5 Stocks In The Spotlight: Wall Street's Most Accurate Analysts Weigh In

U.S. stocks settled higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones index jumping more than 800 points during the session following speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powel at the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole Symposium.

Powell sent a clear signal that the central bank is preparing to shift its stance on interest rates as early as next month.

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: Jay McCanless

• Analyst Firm: Wedbush
• Ratings Accuracy: 88%
• Latest Rating: Reiterated a Neutral rating on Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV) with a price target of $120 on Aug. 18.
• Recent News: On Aug. 21, Hovnanian Enterprises posted downbeat quarterly results.

Analyst: Trevor Walsh

• Analyst Firm: JMP Securities
• Ratings Accuracy: 87%
• Latest Rating: Reiterated a Market Outperform rating on Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) with a price target of $212 on Aug. 19.
• Recent News: On Aug. 18, Palo Alto Networks beat fourth-quarter estimates and issued strong guidance.

Analyst: Leo Mariani

• Analyst Firm: Roth Capital
• Ratings Accuracy: 87%
• Latest Rating: Downgraded rating on Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) from Buy to Neutral and cut the price target from $44 to $35 on Aug. 18.
• Recent News: On July 22, Range Resources posted mixed quarterly results.

Analyst: William Stein

• Analyst Firm: Truist Securities
• Ratings Accuracy: 87%
• Latest Rating: Maintained a Hold rating on Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) and raised the price target from $219 to $249 on Aug. 21.
• Recent News: On Aug. 20, Analog Devices beat third-quarter EPS and sales estimates.

Analyst: John Todaro

• Analyst Firm: Needham
• Ratings Accuracy: 86%
• Latest Rating: Reiterated a Buy rating on Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) with a price target of $250 on Aug. 20.
• Recent News: On Aug. 15, the company announced a public offering of 10 million shares at $130 per share.

Read More:

• Top 2 Tech Stocks That May Collapse In August

Photo via Shutterstock