One of the best ways to spot opportunity is by keeping tabs on stocks with raised price targets from leading firms like Barclays (NYSE:BCS).
Oftentimes, a firm, like Barclays will revise targets higher if the financial health of the covered stock has become far more favorable.
Or, perhaps they liked what the covered company said in a recent meeting. Or maybe they’re seeing favorable emerging trends in the industry.
Whatever the case may be, upgraded prices will often lead to increased buying interest from investors.
However, don’t just use a price revision as your sole reason to buy a stock.
After all, analysts aren’t perfect. Instead, look at what other analysts may be saying about the same stock.
If one firm has a “Buy” rating and five other firms are saying it’s a “Sell,” dig a bit deeper into what’s going on fundamentally and technically. The last thing you ever want to do is jump into any stock without doing your own due diligence.
Check out these top stocks with raised price targets from Barclays.
First Solar (FSLR)
There’s a lot to like about First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR). For one, it’s oversold, consolidating at $213.
Two, Barclays’ analysts just raised its price target to $290 from $280 with an overweight rating on the stock. Three, earnings crushed estimates. Net income more than doubled to $349 million, or $3.25 a share from $171 million, or $1.59 year over year. Revenue jumped 25% year over year to $1.01 billion.
Helping, analysts at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) expect “pricing upside to materialize in 2H24/early 2025 and see a strong buying opportunity following the recent selloff,” as noted by Seeking Alpha.
We also have to consider that First Solar may be one of the top alternative energy beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence data center boom.
As noted by Barron’s, “There’s a direct line from artificial intelligence to First Solar, the team said, noting how a reply from AI uses about 10 times more electricity than a typical Google search.”
In short, use the recent FSLR weakness as an opportunity to buy.
Qualcomm (QCOM)
Barclays also raised its price target on Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) from $185 to $200, with an overweight rating on the stock. All thanks to a solid “beat and raise” quarter from QCOM.
In its third quarter, the company’s EPS of $2.33 beat by seven cents. Revenue of $9.39 billion, up 11.3% year over year beat by $1790 million. For the fourth quarter, the company expects to earn between $2.45 and $2.65 share, with revenue expected to come in between $9.5 billion and $10.3 billion. Analysts are looking for EPS of $2.47 on $9.7 billion in revenue.
There’s also a lot to like with QCOM’s involvement with artificial intelligence-enabled devices in autos, computers, handhelds and wearables. To QCOM’s advantage, analysts at IDC say generative AI smartphone shipments could reach 70% of the market by 2028, which is a positive for QCOM.
They also noted that in this year alone, “AI-enabled smartphone shipments are expected to grow with more than 360%, representing 234.2 million phones. That represents 19% of the overall smartphone market in 2024.”
In addition, after a vicious pull back in the overall market, QCOM is now oversold at less than $160 a share. I’m looking for an initial retest of about $210 short term.
Rivian (RIVN)
Another one of the top stocks with raised price targets from Barclays is Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN). The firm just raised its RIVN target to $16 with an “equal weight” rating.
Even UBS, Mizuho Securities and RBC Capital are bullish on the stock. All thanks to a major $5 billion partnership between Rivian and Volkswagen (OTCMKTS:VWAGY). The two will reportedly create next-generation electrical architecture and software technology.
Even better, as noted by Seeking Alpha, “The $5.0B investment will extend the company’s liquidity run-way significantly and also limits investment risks, which is a game changer for investors that have become concerned with the company’s losses and cash burn.”
It’s also good to note that global electric vehicle sales have been improving.
In fact, as I noted on July 22, “Many of the top automakers in the world are seeing EV sales accelerate year over year. Ford Motor (NYSE:F) sales jumped 86.1% in the first quarter. Mercedes (OTCMKTS:MBGYY) sales were up about 67%.”
We’ll get a better idea of what’s happening with RIVN when it reports earnings on Tuesday.
On the date of publication, Ian Cooper did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
On the date of publication, the responsible editor did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.