The most important stocks to watch after analyst upgrades – Magic Post

Investors should often take analyst ratings with a grain of salt, as there are often hidden interests and agendas behind each rating and price target. The truth is that these analysts are ordinary people with ordinary jobs. If they are wrong in their decision on a particular stock, there is a very real risk of losing their job, not to mention tarnishing their reputation in the future.

Knowing this, investors should give more weight to analyst opinions that go beyond this consensus, i.e. outliers. Since there is always a common view, which greatly influences the rest of Wall Street’s leniency on a stock’s rating, those analysts who set a price target or rating beyond this consensus range are now on the hook for a very good reason. To do this.

That’s why three stocks with recent upgrades above consensus could be great buy considerations for investors today. They can reverse engineer the reasons behind these aggressive upgrades and why they are now putting these analysts under enormous pressure to do their homework twice. These stocks CVS Health Company New York Stock Exchange: CVS, Kroger Company New York Stock Exchange: K.RAnd even Choi Company New York Stock Exchange: and.

Why Wall Street analysts are rating CVS stock a Strong Buy today

After the latest roller coaster in shares Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. Nasdaq: WBAthe brand was closing underperforming sites and losing market share. The only remaining brand that will operate in the retail segment that deals with healthcare services and products is CVS.

There are alternatives, but there aren’t any all-in-one locations offered by CVS in this area. Now that Walgreens is stepping away from the market, analysts may look to CVS as a potential alternative for future growth and higher valuations based on this trend.

While the consensus price target for CVS stock is now set at $70.5 today, calling for a 23.9% upside from where the stock is trading, some analysts have decided to go a bit further. As of late November 2024, insiders at TD Cowen have decided to maintain their Buy rating on CVS stock, though this time increasing their ratings to $80 per share for a 41% upside from today’s price.

Furthermore, State Street institutional investors recently boosted their holdings in CVS stock by 3.6%, bringing their net position to a high of $3.5 billion or a 4.5% ownership in the company for another vote of confidence by investors.

Kroger Stock Gains Momentum: Why Institutional Buyers See More Upside Ahead

Now that Kroger stock is trying to make a new 52-week high, investors can safely assume that the bullish momentum is more than in the name and will likely continue to reach new highs in the coming months. Despite trading near the highs, some agents in the market are willing to boost the price further than today’s price.

Starting with Wall Street analysts, the consensus price target is now set at $62.6 for an upside of just 3.4%. But that’s not enough, or fair enough, for these analysts at Jefferies Financial Group. These analysts upgraded their ratings on Kroger stock from Hold to Buy for the start of December 2024, setting a $73 price target for a 20.5% upside and a new 52-week high to finish the year strong.

Knowing that the stock has a good chance of getting there despite its already high prices today, some institutional buyers decided to support the new ratings and boost the inherent upside potential in Kroger stock. As with CVS stock, State Street allocators decided to boost their holdings of Kroger stock by 6.8% as of November 2024, bringing their net investment to $1.9 billion, or another 4.5% ownership in the company.

Rubber stocks are riding higher as analysts raise bullish ratings

Compared to the rest of the retail sector, Chewy shares now enjoy a massive premium with a price-to-book (P/B) ratio of 28.4x, while the rest of its peers trade at just 5.5x. While some investors may describe this as expensive, others will understand that the market is often willing to pay a premium for stocks that it believes are growing at above-average rates.

Analysts now believe Chewy stock is worth a consensus of $33.3 per share, for just a 5% upside from today’s price. However, Royal Bank of Canada decided to justify the market premium in Chewy shares by reiterating their outperform rating on the company, this time along with a $42 price target to show a 32.5% upside from today’s level.

The company’s business model also justifies today’s perceived upside. It doesn’t matter whether the economy is booming or faltering; People are likely to always make room in their budgets to care for their furry family members. This non-cyclical nature justifies and will likely continue to justify the premiums the stock is seeing today.

Before you consider Kroger, you’ll want to hear this.

MarketBeat tracks the highest-rated and best-performing research analysts on Wall Street and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches up… and Kroger wasn’t on the list.

While Kroger currently has a “Moderate Buy” rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

View the five stocks here

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