Investing
Jefferies Top Growth Stock Picks Could Be Huge Year-End Winners
December 3, 2018 7:15 am
Last Updated: January 11, 2020 2:14 pm
More and more, the companies that we cover on Wall Street are starting to agree that while the future’s still bright for the U.S. economy, it may be one of stock market gains that are much lower than the norm has been over the past 10 years. When that is the case, then investing strategies often shift from indexing to a more disciplined stock-picking routine, and that’s when investors need solid growth ideas.
Jefferies highlights the firm’s top growth stocks to buy each week, and this week is no exception. While the following stocks are better suited for accounts that have a higher risk tolerance, they all make good sense now and all have outstanding upside potential. We found four that look extremely good now and could bring investors some outsized year-end gains.
This top company has reported solid fiscal 2018 results as billings drastically improved. Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) provides enterprise cloud computing solutions, with a focus on customer relationship management to various businesses and industries worldwide.
It offers enterprise cloud computing applications and platform services, including Sales Cloud that enables companies to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through relationship intelligence and collaborate around sales on desktop and mobile devices.
The company also provides Service Cloud, which enables companies to deliver personalized customer service and support, as well as connect their service agents with customers on various devices; and Marketing Cloud, which enables companies to plan, personalize and optimize customer interactions.
The Jeffries team commented on the company’s recent earnings report:
Company reported fiscal third quarter last week and results exceeded expectations across the board. Billings growth of 27% exceeded consensus’ 19% forecast and implies new subsriber [sic] annual contract value grew 20% on an organic basis versus consensus’ implied 7% decline. Implied fiscal fourth quarter billing guidance came in considerably below Street expectations at 15% vs. 23%. It’s not unusual for the company to issue conservative guidance and our field checks indicate a robust deal pipeline for the US business.
The Jefferies price target on the shares is $189, and the Wall Street consensus price objective is $172.22. The stock closed trading on Friday at $142.76 a share.
This stock remains a top buy on Wall Street. Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) provides a software platform for collecting, storing, indexing, searching and analyzing machine-generated data, such as log files and configuration files, which are prevalent in every type of IT system, device and application.
Splunk technology is potentially applicable and disruptive in several market segments, including IT operations, security and compliance, and business intelligence. These market segments are collectively worth $28 billion today.
Earnings continue to shine for the company and the analysts said this:
The Company reported fiscal third quarter results last week, beating expectations handily. Software revenue grew 49%, a function of both new customers and existing customers expanding their adoption of Splunk. The company remains one of the best ways to play the Big Data theme and we believe the underlying biz is likely stronger than it appears. We raised our 2020 revenues and remain slightly ahead of consensus.
Jefferies has a $137 target on this stock, while the posted consensus target was last seen at $131.22. The shares ended trading on Friday at $111.73 apiece.
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