3rdPartyFeeds

Study: Investors Say Tesla, Apple And Microsoft Were 2020’s Top Stocks

Each year, Sharesight20 looks back at the top 20 buy and sell trades made by Sharesight users throughout the year.Benzinga analyzed data from the 2020 edition of the Sharesight20USA snapshot. So, what were the top trades of 2020 according to the Sharesight user base?The following are highlights from Sharesight's study. You can read the full report here.Tesla Electric vehicle manufacturers and EV service companies were in the spotlight for 2020. So it may not come as a surprise that respondents from Sharesight's study found Elon Musk's Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) the top stock from 2020.What helped drive shares of Tesla higher over the course of the year? Last July, Tesla recorded a profit for the third consecutive quarter. In August Tesla shares crossed $2,000 ahead of the stock split. December saw Tesla enter the S&P 500 at a weighting of 1.69% and the fifth-largest company overall.in September, Tesla held a battery day. Musk and others at the company talked about Tesla's future battery technology, the new 4680 battery cells and Tesla's plans to reduce battery costs by up to 50%.Tesla's stock is up about 92% since battery day. The stock trades around $845 at publication time.Apple Respondents from Sharesight's study voted Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) as the second-best trade of 2020. Last summer was kind to Apple with Chinese iPhone sales increasing by 225% in the second-quarter and Apple becoming the first U.S. company to hit a $2 trillion market cap.The Cupertino-based tech giant could also soon be involved in the production of electric vehicles. Reports emerged this month that Apple and Hyundai Motor Company (Pink: HYMTF) could forge a partnership to make electric vehicles in the U.S. starting around 2024.Apple trades at $129 per share.Microsoft Investors who participated in Sharesight's report said Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) was the third best trade of 2020. Some of the noteworthy Microsoft headlines Sharesight mentioned: Bill Gates stepping down from the Microsoft board; In July, Microsoft reported $50 billion in revenue for fiscal 2020; In October, the company reported impressive first-quarter 2021 results, where the tech giant saw revenue up by 12%.Shares of Microsoft trade at $213, off the 52-week low of $133.Track your investment portfolio with Sharesight Sharesight's performance and tax reporting lets you track shares, listed bonds, and ETFs from over 30 exchanges worldwide. You can also track 40 global currencies, as well as unlisted investments such as fixed interest and property.Get access to Sharesight20 insights like this by tracking your investment portfolio with Sharesight.See more from Benzinga * Click here for options trades from Benzinga * Is Now The Time To Buy Stock In GameStop, Virgin Galactic Or Alibaba? * Will Uber Stock Reach By 2022?(C) 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Read More...

TipRanks

2 “Strong Buy” Stocks Trading at Steep Discounts

Whether markets move up or down, every investor loves a bargain. There’s a thrill in finding a valuable stock at low, low price – and then watching it appreciate in the mid- to long-term. The key here for investors is finding options in which the risk/reward combination will work toward long-term advantage. So, how are investors supposed to distinguish between the names poised to get back on their feet and those set to remain down in the dumps? That’s what the pros on Wall Street are here for. Using TipRanks’ database, we pinpointed two beaten-down stocks the analysts believe are gearing up for a rebound. Despite the hefty losses incurred over the past 52 weeks, the two tickers have scored enough praise from the Street to earn a “Strong Buy” consensus rating. Theravance Biopharma (TBPH) We will start with Theravance, a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing organ-specific medications. It’s current pipeline includes drug candidates for the treatment of inflammatory lung and intestinal conditions, as well as neurogenicorthostatic hypotension. The research programs range from Phase 1 to Phase 3 trials. Theravance already has YUPELRI on the market as a COPD treatment. YUPELRI underlies the lion’s share of Theravance’s revenue, which in Q3 reach $18.3 million. This was up 47% year-over-year, and was driven by a 124% increase in YUPELRI sales. Of more immediate interest to investors is Trelegy Ellipta, GlaxoSmithKline’s new once daily inhaler medication developed as a maintenance treatment for asthma, which was approved by the FDA in September, 2020. This approval will give Theravance a slice of the income on a drug with a broad potential audience, as asthma affects more than 350 million people globally. Theravance owns royalty rights on Trelegy, with income estimated at 5.5% to 8.5% of total sales. Trelegy was initially approved in the US as the first once-daily single inhaler triple therapy for the treatment of COPD. Like many biopharmas, Theravance has high overhead and its approved drugs are at the start of their profitable lives. This keeps the net earnings and revenues down, at least for the near-term, and leads to a discount share price – TBPH has slipped 32% over the past 52 weeks. Covering the stock for Leerink, analyst Geoff Porges remains bullish on Theravance, mainly due to the combination of its robust pipeline and its approved treatments for lung diseases. “Theravance’s respiratory medicines are its key near-term valuation drivers… We still forecast ~$2.4B in WW Triple sales at peak (2027E). Beyond TBPH’s commercial/partnered assets, the company is also developing an improved JAK inhibitor (JAKi) partnered with JNJ (OP) for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and a norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake inhibitor (NSRI) TD-9855 (ampreloxetine) for neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (nOH). Each of these drugs leverages novel delivery of unique compounds against proven mechanisms-of-action and could offer superior safety and/or treatment effect, from their wider therapeutic windows,” Porges noted. To this end, Porges rates TBPH an Outperform (i.e. Buy) and gives it a $35 price target, implying an impressive one-year upside of 104%. (To watch Porges’ track record, click here) Overall, there are 5 reviews on file, and all are to Buy, making the Strong Buy consensus unanimous. TBPH shares are priced at $16.95, and their $33.60 average price target suggests a 97% upside from that level. (See TBPH stock analysis on TipRanks) NiSource, Inc. (NI) NiSource is a utility holding company, with subsidiaries in the natural gas and electricity sectors. NiSource provides power and gas to over 4 million customers in Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The majority of NiSource’s customers, about 88%, are in the gas sector; the company’s electric operations serve customers in Indiana only. The company saw revenues in the third quarter come in at $902 million, down from $962 in the prior quarter and $931 in the year-ago quarter. Overall, however, revenues have conformed to the company’s historic pattern: The second and third quarters are relatively low, while the top line increases with cold weather in Q4 and peaks in Q1. This is typical of utility companies in North America. Despite the lower year-over-year revenues, NiSource has felt confident enough to maintain its dividend payment, holding it steady at 21 cents per common share through 2020. This annualizes to 84 cents, and gives a yield of 3.8%. Not only has the company felt confident to pay income to shareholders, it has also felt confident to invest heavily in renewable energy resources. The company has a FY20 capital spending plan exceeding $1.7 billion, and is guiding toward $1.3 billion for FY21. These expenditures will fund ‘green’ energy projects. NI is currently trading at $21.67, a striking distance from its 52-week low. One analyst, however, thinks this lower stock price gives investors an attractive entry point today. Argus analyst Gary Hovis rates NI a Buy along with a $32 price target. This figure implies a 48% upside from current levels. (To watch Hovis’ track record, click here) “NI shares appear favorably valued at 18.1-times our 2021 EPS estimate, below the average multiple of 21.6 for comparable electric and gas utilities,” Hovis noted. “NiSource could also become a buyout target, as larger utilitiesand private equity firms have purchased smaller utilities because oftheir stable earnings growth and above-average dividend yields.” Overall, Wall Street sees a clear path forward for NiSource – a fact clear from the unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating, based on 3 recent Buy-side reviews. The shares are selling for $21.68, and the average price target of $28.75 suggests an upside of ~32% on the one-year timeframe. (See NI stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for beaten-down stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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