U.S. stocks settled higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 hitting record highs following the release of jobs data.
The Dow Jones closed higher by over 344 points to 44,828.53 on Thursday. The S&P 500 rose 0.83% to 6,279.35, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.02% to 20,601.10 during Thursday's session.
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: Trevor Walsh
- Analyst Firm: JMP Securities
- Ratings Accuracy: 89%
- Latest Rating: Maintained a Market Outperform rating on Zscaler, Inc ZS and increased the price target from $310 to $355 on July 1. This analyst sees around 13% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On July 1, Zscaler announced the pricing of $1.5 billion offering of 0.00% convertible senior notes due 2028.
Analyst: John Todaro
- Analyst Firm: Needham
- Ratings Accuracy: 85%
- Latest Rating: Initiated coverage on Circle Internet Group CRCL with a Buy rating and a price target of $250 on June 30. This analyst sees around 29% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On July 1, Circle applied for a national trust charter.
Analyst: Aaron Rakers
- Analyst Firm: Wells Fargo
- Ratings Accuracy: 85%
- Latest Rating: Maintained an Equal-Weight rating on Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE and boosted the price target from $20 to $22 on July 3. This analyst sees around 4% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On July 2, Hewlett Packard Enterprise closed the acquisition of Juniper Networks.
Analyst: Christopher Dendrinos
- Analyst Firm: RBC Capital
- Ratings Accuracy: 84%
- Latest Rating: Maintained an Outperform rating on First Solar, Inc. FSLR and raised the price target from $188 to $200 on July 1. This analyst sees around 9% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On April 29, First Solar reported worse-than-expected first-quarter EPS results and cut its FY25 guidance.
Analyst: Michael Leshock
- Analyst Firm: Keybanc
- Ratings Accuracy: 83%
- Latest Rating: Maintained an Overweight rating on Rocket Lab Corporation RKLB and increased the price target from $29 to $40 on July 2. This analyst sees around 8% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On July 1, the company announced it has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for its 18-spacecraft mission under the U.S. Space Development Agency's Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta (T2TL-Beta) program.
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