5 Hot Stocks For The Second Quarter

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As the Q1 roller-coaster draws to a bumpy close, it’s time to move our attention to the coming quarter. Which are the key stocks out there right now to boost your portfolio’s second quarter returns? When the market is looking so volatile, you have to work a bit harder to find the best investing ideas.  Luckily we have TipRanks Analysts’ Top Stocks tool at our fingertips to provide some top-notch investing inspiration. This tool pinpoints stocks with multiple recent buy ratings from the Street’s best performing analysts. Here we used the following filters and ordered the results by upside potential.

As long as the stock hasn’t just recorded steep losses, the upside potential is a handy indicator of stocks that look undervalued right now and have big growth potential ahead. Plus all the stocks below have a ‘Strong Buy’ analyst consensus rating. So tick and tick! With that being said, let’s dive in and take a closer look at why these 5 stocks have such a bullish analyst rating right now:

1. TG Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TGTX)

Shares in TG Therapeutics have exploded by a whopping 76% so far in Q1. This innovative biotech is focused on developing novel treatments for devastating blood cancers and autoimmune diseases.

“We believe TG is generating a complete B-cell therapy franchise that is unique in the oncology space, which could provide substantial value across various B-cell cancers” writes B.Riley FBR’s Madhu Kumar. He selects TGTX as an Out the Gate 2018 Pick, due to his “reasonable confidence in success in the Phase III UNITY-CLL trial, with interim data expected in 2Q18.”

For investors looking for some serious upside potential, five-star HC Wainwright analyst Edward White sees the stock spiking to $38 (154% upside potential). He reiterated his buy rating on March 21. White bases his valuation on the potential revenue and success of the company’s two main drugs ublituximab and umbralisib. Combined, he is projecting 2026 revenue for these drugs of $990 million.

TipRanks reveals that four analysts have published recent buy ratings on TGTX. With an average analyst price target of $27.50, on average analysts are predicting 90% upside potential from the current share price of just $14.40. Note that you can click on the screenshot below to dive deeper into the stock’s outlook.

2. MasTec (NYSE:MTZ)

This engineering and construction company has just been picked as a ‘top mid-cap idea’ by five-star Canaccord Genuity analyst Robert Burleson. He sees the stock spiking almost 40% to $65 in the next 12 months- but adds that these estimates may ultimately prove conservative.

So why is Burleson such a fan of MTZ? Well, we can see that he has a ”high conviction” in MasTec’s ability to deliver estimate upside. This is based on both the stock’s ‘healthy’ backlog momentum and the fact that demand remains ‘robust.’ While pipeline visibility has suffered from a “reluctance of owners to publicize future potential projects”, MTZ is still in prime position to capture additional large scale work concludes Burleson.

Our data shows MTZ as a “Top Analyst Stock” – based on the fact that out of 10 recent stock ratings, 9 are bullish and only 1 is a Hold. Tellingly, this includes a key stock upgrade from Deutsche Bank on the company’s strong 2018 sales outlook. Meanwhile the average analyst price target of $63 indicates 38% upside potential.

3. Micron (NASDAQ:MU)

Shares in semiconductor stock Micron have taken a slight beating in the last few days. Prices fell 8% after the company released its fiscal Q2 results. Investors felt jittery and fears that the memory supercycle is fading resulted in a selloff. But even post-selloff, investors should note that this chip giant has still recorded impressive three-month growth of 24%.

Plus word on the Street is that this selloff was overdone. MKM analyst Ruben Roy reminds us that MU’s second fiscal quarter print was “solid,” outclassing the MU team’s own positively boosted guide- all while setting ‘strong’ expectations for the third fiscal quarter. He praises the “favorable trends” for Micron’s supply and demand and ramps up his price target from $58 to $65.

“We continue to believe that MU and its memory peers are positioned to benefit from continued positive demand trends and a rational supply environment in 2018. Despite expectations for higher industry capex, we continue to believe that the complexities inherent to node transitions in DRAM and higher-layer 3D NAND will naturally limit industry bit growth and, consequently, we continue to believe that this cycle remains poised to be a multi-year event” cheers this top analyst.

Overall, we can see from TipRanks that analysts are bullish that MU still has serious further growth potential ahead. The stock has scored 17 recent buy ratings and just 3 hold ratings. Most encouragingly, their $74 average price target suggests over 41% upside potential. Note that the high price target of $100 (91% upside potential) comes from Nomura’s Romit Shah. This five-star analyst reiterated his MU rating yesterday saying that investors are seriously underestimating the DRAM and NAND flash chip trend.

4. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)

Given Facebook’s ongoing data scandal, this may be a controversial choice. Indeed, on a three-month basis FB stock is down over 10%. The market is reacting to the news that Cambridge Analytica got FB data even without explicit consent from users. And now Facebook’s privacy practices are under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

But- and this is a big ‘but’- could the fall actually represent a buying opportunity? If we take a look at the Street perspective, Facebook is still a Strong Buy stock. Indeed throughout this whole period, FB has still received an impressive 30 buy ratings vs just 2 hold and 1 sell rating. Plus the average analyst price target of $225 indicates massive upside potential for a stock like FB of over 46%.

In fact, top Wells Fargo analyst Ken Sena isn’t feeling the least concerned. He has just reiterated his buy rating with a bullish $230 price target. He says the news about the FTC investigation was expected, and emphasizes that now is the time to buy shares. Sena recommends making the most of this break in consumer and investor confidence to access the jewel in FB’s crown: hast-growing photo-sharing app Instagram.

“For a name with still much better overall long-term relative growth prospects”, FB is now trading at a very low valuation compared to peers concludes this five-star analyst.

5. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL)

Last but by no means least comes Madrigal Pharma. There is no doubt that this is one of the major runaway stocks of the last year. Over just 1 year this biopharma recorded mind-blowing growth of 575%. But if you think that this run has expired, you would be wrong. So says top Goldman Sachs analyst Salveen Richter.

He has just initiated MDGL with a buy rating and $191 price target indicating 83% upside potential. While this may not be the explosion seen in September- 83% upside is still very promising.

Madrigal is the “dark horse” in the race for NASH treatments, says Richter. He projects MGL-3196 global peak sales of $4.0B for NASH and $2.2B for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. Investors should keep a close eye on 2018’s data catalysts, recommends Richter, before adding that he is optimistic on the outcome of a MGL-3196 Phase 2 NASH biopsy data due in May.

Studies show that NASH, a chronic fatty liver disease, affects approximately 15 million Americans. It can cause liver failure or cancer if left untreated. Some experts even predict it could become the leading cause of liver transplants by the next decade, creating a $35 billion market for NASH-targeted medicines.

In the last three months MDGL boasts 100% Street support. These 5 analysts believe the stock is capable of rising over 66% from current levels.