Top Wall Street analysts favor these 3 stocks for their growth potential
Earnings season is giving analysts plenty to chew on as they learn more about the impact of macro challenges on companies.
Though Wall Street is watching short-term stock moves spurred by quarterly results, the top analysts have their eyes on companies' long-term prospects.
Bearing that in mind, here are three stocks favored by the Street's top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Netflix (NFLX) is this week's first pick. The streaming giant reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2024. However, investors were disappointed with the company's decision to stop reporting quarterly subscriber numbers. The company said that it is more focused on the revenue and operation margin metrics.
Following the first-quarter print, BMO Capital analyst Brian Pitz reaffirmed a buy rating on NFLX stock with a price target of $713. The analyst highlighted the company's addition of 9.3 million subscribers, which handily exceeded BMO's estimate of 6.2 million and the Street's expectation of 4.8 million.
Pitz added that Netflix has again proved that it can grow in the U.S., with 2.5 million net additions reported in the first quarter in the U.S. and Canada. He expects continued growth in membership, driven by the ongoing paid sharing efforts and content innovation.
Explaining his bullish thesis, Pitz said, "$17 billion of content investments for 2024 positions Netflix well for ongoing wallet share gains as linear TV viewership declines."
Despite Netflix's growth investments, the analyst expects an improvement in operating margin this year and beyond. He also anticipates that the company will benefit from its focus on advertising, given that $20 billion of linear TV ad