U.S. stocks settled higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones index gaining by more than 200 points during the session. The Nasdaq Composite also jumped to a new record intraday high on Friday.
The major indices posted a winning week, with the Dow gaining about 1.4% and the S&P 500 adding 2.4% last week. The Nasdaq recorded a 3.9% surge during the week.
Wall Street analysts make new stock picks on a daily basis. Unfortunately for investors, not all analysts have particularly impressive track records at predicting market movements. Even when it comes to one single stock, analyst ratings and price targets can vary widely, leaving investors confused about which analyst’s opinion to trust.
Benzinga’s Analyst Ratings API is a collection of the highest-quality stock ratings curated by the Benzinga news desk via direct partnerships with major sell-side banks. Benzinga displays overnight ratings changes on a daily basis three hours prior to the U.S. equity market opening. Data specialists at investment dashboard provider Toggle.ai recently uncovered that the analyst insights Benzinga Pro subscribers and Benzinga readers regularly receive can successfully be used as trading indicators to outperform the stock market.
Top Analyst Picks: Fortunately, any Benzinga reader can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. One of the ways traders can sort through Benzinga’s extensive database of analyst ratings is by analyst accuracy. Here’s a look at the most recent stock picks from each of the five most accurate Wall Street analysts, according to Benzinga Analyst Stock Ratings.
Analyst: Patrick Moley
- Analyst Firm: Piper Sandler
- Ratings Accuracy: 87%
- Latest Rating: Maintained an Underweight rating on Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) and increased the price target from $50 to $58 on Aug. 8. This analyst sees around 22% downside in the stock.
- Recent News: On Aug. 7, Block reported quarterly earnings of 62 cents per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of 68 cents, according to Benzinga Pro.
Analyst: Lloyd Walmsley
- Analyst Firm: UBS
- Ratings Accuracy: 86%
- Latest Rating: Maintained a Buy rating on Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) and raised the price target from $115 to $117 on Aug. 7. This analyst sees around 31% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On Aug. 6, the company reported a quarterly revenue growth of 18% year-on-year to $12.65 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $12.46 billion.
Analyst: Yi Fu Lee
- Analyst Firm: Cantor Fitzgerald
- Ratings Accuracy: 86%
- Latest Rating: Maintained a Neutral rating on Nerdy, Inc. (NYSE:NRDY) and cut the price target from $1.75 to $1.5 on Aug. 8. This analyst sees around 17% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On Aug. 7, Nerdy reported worse-than-expected second-quarter sales results and issued third-quarter sales guidance below estimates.
Analyst: Mark Kelley
- Analyst Firm: Stifel
- Ratings Accuracy: 86%
- Latest Rating: Maintained a Buy rating on The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) and cut the price target from $95 to $90 on Aug. 8. This analyst sees around 63% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On Aug. 7, Trade Desk reported quarterly earnings of 41 cents per share, in line with the analyst estimate, according to Benzinga Pro.
Analyst: William Stein
- Analyst Firm: Truist Securities
- Ratings Accuracy: 86%
- Latest Rating: Maintained a Hold rating on Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) and increased the price target from $50 to $54 on Aug. 7. This analyst sees around 3% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On Aug. 6, Avnet issued both GAAP EPS and adjusted EPS guidance below estimates for the first quarter.
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