These are Wall Street’s 20 favorite stocks as the Fed’s Powell jolts the market with taper talk

By Philip van Doorn

Investors unloaded stocks Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said it’s possible the central bank will remove stimulus faster than originally planned.

Powell, along with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, appeared before the Senate Banking Committee. He said it could make sense for the Federal Open Market Committee to wrap up its bond-buying program a few months earlier than anticipated, catching investors off-guard.

That would presumably accelerate the increase of long-term interest rates, setting up “competition” for the attention of income-seeking investors, who have looked to the stock market for yields during a long period of unprecedentedly low interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA +0.60% was down as much as 662 points (1.9%), while the benchmark S&P 500 Index /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +0.16% was also down as much as 1.9%.

Read: Stock losses deepen as Powell says appropriate to consider faster taper

Over the coming weeks, if the Fed has a clear change in direction, a sustained downturn in stocks could create new buying opportunities for long-term investors.

For those who don’t want to wait, a list of Wall Street’s favorite stocks, based on 12-month price targets, is below.

Stock screen for taper time

The interest-rate landscape may look quite a bit different a year from now. Sell-side analysts (the ones working for brokerage firms) will incorporate their own expectations for interest rates and their effect on companies’ costs and (for the financial sector) interest margins.

Starting with the S&P 500, there are 92 stocks rated “buy” or the equivalent among at least 75% of sell-side analysts polled by FactSet. Here are the 20 among the 92 with the highest upside potential, based on consensus 12-month price targets and share prices at about 12:20 p.m. ET on Nov. 30:

Click on the tickers for more about each company. Click  here  for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

/zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime

Add to watchlist DJIA

Dow Jones Industrial Average

US : Dow Jones Global

32,432.08

+194.55 +0.60%

Volume: 0.00

March 27, 2023 5:00p

/zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime

Add to watchlist SPX

S&P 500 Index

US : S&P US

3,977.53

+6.54 +0.16%

Volume: 0.00

March 27, 2023 5:00p

/zigman2/quotes/201234787/composite

Add to watchlist GPN

Global Payments Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 99.15

+0.72 +0.73%

Volume: 2.17M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

226.01

Dividend Yield

1.01%

Market Cap

$25.90 billion

Rev. per Employee

$359,021

/zigman2/quotes/200972303/composite

Add to watchlist ALK

Alaska Air Group Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 38.99

+0.86 +2.26%

Volume: 1.62M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

89.53

Dividend Yield

0.00%

Market Cap

$4.86 billion

Rev. per Employee

$378,735

/zigman2/quotes/205281174/composite

Add to watchlist CZR

Caesars Entertainment Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 43.55

+1.15 +2.71%

Volume: 3.44M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$9.12 billion

Rev. per Employee

$220,837

/zigman2/quotes/204659678/composite

Add to watchlist TMUS

T-Mobile US Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 143.90

+1.36 +0.95%

Volume: 4.95M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

69.52

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$173.81 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.12M

/zigman2/quotes/208054269/composite

Add to watchlist PYPL

PayPal Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 73.30

-0.58 -0.79%

Volume: 11.91M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

35.00

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$83.59 billion

Rev. per Employee

$904,883

/zigman2/quotes/207166559/composite

Add to watchlist FIS

Fidelity National Information Services Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 50.21

+0.51 +1.03%

Volume: 7.10M

March 27, 2023 4:04p

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

4.14%

Market Cap

$29.42 billion

Rev. per Employee

$210,551

/zigman2/quotes/202034776/composite

Add to watchlist PTC

PTC Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 123.17

+1.47 +1.21%

Volume: 825,443

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

42.61

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$14.39 billion

Rev. per Employee

$298,560

/zigman2/quotes/209322043/composite

Add to watchlist TFX

Teleflex Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 247.02

-1.91 -0.77%

Volume: 338,760

March 27, 2023 4:03p

P/E Ratio

32.18

Dividend Yield

0.55%

Market Cap

$11.69 billion

Rev. per Employee

$180,067

/zigman2/quotes/201755982/composite

Add to watchlist NWSA

News Corp Cl A

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 16.49

+0.27 +1.66%

Volume: 3.26M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

32.35

Dividend Yield

1.21%

Market Cap

$9.36 billion

Rev. per Employee

$398,627

/zigman2/quotes/201071949/composite

Add to watchlist LUV

Southwest Airlines Co.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 30.15

+0.52 +1.75%

Volume: 5.12M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

38.15

Dividend Yield

2.39%

Market Cap

$17.61 billion

Rev. per Employee

$357,267

/zigman2/quotes/205501174/composite

Add to watchlist LW

Lamb Weston Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 101.68

+1.49 +1.49%

Volume: 1.25M

March 27, 2023 4:04p

P/E Ratio

31.09

Dividend Yield

1.10%

Market Cap

$14.41 billion

Rev. per Employee

$563,775

/zigman2/quotes/203660239/composite

Add to watchlist V

Visa Inc. Cl A

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 221.81

+0.77 +0.35%

Volume: 7.21M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

31.65

Dividend Yield

0.81%

Market Cap

$455.22 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.14M

/zigman2/quotes/204817680/composite

Add to watchlist FISV

Fiserv Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 111.77

-0.75 -0.67%

Volume: 3.05M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

28.61

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$70.68 billion

Rev. per Employee

$432,610

/zigman2/quotes/202463214/composite

Add to watchlist HWM

Howmet Aerospace Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 40.76

+0.51 +1.27%

Volume: 1.96M

March 27, 2023 4:03p

P/E Ratio

36.81

Dividend Yield

0.39%

Market Cap

$16.59 billion

Rev. per Employee

$264,626

/zigman2/quotes/207581792/composite

Add to watchlist MA

Mastercard Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 354.62

+2.99 +0.85%

Volume: 2.42M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

34.68

Dividend Yield

0.64%

Market Cap

$335.36 billion

Rev. per Employee

$743,177

/zigman2/quotes/201012972/composite

Add to watchlist SLB

Schlumberger Ltd.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 46.77

+2.20 +4.94%

Volume: 10.58M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

19.55

Dividend Yield

2.14%

Market Cap

$63.30 billion

Rev. per Employee

$284,626

/zigman2/quotes/200735463/composite

Add to watchlist VLO

Valero Energy Corp.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 131.88

+2.62 +2.03%

Volume: 4.00M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

4.53

Dividend Yield

3.09%

Market Cap

$47.97 billion

Rev. per Employee

$18.13M

/zigman2/quotes/203726728/composite

Add to watchlist BSX

Boston Scientific Corp.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 48.33

+0.11 +0.23%

Volume: 5.75M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

108.19

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$69.19 billion

Rev. per Employee

$281,822

/zigman2/quotes/208431372/composite

Add to watchlist CI

Cigna Group

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 261.78

+1.57 +0.60%

Volume: 1.67M

March 27, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

12.25

Dividend Yield

1.88%

Market Cap

$77.30 billion

Rev. per Employee

$2.52M

/zigman2/quotes/202902477/composite

Add to watchlist LDOS

Leidos Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 91.38

0.00 0.00%

Volume: 923,730

March 27, 2023 4:03p

P/E Ratio

18.48

Dividend Yield

1.58%

Market Cap

$12.51 billion

Rev. per Employee

$319,911