6 Top SunTrust Internet and Digital Media Stock Picks for 2019

January 17, 2019 by Lee Jackson

The new year is rolling with earnings reporting for the fourth quarter in full swing, and many of the top firms that we cover here at 24/7 Wall St. are finalizing their stock and sector picks and prognostications for 2019. This not only gives investors some directional portfolio reshuffling, but it also gives them a look at what the overall macro thoughts for this year are at the big brokerages and banks.

The relentless selling in the markets that started in early October shook the faith of many investors, but it is important to remember that we have enjoyed an almost 10-year bull market run, with the S&P 500 up to 2,940 last fall from an intraday low in March of 2009 of 666. While the market has rallied over 9% from the lows, the massive backup should still give investors a chance with some dry powder to reset and buy some great companies.

A fresh research report from SunTrust features the firm’s top internet and digital media stock picks for 2019, many of which were absolutely battered during the fourth-quarter selling. Here we went with six top picks that have solid upside to the SunTrust price targets. In addition, on Wednesday, we shared SunTrust’s five top internet predictions for 2019.

Alphabet

The search giant continues to expand and, while search is king, the cloud presence is growing fast. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is a global technology company focused on key areas, such as search, advertising, operating systems and platforms, enterprise and hardware products. It generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising and by selling apps and contents on Google Play, as well as hardware products. The company provides its products and services in more than 100 languages and in 190 countries, regions and territories.

Alphabet offers performance and brand advertising services. It operates through Google and Other Bets segments. The Google segment includes principal internet products, such as Search, Ads, Commerce, Maps, YouTube, Apps, Cloud, Android, Chrome and Google Play, as well as technical infrastructure and newer efforts, such as virtual reality.

Back in the fall, Google outlined expanding capabilities to facilitate commerce, capitalizing on the “treasure trove” of data provided by seven different properties, each with at least a billion active users (Android, Search, Chrome, Maps, Play, YouTube and Gmail). Smart shopping campaigns leverage machine learning to make sense of touch points along the consumer purchase path, including better offline attribution capabilities (locally oriented searches up 200% over past two years) and improved purchase conversion rates (20% on average).

The SunTrust price target for the shares is $1,450, and the Wall Street consensus target is $1,355.87 The shares closed Wednesday trading at $1,089.51 apiece.

Amazon

This is the absolute leader in online retail, and last year it opened its first brick-and-mortar store in New York City. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) serves consumers through retail websites that primarily include merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors and those offered by third-party sellers.

The company serves developers and enterprises through Amazon Web Services, which provides computing, storage, database, analytics, applications and deployment services that enable virtually various businesses. AWS is also the undisputed leader in the cloud now, and many top analysts see the company expanding and moving up the enterprise information value chain and targeting a larger total addressable market.

Consistent with data from 2018, digital marketing users overwhelmingly cited Amazon as the fastest-growing channel for advertising budgets, while many retailers are also leveraging their Amazon advertising data to retarget users on other channels (namely Facebook) to drive traffic/ sales to their own websites (bypassing Amazon marketplace/FBA fees).

SunTrust noted this when discussing upcoming earnings:

Top and bottom line expectations for the fourth quarter of 2019 have been reset to more achievable levels. We believe the fourth quarter 2018 revenue guide (which was shy of consensus) is on the conservative side, as the company is greatly positioned to benefit from a robust holiday season (with a record 100 million Prime manageable items available for free 2-day shipping, for 100 million+ members), and fourth quarter tailwinds in India.

SunTrust has a $2,250 price target, while the consensus target is $2,128.16. The stock closed on Wednesday at $1683.78.

Facebook

The huge social media leader has been incredibly volatile and had an absolutely wretched 2018. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is the largest social network with over 2.0 billion monthly active users and over 1.4 billion daily active users. The company generates revenue from advertising and from payments, with over 95% of revenue from advertising. It generates close to 50% of revenues in the United States and Canada and is expanding rapidly in international markets.


