Wall Street analysts see stocks like Target & Microsoft with upside

As the year progresses, the vast majority of companies have already posted their latest quarterly results.

The economic recovery ramped up throughout the first half of 2021, and many firms saw massive revenues. Now, investors’ attention has turned from summer and travel trends to what the fall season may have in store.

With TipRanks’ unique tools, investors can see which companies Wall Street’s top analysts think are well-positioned to capture these shifting trends. These analysts are some of the highest ranked on TipRanks, based on their success rates and average returns per rating.

Here are five stocks that Wall Street’s best-performing analysts think still have major upside potential after earnings.

Companies have been preparing their workforces for the grand return to the office, some hybrid, some full-time. However, due to the high rate of infection of COVID-19 in the U.S., several high-profile firms such as Apple have just announced delays in their return dates. This bodes well for cloud computing architecture services, such as Microsoft‘s Azure and Office 365 platforms.

Upon review of Microsoft’s performance, Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities said that he sees the work-from-home trend persisting. After showing strong momentum throughout 2020 and the first half of 2021, Microsoft continues to close large deals for both enterprise- and consumer-level packages of its cloud-based services. These deals are expected to provide revenue for Microsoft well into 2022.

Ives maintained his buy rating on the stock, and bullishly raised his price target from $325 to $350.

The five-star analyst added that in the “cloud arms race,” Microsoft is poised to capture more market share than Amazon Web Services. Microsoft recently hiked its prices for Office 365, which Ives anticipates could generate more than $5 billion in 2022.

Regarding a long-term cloud computing stock pick, Ives stated, “Microsoft remains our favorite large cap cloud play, and we believe the stock will move higher into year-end as the Street further appreciates the cloud transformation story.”

Out of more than 7,000 analysts on TipRanks, Ives is ranked as #36. The analyst has a 73% success rate on his stock picks, translating to an average return of 34% per rating.

U.S. consumer discretionary spending trends took off over the last year and half, particularly when it comes to digital shopping. Target has been successful in capturing these movements, and is well-positioned to continue doing so.

Robert Drbul of Guggenheim reported bullishly on the stock, stating that he is “encouraged by the ongoing strength of Target’s business, its profitability and cash flow generation.” Target recently reported second-quarter earnings results, beating Wall Street consensus estimates by 7% in earnings per share, as well as in several other key sectors and metrics.

Drbul reiterated a buy rating for Target, and raised his price target from $250 to $295.

The five-star analyst mentioned that Target has continued to see confidence-instilling growth, in both in-store and…