New Stock Coverage: PFE, QCOM, AFG, BRCM

PUBLISHED: 28 Sep 2012 @ 18:02 | Comments (0) | More info about Ed Liston

For stock picking, I like to supplement my own analysis with experts’ opinion. One of the ways of doing it is to check out analysts’ recommendations. Apart from reading about upgrades and downgrades, I also pay attention to the initiation of new coverage of the stocks.

Such initiations are a sign of confidence in case of less popular stocks. However, even for bigger stocks, new positive coverage gives positive signal about the future performance of the stock. New coverage also helps me in making more balanced analysis of the stock. So, here I am with the list of some prominent stocks with new coverage:

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE): The stock is currently trading at $24.83, down 0.54 percent in the early trading, in line with the broad market trend. Analysts at BMO Capital initiated their coverage of the pharma company with Outperform rating. The stock’s price target has been set at $30. Pfizer reported its latest Earnings per Share at $1.33 and its stock has traded in the range of $17.05 and $25.15 in the past 52 weeks. Its Price Earnings ratio is 18.63 and the company currently commands $185.62 billion in market capitalization. The company has solid fundamentals but it is currently grappling with the slower growth rate for its revenue. In my opinion, the stock is good for long term investment.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM): Brean Murray has initiated their coverage of Qualcomm with Buy rating. The stock’s price target has been set at $73, while it is currently trading at $62.47, down 1.61 percent from its previous close of $63.49. On the other hand, UBS has lowered its outlook for the company’s December quarter. However, it has retained the estimates for 2013. UBS’s price target for the stock is more conservative at $70. Qualcomm is one of the biggest manufacturers for smartphone chipsets. The company is now looking to augment its S4 chip range. The company recently introduced MSM86525Q and MSM8225Q, its new Snapdragon S4 processors. Qualcomm is also planning to launch a new single platform to support CDMA and UMTS. The company is collaborating with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. for easing up the supply chain constraints. The company has bright future in upcoming mobile market and the company stock provides a good buying opportunity.

Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA): This stock bucks the broad market trend and is trading at $13.40, 0.94 percent up from its previous close of $13.28. However, Brean Murray has started its coverage of the stock with Hold rating. The company’s latest Earnings per Share were reported at $0.77 and the stock is trading at Price Earnings ratio of 17.49, in line with the industry P/E ratio. Nvidia has market capitalization of $8.30 billion. Though, Brean Murray does not seem very confident about the stock, other analysts such as Roth Capital Partners and Wells Fargo have Buy and Outperform rating respectively. Roth Capital has set the price target for the stock at $19, thus offering a decent upside to the stock. Nvidia stock has traded in the range of $11.47 and $16.90 in the last 52 weeks.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG): The company seems to be attracting lot of attention from analysts as Janney Capital initiated its coverage of the company with Buy rating. The stock is currently trading at $37.80, up 0.64 percent and thus offers a nice upside to its price target of $45. The company recently completed the sale of its health care businesses and netted $305 million from the transaction. American Financial Group sold its critical illness and Medicare supplement businesses to Cigna Corp. The company is expected to have earned $120 million to $130 million post tax. The company is in the process of restructuring its businesses. American Financial Group stock is trading at the Price Earnings Ratio of 8.98.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ:BRCM): The stock is trading a percent down from its previous close at $34.83. Brean Murray analysts have rated the stock as a Buy with the price target of $42. The company is involved in the business of developing semiconductor solutions for wireless and wired communication. Its stock is currently trading at Price Earnings ratio of 25.41, in line with the industry average. The company reported its latest Earnings per Share at $25.41 and the stock has traded in the range of $27.59 and $39.66 in the past 52 weeks. Broadcom supplies its products to major companies such as Apple and is likely to benefit from the success of iPhone 5.

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