Analysts Chime in On This Week’s Trending Stocks

After falling sharply yesterday, the markets are relatively quiet today, as all three major index futures are moderately in the red. Among the stocks that traders and analysts are watching today are several major tech names, as well as one consumer staple and an industrial that just reported earnings.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what analysts have said about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) this week and check out the hedge fund sentiment towards each stock to see what clues their trading activity could offer investors.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 750 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on, can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see the details here).

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in the spotlight today after Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski said that she expects Apple to “beat and raise” for the upcoming quarter due to strong iPhone 7 demand. According to Jankowski’s research, demand for the new phone is ahead of expectations, and the recent Samsung Note fiasco will likely only help Apple’s numbers going forward. The analyst estimates that Apple will sell 45.6 million iPhone units during the September quarter, 1 million more than her previous estimate, and well above the Street’s consensus of 44.5 million. She also estimates that the tech giant will sell 78.1 million units in the December quarter, 2 million higher than her previous estimate, and also ahead of the Street’s average of 75.5 million. Jankowski has a ‘Buy’ rating and a $124 price target on Apple shares. Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management raised its Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stake by 1% during the third quarter to 11.37 million shares at the end of September.

Canaccord’s Michael Walkley became the latest analyst to give the thumbs up to QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), as he hiked his price target on the stock to $75 from $70 and reiterated his ‘Buy’ rating on it. Although the recent Galaxy Note fallout could lower Qualcomm’s MSM shipment numbers for the December and March quarters, the analyst believes that the Street’s QTL estimates are too conservative. Walkley also believes that a potential NXP acquisition would be strongly accretive. Of the 749 hedge funds that we track which filed 13Fs for the June quarter, 48 were long shares of QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) at the end of June, down by 11 funds from the end of March.

On the next page we’ll find out what analysts have had to say about Alcoa, Procter & Gamble, and Amazon this week.

After turning in an underwhelming third quarter earnings report, Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA)‘s popularity on the Street has waned somewhat. Just recently, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Timna Tanners downgraded the industrial stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ and trimmed the firm’s price target on it to $30 from $33. Tanners believes that Alcoa will continue to face margin pressure and that its guidance could be at risk if aerospace continues to weaken due to execution problems or delays. 38 funds that we track owned shares of Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) at the end of June.

Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) is in the spotlight after John Staszak of Argus upgraded the consumer staple to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ and established a $103 price target on the stock. Staszak upgraded P&G because he expects better things from the company’s bottom-line for its 2017 and 2018 fiscal years, due to its management’s plans to accelerate advertising spending and R&D. The analyst also notes that P&G is undervalued when contrasted with its three-year average valuation range. The number of funds in our database with holdings in Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) fell by three during the June quarter to 56 on June 30.

Youssef Squali of Cantor Fitzgerald thinks that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) could make it to the four-digit club, as he recently upped his price target on the company’s shares to $1,000 from $835 while maintaining his ‘Buy’ rating on them. Squali likes Amazon Web Services’ strong momentum and favorable economics, and Amazon’s strength in its core e-commerce unit. Squali thinks that Amazon shares will grind higher and higher, potentially making it one of the first companies to hit quadruple digits out of the current crop of major tech stocks. 145 funds in our system had a long position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) as of June 30, up by 12 from the start of April.

Disclosure: None