment about Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:
“Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is a leading global professional services company that helps clients build their digital infrastructure and optimize their operations. We view Accenture as a resilient, high-quality business with consistent earnings and cash flow, a strong balance sheet and very attractive returns on capital. Secular drivers like cloud migration and digital transformation, as well as new, innovative technology deployments like data security, block chain, AI and machine learning position Accenture well for continued growth. It is also currently rolling out a suite of sustainability tools that offers a comprehensive view of a company’s goals, progress and performance across financial and ESG measures, so it is an enabler of ESG for its clients. We exited our position in software-as-a-service company Workday to fund the position, largely on better relative risk/reward, in our view.”
01. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 67
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) is a one-stop shop for software infrastructure solutions and services. The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) provides complete solutions for Cloud deployment, including services related to servers, storage, network, applications, and services. Some of the top companies in the world are using OCI and Oracle Cloud services, including Uber, Zoom, Toyota, Cox Automotive, Cognizant, among others.
On June 13, Goldman Sachs revised their recommendation on Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), upgrading it from Sell to Neutral. They have also set a price target of $120.00. The upgrade comes as the company’s earnings and guidance have addressed some of the concerns previously outlined in Goldman Sachs’ Sell thesis. These concerns mainly revolved around the increasing capital expenditure needed to sustain growth in Gen2 OCI and the continuous loss of market share in the company’s core database business.
Ariel Focus Fund made the following comment about Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“Additionally, global leader in enterprise software, Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) traded higher in the quarter, driven by solid quarterly earnings, a material increase in the dividend as well as forward looking guidance that implies a substantial acceleration in organic cloud growth for full year 2023. We believe these results highlight ORCL’s ability to effectively cross-sell and upsell apps and infrastructure, as well as the emergence of the company’s cloud platform as a competitive offering.”
Disclosure: None. You can also take a look at 10 Technology Dividend Stocks Billionaires Are Loading Up On and 10 5G Stocks Billionaires Are Loading Up On.
