Technology

4 Top Merrill Lynch Internet Picks for the Second Half of 2015

As hard as it may be to believe, the first half of what has been a very up and down stock market in 2015 is over. The question for many stock investors is what will the second half bring? Will we see a big correction? Are interest rates going higher? One thing is for sure, the Internet will remain a ubiquitous presence, and investors on the right horses could be poised for continued gains.

A new research report from Merrill Lynch highlights the firm’s top Internet stock ideas for the rest of 2015. While some may come as no surprise, others could be wild cards for investors.

Amazon

This company is the absolute leader in online retail, and it is also a dominate player in cloud storage business and the top Merrill Lynch e-commerce idea. 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), which provides compute, storage, database, analytics, applications and deployment services that enable virtually various businesses.

Amazon recently announced that it will start announcing AWS results separately starting in the first quarter of this year. It is one of the companies that the RBC team thinks is a direct beneficiary of the current pricing scenario. In January, AWS introduced a larger C4 instance class into its Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) offer for compute-intensive workloads, such as online gaming, simulation and analytics applications. The Merrill Lynch team cites an October customer event that could drive the AWS multiple even higher.

The analysts also point to Prime adoption continuing to be a key strategic priority for Amazon, and they expect Amazon Prime membership adds to continue to benefit from an increasing menu of Prime services, including Prime Instant Video, same day delivery, Prime Music, Prime Photos and Kindle Owners Lending Library.

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The bottom line for investors: Amazon offers a diverse product category that will continue to benefit and enrich consumers’ cloud, entertainment and, of course, online shopping experiences. With the huge infrastructure built to deliver these services, challengers will be very difficult to find.

The Merrill Lynch price target for the stock is $475. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $469.08. Shares closed Wednesday at $434.09 apiece.

Facebook

This incredible, fast-growing company remains the face of social media, and it is the top media pick at Merrill Lynch. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has been grinding higher over the past year after a big run up in 2013 to early 2014 when the stock almost doubled, and the social media behemoth does not look to be slowing down. The revenue change over the past year was an astounding 54.69%, and it also comes in as a top Internet stock pick at Cowen.

With Instagram, Premium video and Graph Search capabilities, some analysts feel that the company can drive revenue growth even without a huge increase in advertising placement. Many analysts agree that investor sentiment is very positive and that mobile advertising growth via different silos can be added this year, in 2016 and beyond. They also reported that Instagram is opening its platform for advertisers, particularly direct response advertisers via new direct response ad units like mobile app install ads. With a talented and experienced sales team, this should only continue to drive revenue higher.

The Merrill Lynch analysts also point to the fact that Facebook remains the top beneficiary of the adoption of mobile Internet, with total U.S. internet time spent on Facebook and Messenger up 19.6% in May. Other metrics continue to explode, and the key is that no viable challenger is anywhere in sight.

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Wall Street analysts see the huge virtual reality potential in the company’s purchase of Oculus and see a huge shift as humans interact with machines from smartphones and personal computers to wearables and integrated electronics that enable virtual reality and augmented reality. The also see Oculus as a good hedge on the overall relevance of the social media portfolio going forward, and they believe a higher multiple is warranted.

The Merrill Lynch team raises the price target to $105 from $95. The consensus target is $97.33. The shares closed Tuesday at $85.70.

On Deck Capital

This company, a leading platform for small business loans, is committed to increasing Main Street’s access to capital. On Deck Capital Inc. (NYSE: ONDK) uses advanced lending technology and analytics to assess creditworthiness based on actual operating performance and not solely on personal credit. OnDeck Score, the company’s proprietary small business credit scoring system, evaluates thousands of data points to deliver a credit decision rapidly and accurately. Numerous Wall Street analysts see the shift in acquisition channels and funding sources as a key point to watch and continue in 2015. Many are also very positive on the strategic partner pipeline with a number of new banks and nonbanks.

The Merrill Lynch team says that new credit facilities could lower the cost of funding in the third quarter, and older credit facilities are due to expire in the fourth quarter. They also see the second half of this year as having a much more positive macro-economic environment that should drive loan demand.

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The Merrill Lynch price target of $27 is higher than the consensus target of $23.29. The stock closed at $11.59 a share, so a rise to either target is a spectacular gain.

Wix.com

This company has had a solid run and could be poised for a much higher move. Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) is the Merrill Lynch team’s top small-cap pick for the rest of 2015. The company is a leading cloud-based Web development platform with over 65 million registered users worldwide. Wix was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions, Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, professionals and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The Wix Editor and highly curated App Market enable users to build and manage a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence. Wix’s headquarters are in Tel Aviv, with offices in San Francisco, New York, Vilnius and Dnepropetrovsk.

The Merrill Lynch analysts point out that Wix.com is the leader in providing do-it-yourself capabilities to bring a business online without breaking a small company’s back. Its scale and investment in software development provides a significant competitive advantage over the many smaller Web edit or tools available.

Merrill Lynch has a $27 price target for the stock, but the consensus objective is higher at $29.38. The shares closed Tuesday at $23.62.

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Needless to say, Internet stocks are very volatile and only for aggressive accounts. The Merrill Lynch selections make good sense for accounts looking to take profits and shift capital to stocks with better upside potential.

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