The Eight Stocks Analysts Love The Most (Caveat emptor) [CHART]

By George Trager, Financial Markets Enthusiast, Editor of investbrain.net

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The below chart shows the most loved large capitalization stocks by Wall Street Analysts based on the total number of analysts who cover the respective companies and the highest number of buy recommendations.

Some quick observations:

• Three of the notorious FANG stocks, Facebook, Amazon and Google, are (to no one’s surprise) among the most loved stocks covered by Wall Street Analysts
• Netflix is the one FANG stock not on this list as though it has 24 Buy recommendations, it has an almost equal number of holds and sells combined (18 holds and 4 sells)
• Six out of the eight companies on the list are primarily internet-based businesses
• The average market capitalization of the eight companies is $243 billion
• The average price to forward earnings ratio of the eight companies is 38.8x (28.1x if you exclude Amazon)
• Precisely one year ago, Alphabet (Google) would not have made the list, as the company had only 35 buy recommendations and 10 holds
• Seven out of the eight companies are in the technology sector
• The one exception is Tata Motors, which is the largest automotive company in India and actually also the cheapest of the eight companies, with a price to earnings ratio of 6.8x
• The average revenue growth over the last twelve months of the group is 23%, with Facebook topping the group at 44%
• Salesforce is the only company in the group who’s customers are primarily businesses vs. consumers
• The average price target of Wall Street Analysts implies 36% upside on average to current prices among the group according to Bloomberg

Caveat emptor!