Each week, Benzinga's Stock Whisper Index uses a combination of proprietary data and pattern recognition to showcase five stocks that are just under the surface and deserve attention.
Investors are constantly on the hunt for undervalued, under-followed and emerging stocks. With countless methods available to retail traders, the challenge often lies in sifting through the abundance of information to uncover new opportunities and understand why certain stocks should be of interest.
Here’s a look at the Benzinga Stock Whisper Index for the week ending Jan. 24:
Hilton Worldwide HLT: The hotel company saw strong interest from readers during the week, which comes ahead of the company's fourth-quarter earnings report set for Feb. 6. Analysts expect the company to report earnings per share of $1.67, down from $1.68 in last year's fourth quarter. The company has beaten earnings per share estimates in four straight quarters and nine of the last 10 quarters overall. Analysts expect the company to report fourth-quarter revenue of $2.76 billion, up from $2.61 billion in last year's fourth quarter.
The company has beaten analyst revenue estimates in seven of the last 10 quarters. In the third quarter, the company reported higher adjusted EBITDA, higher number of rooms under ownership and other key metrics. Investors will be closely watching if the quarterly results show additional growth. Barclays recently maintained a Buy rating on the stock and raised the price target from $268 to $270. Argus Research also maintained a Buy rating on the stock and raised the price target from $270 to $290.
Hilton shares were up slightly over the last five days and are up over 30% over the last year.
Energy Transfer LP ET: Energy stocks have been highly volatile since the 2024 presidential election. Energy Transfer was one of many stocks in the sector seeing increased interest from readers over the past week. The increased interest likely comes with President Donald Trump declaring a national energy emergency and vowing to drill more. Several analysts raised their price targets on Energy Transfer in December and January. More analyst action could come soon as the weight of Trump's latest energy commentary is predicted.
Lam Research Corporation LRCX: The semiconductor stock saw increased interest from readers during the week, ahead of second-quarter financial results set for Jan. 29. Analysts expect the company to report earnings per share of 88 cents, up from 75 cents in last year's second quarter. The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in nine of the last 10 quarters. Analysts expect the company to report quarterly revenue of $4.31 billion, up from $3.76 billion in last year's second quarter. The company has beaten analyst revenue forecasts in more than 10 straight quarters. The stock has been received a mix of analyst ratings with upgrades, downgrades and new price target. Lam Research was also recommended by CNBC host Jim Cramer, who called the stock "so cheap."
Lam Research stock was down on the trading week and shares are down 5% over the last year.
Fiserv FI: The payments and financial services company saw increased interest from investors during the week, which comes ahead of fourth-quarter financial results on Feb. 5 and after the company announced a new CEO. Fiserv announced Michael P. Lyons will become the new CEO on Jan. 27. Lyons replaces Frank Bisignano, who was selected by President Donald Trump to be the Social Security Administration Commissioner. Lyons brings over 30 years of industry experience to Fiserv including his most recent role of president for PNC Financial Services Group. Lyons also spent time in leadership roles at Bank of America.
The new CEO takes the role shortly before fourth-quarter results will be presented. Analysts expect the company to report earnings per share of $2.48, up from $2.19 in last year's fourth quarter. The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in five of the last six quarters. Analysts expect the company to report revenue of $4.96 billion, up from $4.92 billion in last year's fourth quarter. The company has beaten analyst revenue estimates in five of the last six quarters. Fiserv has received several positive analyst ratings in recent weeks with Wells Fargo and Citigroup raising price targets and Seaport Global upgrading shares from Neutral to Buy.
Fiserv stock is up over the last week and shares are up over 49% in the last year.
Digital Realty Trust DLR: The data center company saw increased interest over the week, which could be related to the announcement of The Stargate Project, which includes SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle. The plan calls for AI infrastructure to be built to help America's presence in the growing sector. Digital Realty has received several increased price targets from analysts in the month of January with optimism for the data center space. Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan said The Stargate Project could provide a short-term boost for Digital Realty, but has questions on the long-term impact.
"We see the announcement as a tactical positive, as we believe it reflects tighter supply/demand market dynamics than the market expects over the next two years," Rangan said.
The analyst said the project and other future projects could signal a shift away from outsourced data centers.
Stay tuned for next week's report, and follow Benzinga Pro for all the latest headlines and top market-moving stories here.
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