Latest news with #AndyBarish
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Starbucks Stock Slumps After Jefferies Downgrade
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) shares slipping 1.6% in premarket trading after Jefferies downgraded the stock to Sell and slapped on a street?low $76 price target, suggesting nearly 18% downside. Andy Barish at Jefferies pointed to softer credit?card spending, lighter foot traffic and weaker app engagement as reasons to dial back U.S. same?store sales forecasts for the next two quarters. Barish also warned that ongoing staffing headaches and heavy investment spending continue to eat into profits. Meanwhile, over at Barclays, Jeff Bernstein trimmed his target to $106 but stayed bullish, citing recent value promotions and a rebound in casual dining trends versus quick?service peers as reasons to keep a Buy rating. This tug?of?war between Jefferies' bearish caution and Barclays' relative optimism underscores just how mixed the outlook is for Starbucks right now. It's worth weighing Barish's concerns about a stretched growth runway against Bernstein's upbeat view on customer metrics before making any calls. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNBC
29-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Top Wall Street analysts like these 3 dividend stocks for enhanced returns
The S&P 500 rose to a fresh record on Friday, but macro uncertainties persist. Investors may want to consider dividend-paying stocks as a way to enhance returns in the event of choppy markets. Tracking the stock picks of top Wall Street analysts can help investors select attractive dividend stocks, given that these experts assign their ratings after an in-depth analysis of a company's fundamentals and its ability to generate solid cash flows to consistently pay dividends. Here are three dividend-paying stocks, highlighted by Wall Street's top pros, as tracked by TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance. Fast-food chain McDonald's (MCD) is this week's first dividend pick. The company offers a quarterly dividend of $1.77 per share. With an annualized dividend of $7.08 per share, MCD stock offers a dividend yield of 2.4%. It is worth noting that McDonald's has increased its annual dividend for 49 consecutive years and is on track to becoming a dividend king. Recently, Jefferies analyst Andy Barish reiterated a buy rating on McDonald's stock with a price target of $360. The analyst believes that MCD stock is a buy on a pullback. Meanwhile, TipRanks' AI analyst has an "outperform" rating on McDonald's stock and a price target of $342. Barish sees near-term acceleration in McDonald's U.S. same-store sales (SSS) and medium-term acceleration in unit growth as the major drivers for the stock, which would help narrow the current valuation gap compared to rivals Yum Brands and Domino's. The analyst also noted improved international SSS, as the company remains a trade-down beneficiary due to its value proposition and low-price point combos. Among other positives, Barish mentioned brand power and competitive advantages in size, scale, advertising, supply chain and most up-to-date chain of restaurants. He is also optimistic about MCD due to its defensive qualities and brand positioning during uncertain times, higher visibility in delivering low-single to mid-single digit SSS compared to rivals, acceleration of global unit growth to 4% to 5%, category-high operating margins and massive free cash flow generation to support dividends and repurchases. "Despite a soft 1Q and well-known pressures on the low-end consumer, MCD is executing well by balancing value, innovation, and marketing," said Barish. Barish ranks No. 591 among more than 9,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 57% of the time, delivering an average return of 9.9%. See McDonald's Ownership Structure on TipRanks. We move on to EPR Properties (EPR), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that is focused on experiential properties such as movie theaters, amusement parks, eat-and-play centers and ski resorts. EPR recently announced a 3.5% increase in its monthly dividend to $0.295 per share. At an annualized dividend of $3.54 per share, EPR stock offers a dividend yield of 6.2%. Following an extensive visit to EPR's corporate headquarters and meetings with some teams in the company, Stifel analyst Simon Yarmak upgraded EPR stock to buy from hold and increased the price target to $65 from $52. TipRanks' AI analyst also has an "outperform" rating on EPR with a price target of $61. Yarmak turned bullish on EPR, noting the recent rise in the stock and improvements in the cost of capital. He said that the company can "once again return to reasonable external growth." Specifically, the analyst estimates that year to date, EPR's weighted average cost of capital (WACC) has improved to about 7.85% from nearly 9.3%. At these improved levels, Yarmak said that he thinks the company can start aggressively making more acquisitions and boost external growth. Moreover, Yarmak highlighted the continued improvement in the fundamentals of the theatre industry and expects percentage rent to enhance EPR Properties' earnings over the next several years. Meanwhile, the improved cost of capital is enabling management to look at other external growth opportunities, mainly golf assets and health and wellness assets. Yarmak ranks No. 670 among more than 9,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 58% of the time, delivering an average return of 8.2%. See EPR Properties Stock Charts on TipRanks. The third stock on this