Analysts Deliver 50 Stock ‘Stocking Stuffer’ Picks for 2018

December 25, 2017 by Jon C. Ogg

It may be that Christmas and holidays season, but some people have many plans to consider for 2018. There are certainly some great business climate themes that have to be considered in the coming year.

24/7 Wall St. has included a montage of its fresh analyst calls from the past 10 days, and these are the analyst stock picks as stocking stuffers for 2018. Credit Suisse just boosted its S&P 500 and stock market targets for 2018 on the heels of tax reform.

We have included these as grouped picks around common themes. In short, they have been broken out by sector. The analyst calls are certainly not the only ones that have been seen of late, but they are some of the key standout calls from the past 10 days ahead of the Christmas break.

The top analyst upgrades and downgrades from Friday, December 22, 2017, were in shares of Capital One, Celgene, ConAgra, CRISPR, Honeywell, 3M, Nike, Sempra Energy, SunPower and many more. The full ticker list was as follows: COF, KMX, CRZO, CELG, CAG, CRSP, DNKN, DLR, HON, MMM, NKE, RRGB, SRE, SPWR, TXRH.

Analysts believe that oil has a higher base in 2018 than it did in 2017. RBC released its top oil stock picks for higher oil, and Deutsche Bank issued its top oil services stock picks for 2018. There were also a group of nine top analyst picks in oil and gas from multiple firms, with nine big oil and gas stock picks for 2018. And Credit Suisse has issued its larger than normal upside picks for 2018.

Could health care and biotech make a solid 2018? Some analysts seem to think so. RBC’s top biotech picks for 2018. There are also three hot medical-tech stock picks for 2018.

Technology could win in 2018, but keep in mind the sector leaders greatly outperformed the broader stock market. Merrill Lynch has its top five technology picks and has top software stocks to deliver well for 2018. JPMorgan has four top semiconductor favorites.

And those rising interest rates in 2018 and less regulation may bring a solid base for banks and financials in 2018. Merrill Lynch likes four big banks in 2018 and SunTrust says that Texas banks could be big winners this coming year.

And there are also five analyst picks for a stronger dollar in 2018.

Four retailers have been selected by Jefferies that may have nothing to fear from the Death Star of Amazon.

Before thinking the world is all Apple and Amazon, note that 24/7 Wall St. issued 10 tech stock picks that could easily outperform the two titans in 2018. These are all using the consensus analyst price targets and the list will be updated at the start of 2019.

Well, this is actually way over 50 stock picks for 2018. Time is ticking down for 2017, and we are all looking for a solid 2018. Some of these picks are very likely to change as we enter 2018, and we will be updating them as that occurs.

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