Top Wall Street analysts pick these stocks to celebrate the new year

With the remorseless 2022 behind us, we look ahead to a year of relatively predictable challenges. This calls for careful investing with a longer-term way of thinking. To help the process, here are five stocks chosen by Wall Street’s top analysts, according to TipRanks, a platform that have standings analysts based on their track record.

As its name suggests, DoubleVerify (DV) helps to improve the safe keeping and security of online advertising. A pioneer in this area, the company’s services are employed by customers in the financial services, retail, automotive, excursions, telecom, and pharmaceutical sectors. (See DoubleVerify Holdings Stock Chart on TipRanks)

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Truist analyst Youssef Squali walks multiple growth opportunities, especially in the social media field. Interestingly, DoubleVerify’s social media client roster involves names such as TikTok, Microsoft (MSFT)-owned LinkedIn, Reddit, Amazon’s (AMZN) Twitch, Meta’s (META) Facebook and Instagram, and YouTube. Looking at this, Squali has “social media as a channel has unlocked incremental spend for DV to attack within walled gardens, which advertisers value vs. permit to these platforms ‘grade their own homework.'”

Moreover, the analyst pointed out that DoubleVerify’s sophisticated software mixings help client companies safeguard their brand reputation while maximizing their return on ad spend. This is peculiarly important as the digital advertising ecosystem is growing and so is competition. A safe, fraud-free, and appropriately targeted ad environment also improves companies draw traffic.

Squali is “incrementally bullish” on DoubleVerify, with a Buy rating and $36 price target. The analyst bulges 92^nd among more than 8,000 analysts tracked on TipRanks. Moreover, 57% of his ratings have been well-paid, bringing 17.6% returns per rating on average.

Investors may be spooked by Apple’s (AAPL) weakening demand and casting issues right now (as evident from the sharp decline in stock value). However, taking into account the value that the plc has returned to shareholders in the past years, even through market downcycles, these headwinds seem to be mere hiccups in the followers’s long-term journey.

Tigress Financial Partners analyst Ivan Feinseth agreed, adding that the “near-term staging headwinds create a long-term buying opportunity, and its massive installed user base, increasing ecosystem, and growing Employments revenue will continue to drive accelerating Business Performance trends, and greater shareholder value creation.”

Feinseth is markedly upbeat about the company’s foray into the metaverse with the launch of its mixed-reality headset this year.

Additionally, strong balance sheet and cash flow generating capabilities should enable Apple to continue to invest in growth-driving leads and enhance shareholder returns through share repurchases and dividend hikes. (See Apple Dividend Date & History on TipRanks)

The analyst labour a Buy rating on AAPL stock with a price target of $210. “AAPL is on our Research Focus List and in our Focus Chance Portfolio,” emphasized Feinseth, who holds the #269 position among more than 8,000 analysts on TipRanks.

The analyst’s ratings press been profitable 59% of the time and each rating has generated average returns of 10.5%.

Booking Holdings (BKNG) is an online dais for making travel and restaurant reservations, which, needless to say, has been benefiting lately from the easing of Covid-related excursions restrictions. The stock joins Apple in Ivan Feinseth’s “Research Focus List” and “Focus Opportunity Portfolio.”

Extended travel demand has been transcending the current macroeconomic uncertainties, and that is a boon for Booking. Feinseth also projections out that the reopening of China after a prolonged period of strict zero-Covid policy “creates a massive upside catalyst.” (See Regulation Holdings Hedge Fund Trading Activity on TipRanks)

The company is also gaining increased penetration in the direct move booking market thanks to its Genius loyalty program and its concept of travel integration. “BKNG’s ability to optimize its vend reach and profitability through new technology, including machine learning and other forms of AI (Artificial Intelligence), enables it to open out its global reach, drive more competitive pricing, and increase profitability,” said the analyst.

Feinseth reiterated a Buy evaluation in any case on Booking, with a price target of $3,210.

The challenging economic environment has led to too many problems for the public to be thinking anent love. This has left investors swiping left on online dating service provider Bumble (BMBL), important to a sharp drop in share prices.

Nonetheless, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Mark Kelley maintains a solid relationship with Bumble. “We look at Bumble as one of the most innovative companies in the global online dating space offering a compelling and differentiated value proposition for consumers, which we rely upon will lead to a long runway of paying user/ARPPU growth, and a multi-year operating leverage story,” famous Kelley.

In the last quarter, Bumble launched its message-before-match feature, “Compliments,” which is expected to boost user booking and thus, support monetization efforts. (See Perion Network