week's dividend list is Halliburton (HAL), an oilfield services company that provides products and services to the energy industry. HAL offers a quarterly dividend of 17 cents per share. At an annualized dividend of 68 cents per share, Halliburton stock's dividend yield stands at 3.3%. Following a virtual investor meeting with management, Goldman Sachs analyst Neil Mehta reaffirmed a buy rating on Halliburton stock with a price target of $24. Also, TipRanks' AI analyst has an "outperform" rating on HAL stock with a price target of $23. While management acknowledged near-term risks to the North American business, Mehta noted that about 60% of HAL's revenue comes from international markets and presents a relative degree of resilience, which is not priced into the stock. Halliburton expects continued softness in certain geographic locations such as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. However, most of HAL's international rigs are exposed to unconventional drilling, and management does not expect these rigs to experience large suspensions. Interestingly, management expects "idiosyncratic growth" from four key areas: unconventional completion opportunities in Argentina and Saudi Arabia, market share growth in directional drilling, intervention opportunities as operators are more likely to spend greater time optimizing existing assets than developing greenfield assets, and artificial lift opportunities. Mehta expects these opportunities to enhance margins and support strong free cash flow conversion, making HAL stock attractive at these levels. Despite the expected softness in pricing in North America, Halliburton expects to maintain a premium to the market due to its differentiated Zeus technology and the long-term nature of its electric contracts, noted the analyst. Mehta ranks No. 541 among more than 9,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 60% of the time, delivering an average return of 9.2%. See Halliburton Technical Analysis on TipRanks.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wingstop (WING) Tests AI-Driven Kitchens Amid Bullish Upgrade from Jefferies
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) stands against other top AI news and stock ratings today. AI continues to advance at an unprecedented rate and can now even determine how a person is feeling. A Spanish startup, Neurologyca, claimed that its Kopernica AI system can now supposedly read human emotions. It can detect a range of neurological conditions and discern how a person feels, even for a crowd of people. Meanwhile, the Chinese Institute for Brain Research (CIBR) and NeuCyber NeuroTech said on March 31st that it plans to implant its brain chip into 13 people by year-end, which could mean they would surpass Elon Musk's neuralink in terms of patient data collection. As security concerns over the misuse of AI continue to loom, companies are increasingly focusing on the responsible use of the technology by implementing stricter guardrails amid rapid technology development. On March 31st, Anthropic announced implementing updates to its 'responsible scaling' policy for AI, defining model safety levels to determine the need for additional security. For instance, if the company is stress-testing an AI model and believes it could help a 'moderately-resourced state program' develop chemical and biological weapons, it will enforce new security protections before launching that technology. Elsewhere, Anthropic closed a funding round in March, which valued the company at $61.5 billion. However, it is a fraction of the $300 billion valuation OpenAI secured in a recently closed $40 billion round led by SoftBank. SoftBank is reportedly seeking loans of up to $16.5 billion to fund AI investments in the US, which would mark the biggest borrowing denominated in dollars. Sources told Bloomberg that the bridge loan would have a 12-month tenor and that talks with banks are in early stages. People familiar with the matter added that the terms could change as the negotiations evolve over time. We selected AI stocks by reviewing news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. We listed the stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that hold stakes in them, as of Q4 2024. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (). Customers savoring boneless wings at a bustling restaurant owned by the company. Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) is a fast-casual restaurant chain specialising in cooked-to-order and tossed chicken wings. The company leverages a global franchise model and has been testing a new AI-based kitchen operating platform to improve and accelerate services while simplifying tasks for staff. On March 31st, Jefferies analyst Andy Barish upgraded Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) stock to a 'Buy' rating from 'Hold' and retained its 12-month stock price target of $270. The analyst noted that Wingstop shares are oversold with a valuation 'now overly discounting' the company's higher unit and EBITDA growth compared to peers. The brokerage believes the restaurant chain's same-store-sales moderation is well understood and overlooks its underlying traffic and low-teens unit growth. Jefferies said that visibility into same-store sales is improving, and additional drivers in kitchen AI positions the company for potential surprises beyond 2025. Overall, WING ranks 5th on our list of top AI news and stock ratings today. While we acknowledge the potential of WING as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WING but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