Facebook solutions also include Instagram, a mobile application that enables people to take photos or videos, customize them with filter effects, and share them with friends and followers in a photo feed or send them directly to friends; Messenger, a messaging application for mobile and web on various platforms and devices, which enable people to reach others instantly, as well as enable businesses to engage with customers; and WhatsApp Messenger, a mobile messaging application.

Despite the terrible earnings results posted last year and other negatives that caused the shares to sell off a massive 43%, Facebook is used by some 60% of small businesses, which utilize the company’s advertising platform in some way for their businesses. The ability to grow that number is a huge positive for the beleaguered social media giant.

SunTrust said this regarding the future of the company:

We remain constructive as we believe 1) Facebook’s user base/ engagement proved steady in the face of much head winds, 2) prioritization of the user experience/safety should lead to better monetization long term as marketers adopt the new ad products, 3) marketers continue to see superior return on investment, 4) Stories seeing increasing levels of engagement, 5) our belief there is some conservatism in mgmt commentary, and 6) valuation remains compelling.

The $200 SunTrust price target is well above the $185.28 consensus target. Shares closed at $147.54 on Wednesday.

Expedia

This is online travel leader is poised for a potentially big 2019. Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is the leading internet travel pure-play with exposure to online travel in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company’s portfolio of brands includes Expedia, Orbitz, HomeAway, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Trivago, Egencia, Hotwire, Wotif, Venere and Classic Vacations.

Top analysts see it as a story of improving execution, and they also think that the company is starting to finally match Priceline’s growth metrics. The company has raised the dividend and is buying back stock, and both are shareholder-friendly actions. SunTrust noted this when discussing the company’s positive activities:

Expedia’s ongoing investments into expanding property selection in focus markets should contribute positively to growth in room nights, bookings and revenue. Overtime, we see room for better marketing efficiency in these markets as well from efficient customer acquisition.

Expedia investors receive a 0.9% dividend. SunTrust has set its target price at $180. The consensus price target is $146.38, and the stock closed Wednesday at $116 a share.

GoDaddy

This company is probably the most well-known for constructing websites. GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) is a technology provider to small businesses, web design professionals and individuals. It delivers cloud-based products and personalized customer care. The company operates a domain marketplace, where its customers can find the digital real estate that matches their idea. And it provides website building, hosting and security tools to help customers construct and protect online presence.

GoDaddy provides applications that enable connecting to customers and managing businesses. The company also provides search, discovery and recommendation tools, as well as a selection of domain names for ventures. It provides productivity tools, such as domain-specific email, online storage, invoicing, bookkeeping and payment solutions to run ventures, as well as marketing products.

SunTrust team likes how the shares to hold up in rocky times:

The subscription nature of the business model and the “utility-like” service provided to small businesses make GoDaddy’s business relatively resilient in a macro-economic slowdown, in our view.

The SunTrust price objective is $87. The consensus target is $83.80, and shares were last seen at $63.42.

IAC/InterActiveCorp

This is another top SunTrust pick with big upside to the firm’s target price. IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) operates a diverse collection online media assets ranging from search to personals, with Ask.com and Match.com driving the bulk of its revenue and profits. IAC generates revenue from a combination of advertising (both search and display), subscriptions and transactions.

The 2017 merger between Angie’s List and Home Adviser, IAC’s home services marketplace, was well received. SunTrust is very positive on the company and noted this:

Our positive stance is predicated on an attractive sum of the parts analysis reflecting strong top and bottom line growth at both Angie’s List and Match.com, strong free-cash-flow generation in the Publishing and Applications segments and prospects for upside from smaller businesses being currently incubated.

The $237 SunTrust price target is near the consensus target of $237.82. The stock closed most recently at $190.12.

These are three mega-cap industry leaders and three somewhat smaller plays for investors that feel that the internet remains the ubiquitous ruler of today and tomorrow. While much better suited for aggressive growth accounts, they all offer solid entry points with the market still down from highs set back in the fall.

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