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Investors looking for several top-ranking stocks this month will want to consider a handful of leading tech stocks. Among them are Microsoft (MSFT, Financial), Facebook (FB, Financial) and Twitter (TWTR, Financial). The reason these stocks are worthy of consideration is that their company fundamentals are strong, and their growth prospects remain positive. The recent tech stock selloff that took place also makes the case for investing in these particular stocks since greater value can be attained at present price levels. These stocks are also more likely to appreciate over the short to medium term.
Microsoft
Microsoft is presently priced at $44.61 and it has a mean recommendation of 2.6. On the scale of buy-sell, Microsoft is closer to a strong buy (1.0) than it is to a sell (5.0). The price target summary has a mean target of $49.57, with a high of $60 and a low of $37. On April 24, the research firm Nomura upgraded the status of Microsoft from a neutral to a buy. On June 9, Wunderlich also initiated an action on Microsoft, in the opposite direction, from a buy to a hold. Over the past several months, the number of strong buy recommendations has remained steady, the number of buy recommendations has increased and the number of hold recommendations has decreased. Overall, this points to bullish sentiment for Microsoft stock, supporting the feedback provided by leading market analysts. Year-on-year Microsoft revenues grew 11%, in Q1 2015 and its commercial enterprise posted 7% growth in currency revenues over the same timeframe.
Facebook is presently priced at $87.95, and it has a mean recommendation of 1.8 for the week. On the scale of buy-sell, Facebook is a strong buy. There has been no change in the recommendation of the stock. The price target summary suggests a mean target of $97.76, with a high of $120 and a low of $68.00. The data provided by Thomson/First Call dovetails with general investor sentiment about Facebook stock. In terms of upgrades and downgrades, the research firm Brean Capital initiated action to upgrade Facebook to a buy on March 17, as did Mizuho on June 26. Facebook has shown bullish recommendation trends for the past three months. The numbers of strong buy and buy recommendations has consistently outpaced hold and sell recommendations by a long margin. Facebook is also preparing to introduce new Oculus technology into the market which will prove highly lucrative for investors with the virtual reality market expected to become worth $150 billion by 2020.
Twitter, Inc stock is currently trading at $34.91 and it has a mean recommendation of 2.6. On the scale of 1.0 (strong buy) to 5.0 (sell), Twitter, Inc is rated at 2.6. The stock has a price target summary mean target of $45.93 with a high price of $60.00 and a low target price of $26.00. Unlike Facebook and Microsoft, research firms have been largely bearish on Twitter. On May 4 the research firm Stifel upgraded Twitter, Inc from a sell to a hold, but on June 16, MKM Partners downgraded the stock from a buy to neutral. While stock performance is less bullish, Twitter has over 300 million active monthly users (an 18% increase year-on-year for Q1 2015). Twitter is also planning on growing advertising revenues with more multimedia content and increased character limits on tweets.
