Top Wall Street analysts see long-term upside in these stocks even amid investor uncertainty

Investors made it through another volatile week, as the three major indexes notched gains for the period.

For now, markets seem to be shaking off the fears that have brought shares down in the first place, but the actual concerns haven’t dissipated. The war in Ukraine continues to roil Eastern Europe. Inflation is still hot, and rising fuel prices are denting consumers’ finances. 

Tumultuous times require investors to look past headlines and focus on companies with sound fundamentals. Wall Street’s pros are highlighting the companies they believe have long-term potential, according to Tipranks, which tracks the best-performing analysts.

Here are five names to follow this week.

Bitcoin values have largely held on over the last month, as have its heavily-associated publicly traded mining companies, like Riot Blockchain (RIOT). 

Although the miner has been affected by bitcoin’s stagnating price over the last quarter, the company has continued to build out its infrastructure and is enhancing its vertically integrated capacities.  

Recently, Darren Aftahi of Roth Capital Partners noted RIOT’s accelerating machine-deployment rate, as well as its latest land purchases as reasons to expect future growth.  

Aftahi rated the stock a buy, and he assigned a price target of $46.  

The analyst acknowledged Riot Blockchain’s underperformance over its last quarter’s earnings. However, he sees its lower revenues as a direct result of the lack of deployment in December. Regardless, he writes that this was but a “speed bump” and that the company should be ramping deployment and its mining operations as RIOT’s infrastructure projects come online.  

Moreover, Aftahi expects the recently acquired infrastructure hardware provider ESS Metron to boost RIOT’s vertical integration. He added that it could “add materially to total revenue given its trialing nine-month revenue.” It will provide “priority access to infrastructure components at cheaper prices” to Riot Blockchain, the anlayst said.  

On TipRanks, Aftahi is ranked as No. 378 out of almost 8,000 expert analysts. He has been successful when rating stocks 38% of the time, and he has returned an average of 32.1% on each one.  

Russia’s war on Ukraine has spurred Western entities to begin shoring up their cybersecurity in anticipation of a pick-up in hacking activity. 

The highly competitive space of cybersecurity has several high-growth names ready for liftoff, including web infrastructure company Cloudflare (NET). The firm has been accumulating new customers.  

Shaul Eyal of Cowen wrote that “through its end-to-end scalable cloud native platform, NET stands ready to disrupt the networking, security, and telco markets.” These industries represent a calculated total addressable market of about $100 billion, and NET appears poised for taking considerable market share. (See Cloudflare Estimated Monthly Visits on TipRanks) 

Eyal rated the stock a buy and declared a price target of $250. He stated that this was the highest valuation in regard to a company’s expected FY23 revenues in all his cybersecurity coverage.  

Investors increasingly view the DDoS mitigation software firm has a major player in its field. Cloudflare has been producing about half of its revenues from large enterprise customers, and is “ready to take on names such as AWS,” according to Eyal.  

In regard to sanctions levied on Russian markets, the analyst wrote that NET has a marginal exposure to losses there. Moreover, he commended the company for providing pro bono services to critical infrastructure like hospitals, energy, and water utilities in need.  

Out of nearly 8,000 professionals in TipRanks database, Eyal ranks as No. 14. He has been correct 76% of the time when picking stocks, and maintains an average return of 56.3% across his ratings.  

Over the last two years, the retail industry has been plagued by lockdowns, supply-side and logistical constraints, and now runaway inflationary pressures weighing on consumer behavior. However, Nike (NKE) recently beat Wall Street consensus estimates on revenue and earnings per share. The company is also shifting its wholesale business to better adapt to new consumer trends.  

This year, the shoe and athletic equipment manufacturer is experiencing demand that outstrips its supply and inventory. Nike also has been expanding its partnerships in Chinese markets, as noted by Robert Drbul of Guggenheim in his recent report. (See Nike Stock Charts on TipRanks) 

Drbul rated the stock a buy, and he declared a price target of $195.  

The analyst elaborated that the progress in China “will lead it into a new era of marketplace transformation.” Additionally, despite the declining year-over-year revenues in that market, Drbul said that “Nike has the most innovative brand, platforms, and product line” to succeed there.  

In general, retail has been looking encouragingly strong at the current juncture in time. Drbul said that Nike’s industry-leading position should provide it with enough leverage to out-invest and out-innovate its peers.  

While short-term operational challenges remain, Drbul expects them to subside in the long term and for Nike to emerge from them stronger, and more valuable, than before.  

Drbul ranks as No. 111 out of almost 8,000 analysts on TipRanks. He has been correct when picking stocks 68% of the time, and he has achieved an average return per rating of 27.9%.  

Adobe (ADBE) recently reported its quarterly earnings results to a mixed reception. However, despite its soft guidance and slowing business trends, the company remains an industry behemoth.  

Reporting on the stock’s standing is Brian Schwartz of Oppenheimer, who noted that the company’s decent performance could pick up as the year progresses, due in part to digital media price increases. Moreover, the software firm is experiencing healthy demand and promising annual recurring revenue metrics.  

Schwartz rated the stock a buy, and he provided a price target of $560.  

The analyst wrote that Adobe “stands out from almost any group as the pioneering trailblazer of digital creative and marketing tools and services.” Additionally, he noted that the firm has adapted itself into a “verifiable cloud platform success story as it rides atop multiple product pillars of substantial scale, profits, and growth trajectory.” 

Out of almost 8,000 analysts on TipRanks, Schwartz is ranked No. 20. His success rate stands at 71%, and he has returned an average of 50.8% on each rating.  

Nvidia (NVDA) has been projected to be one of the major benefactors of both the metaverse and the overall transformation to the cloud, and its valuation has reflected that.  

Now that the stock has come down from its lofty prices of last November, the company appears far more attractive. This is the case even though its shares recently rebounded. 

Nvidia recently hosted its investor day conference, at which its management highlighted the massive $1 trillion total addressable market from which the company intends to capture. NVDA has been announcing and releasing innovative products from its pipeline.

Vijay Rakesh of Mizuho Securities noted this in his recent report, adding that “NVDA’s new networking portfolio supports its focus towards providing a full end-to-end Data Center stack.” This stack includes “software, GPU, Grace GPU, Bluefield DPU (via Mellanox), and Switch,” Rakesh added. 

The analyst rated the stock a buy, and he calculated a price target of $345.  

Furthermore, the company has also been making considerable gains in the advanced driver-assistance systems market, wherein its penetration is expected to increase from about 10% to 50% in the next eight years. Rakesh argues that this total addressable market could be worth up to $300 billion, and represents a considerable growth driver looking forward. (See Nvidia Hedge Fund Activity on TipRanks) 

Out of almost 8,000 expert analysts, Rakesh ranks as No. 33. He has been accurate when picking stocks 71% of the time, and he has returned an average of 47.9% when doing so.