Did you ever copy from the smart kid in class and then score straight A’s? Well, now you can replicate this savvy move with top investor trades — and make some money while you’re at it!
By tracking the most popular picks of investors who consistently outperform the market, you can easily boost your own returns. And unlike following analysts, these are investors who are actually investing their own money. This means no conflicts of interest or corporate politics going on here. Just pure stock picks with a strong buy rating from the investors.
In order to find these key top investor stocks, I used TipRanks’ Individual Investor Sentiment tool. This nifty tool enables you to pinpoint the most popular stocks from the best-performing investors in any sector. Even more usefully, we can see if top investors are ramping up their holdings over the last month/week, as well as the proportion of the portfolio these investors (on average) dedicate to that stock.
So without further ado, let’s delve into these seven strong buy stocks now:
Strong Buy Stocks
Amazon (AMZN)
Far and away, the No. 1 stock for top investors is Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). To be honest, this can’t come as much as a surprise. Amazon appears to be on the path to world domination. And analysts are about as bullish as they come. Out of 37 analysts covering the stock, no less than 36 rate AMZN a “buy.” That’s with a $2,121 price target for upside potential of over 30%. So you can see why investors would want to buy in to this killer growth story.
In fact, at 14.4%, a significant proportion of the top analyst portfolio is dedicated to Amazon. That’s well over 2% more than the second-most-popular stock.
Even though AMZN forecast lower-than-expected Q1 revenue, shares are still up 9% year-to-date. That’s in part down to continued investments in fulfillment/logistics, international expansion, video, and AWS — all of which should support future growth. “We support the company’s investments for future growth as it allows Amazon to expand its competitive advantages” cheers Stifel Nicolaus’ Scott Devitt.
Canopy Growth (CGC)
Everyone is buzzing about cannabis stocks right now. And the cream of the crop for top investors is Canopy Growth Corp (NYSE:CGC) — the biggest pot company in the world. CGC is currently the sixth most popular stock in the Consumer Goods sector for top investors.
What’s interesting is that its popularity is also rising. In the last 30 days, the change in the number of best-performing portfolios holding CGC increased by 2.4% — a pretty massive leap when you think about it. This gives the stock a “very positive” investor sentiment right now.
Even the company’s recent fiasco hasn’t deterred investors. Canopy Growth messed up its recent earnings report. The company has now filed an amended Q3 report revealing that its actual adjusted EBITDA loss was much worse that first reported — nearly CA$155.2 million instead of C$69 million.
Nonetheless, sales have exploded since cannabis was legalized last fall. And Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Lavery expects Canopy Growth to remain in investment mode as it drives growth in new markets globally. “We continue to estimate a $250 billion-$500 billion potential long-term global cannabis market, with a $15 billion-$5 billion near-term opportunity,” says Lavery. He has a $60 price target (38% upside potential).
Nvidia (NVDA)
Chip stock Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) plunged by 30% in 2018, but top investors are staying onside. And luckily, shares are already up 19% year-to-date. After Apple(NASDAQ:AAPL), Nvidia is the most popular consumer goods stock for best-performing investors. On average, these investors allocate 4.6% of their portfolio to the stock.
“NVDA is set for rare secular growth/GM expansion” Oppenheimer’s Rick Schafer told investors on Feb. 15. Macro uncertainty and a slowdown in hyperscale spending aside, Nvidia continues to boast long-term structural/secular growth drivers in high performance gaming, auto/autonomous and DC AI training/inference.
This five-star analyst sees shares surging 17% in the coming months. “We see our long thesis intact and maintain Outperform and $190 target” he concludes.
Apple (AAPL)
Apple may have its skeptics, but top investors are actually becoming more bullish on the stock. AAPL is the second-most-popular stock after Amazon, making up close to 10% of the average best-performing portfolio.
Indeed shares are up 10% since the earnings update, indicating that investors are happy with Apple’s current track. While the company still faces major headwinds like China’s economic deceleration, shifting consumer preferences and product pricing challenges, Wedbush’s Daniel Ives remains bullish.
He has just reiterated a “buy’ rating and $200 price target. Ives points to the company’s strong customer loyalty to the company, saying, “Apple must prove there is enough gas left in the growth engine and most importantly put a steel fence around its golden customer base.”
According to Ives, Apple’s Services segment is “playing a major role and a linchpin to Apple’s future success,” and has the potential to significantly add to shareholder value. Even more so if Apple’s upcoming video content subscription service is as successful as expected.
AT&T (T)
For a stellar dividend stock pick, look no further. AT&T (NYSE:T) has a “strong buy” rating from both investors and the Street right now. It’s the No. 1 most popular dividend stock for top investors (followed by Altria Group (NYSE:MO) and then Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO).
That’s understandable when its yield comes out to 6.5%, driven by a $2.04 annualized payout. And that’s on top of 34 consecutive years of dividend growth — an extremely impressive track record.
As far as Oppenheimer’s Timothy Horan sees it, “T has a solid balance sheet and an attractive dividend yield.” He believes 2019 is about positioning for better services growth in 2020 and beyond. Bear in mind this analyst comes in at No. 36 out of over 5,100 analysts tracked by TipRanks. So his stock picking skills are pretty solid, to say the least.
Even though the company is temporarily sidelined by their debt load following the massive TimeWarner acquisition, Horan believes that “combined with TWX, FCF/share could grow 6% per year.”
Alibaba (BABA)
Top investors are currently ramping up holdings in Chinese e-commerce king Alibaba(NYSE:BABA). The company is currently the fifth biggest holding for top investors- at about 6% of the portfolio.
And the Street’s rating also catches the eye. One hundred percent of analysts are bullish on BABA right now- giving the stock 18 buy ratings in the last three months.
“Though Macros remain a big unknown, we view BABA’s Fundamental Risk/Reward as very compelling here” cheered RBC Capital’s Mark Mahaney following the company’s fiscal Q3 earnings report. He has just ramped up his price target to $210 (19% upside potential).
Why? Improving profit growth from Alibaba’s core marketplace EBITA as BABA continues to invest in strategic initiatives (Ele.me, Lazada, New Retail and Cainiao). These initiatives are key to BABA improving their total addressable market size and business moats.
Boeing (BA)
Last but not least comes a stock everyone knows and loves, Boeing (NYSE:BA). Welcome to the best-performing industrial stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average last year. And with a strong 32% gain year-to-date, Boeing continues to outperform its peers.
Good news for investors. We can see that the stock has a “very positive” sentiment from investors. It’s also one of the top 10 stock holdings in the ideal ‘best-performing portfolio.’
After hosting Boeing execs at the 40th Cowen Conference, the firm’s Cai Rumohr writes: “BA comments suggest continuing demand vigor, improving 737 execution, and free cash flow ramp extending through 2021. It’s our #1 pick for PT of at least $475.”
According to this Top 100 analyst, the company’s cash flow ramp will likely extend through 2021. “The sole large headwind is cash taxes, which will rise with 787 profitability. Bottom line — the cash profile still looks terrific” the analyst writes.
Also of note: JP Morgan’s Seth Seifman has also just signaled his confidence in the stock by boosting his price target $25 to $450.
