Investing

4 Oppenheimer August Best Idea Stocks to Buy

Needless to say, this has been an up and down trading year, and often history suggests that a sluggish first half in the market leads to a sluggish second half. In a new report, Oppenheimer’s portfolio strategy team has combed through the universe of stocks they cover and found a group that falls into the favorable category when it comes to the firm’s quantitative screens.

One of the key metrics the Oppenheimer team looks at is market breadth, which is a technique used in technical analysis that attempts to gauge the direction of the overall market by analyzing the number of companies advancing relative to the number declining. Advancing stocks that are also rated Outperform hit the analysts’ screens, and we picked four stocks that also reported solid earnings in the second quarter.

Amazon

This is the absolute leader in online retail, and it is also a dominant player in cloud storage business and just crushed earnings last week. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) serves consumers through retail websites, such as Amazon.com and Amazon.ca, which primarily include merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors and those offered by third-party sellers. In addition, the company serves developers and enterprises through Amazon Web Services (AWS) that provides compute, storage, database, analytics, applications and deployment services that enable virtually various businesses.

Despite its huge run up in July, the Oppenheimer team and other Wall Street analysts say investors can still buy the stock. Even with currency headwinds that amounted to $1.4 billion, the company still had worldwide unit growth that grew 22% in the quarter. Plus, AWS revenues increased an astounding 81% to $1.8 billion, and that was much more than the analysts’ estimates.

ALSO READ: Merrill Lynch’s 3 Buy-Rated Stocks Breaking Out on Price and Volume

The Oppenheimer price target for the stock is $640, and the Thomson/First Call consensus target is $647.92. The stock closed Thursday at $529.46.

AT&T

This company posted solid second-quarter numbers in July. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has to be one of the most ignored dividend plays on Wall Street. In fact, AT&T is the third-most underweighted security, as well as the most underowned by active fund managers, according to Wall Street data. While growth has been admittedly slower over the past few years, the company continues to expand its user base, and strong product introductions from smartphone vendors have not only driven traffic, but increased device financing plans. That is an area that many on Wall Street believe could lead to some earnings weakness.

Many on Wall Street think that finally closing the DirecTV deal will remove a lot of lingering questions, especially where the company’s big dividend is concerned. It is a good bet that the synergies created by the deal are being underestimated by Wall Street. And many analysts see upside to wireless margins, which were a positive earnings driver in the second quarter.

AT&T investors are paid an outstanding 5.44% dividend. The Oppenheimer price target is set at $40, and the consensus estimate is $36.98. Shares closed Thursday at $34.24.

ALSO READ: 3 Potential Huge Takeover Targets in Biotech

Sponsored: Find a Qualified Financial Advisor

Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to 3 fiduciary financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.