Stocks To Buy Now April 30th 2022

 Wells Fargo hiked its UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) price target from $565 to $613.

UnitedHealth Group is the perfect stock for both fundamental and technical investors. A prominent player in the healthcare providers and services industry, UnitedHealth has a rock-solid balance sheet with cash flows sufficiently covering interest payments. It’s immensely profitable, well-run, and a long-term out performer which has also remained resilient during the current market downturn. While all the major indices have seen declines year-to-date, the UNH stock has seen more gains.

Moreover, if you are more focused on the long-term, the UNH stock has significantly outperformed the indices over the last 5 years as well.

If technical indicators are more your thing, the UnitedHealth stock has plenty of bullish ones. BarChart gives UNH an 80% BUY rating based on positive indicators such as its ​​20 – 50 Day MACD Oscillator, 20 – 100 Day MACD Oscillator, 20 – 200 Day MACD Oscillator, 50 Day Moving Average, 50 – 100 Day MACD Oscillator, 50 – 150 Day MACD Oscillator, 50 – 200 Day MACD Oscillator, 100 Day Moving Average, 150 Day Moving Average, 200 Day Moving Average, and 100 – 200 Day MACD Oscillator.

The best part is analysts love this stock. In an April 22, 2022 note, Wells Fargo adjusted its price target from $565 to $613 and maintained an overweight rating. Many other analysts believe the UNH stock could also touch or exceed $600. Raymond James maintained a Strong Buy rating and upped its price target from $540.00 to $620.00, while SVB Leerink and Oppenheimer each maintained an Outperform rating and upped their price targets from $550.00 to $600.00.

Based on 18 total ratings from the past three months, according to TipRanks, the general consensus is that UnitedHealth is a STRONG BUY. 15 rated it a buy, 3 a hold, and 0 a sell. The average price target is $586.95, with a high forecast of $665.00 and a low forecast of $485.00. The average price target represents an 11.92% upside from its April 28, 2022, close of $524.42.

The company’s year-to-date low and high are $442.42 and $553.29, respectively. On April 14, 2022, UnitedHealth reported strong first-quarter 2022 earnings and beat on the top and bottom lines. UnitedHealth reported EPS of $5.49, which beat consensus estimates by $0.14, and revenues of $80.15B, which beat consensus estimates by $1.38B.

Revenues grew by $10 Billion or 14% year-over-year, with double-digit growth at Optum and UnitedHealthcare. Earnings from Operations were $7 Billion, and Cash Flows from Operations were $5.3 Billion. The bottom line increased 3.4% year over year owing to growing revenues.

Fargo hiked its UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) price target from $565 to $613.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is one of 2022’s top-performing Dow Jones stocks.

After his earth-shaking purchase of Twitter, Elon Musk jokingly tweeted he would next buy Coca-Cola and “put the cocaine back in.” Musk’s tweet quickly gained more than 3.8 million likes and hundreds of thousands of retweets since it was posted.

A Dow Jones blue-chip stock, Coca-Cola remains a top-rated consumer product giant and leading producer of soda, juices and juice drinks, and ready-to-drink teas and coffees, distributed in more than 200 countries. Yet goofy tweets like Elon Musk’s aren’t the only reason the KO stock is buzzing as a potential top buy in this environment. Rising consumer prices and better-than-expected consumer activity continue pushing the stock higher and higher.

Coca-Cola has been on fire in 2022 as the third-best performing Dow Jones component. If not for historically surging energy costs pushing up the prices of Chevron and Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola would very likely come in at number 1. The KO stock touched an all-time high of $67.20 on April 25, 2022, and has dwarfed the performances of the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq year-to-date with gains of 12+%.

Coca-Cola is financially sound, with a strong balance sheet, profit margins, and cash flow. The Company also reported strong earnings on April 25, 2022, with EPS of $0.64, beating consensus estimates by $0.06, and revenue of $10.50B, beating consensus estimates by $670.79M.

Technicals for the KO stock appear immensely bullish as well. BarChart gives the stock a 100% BUY score based on its 20 Day Moving Average, ​​20 – 50 Day MACD Oscillator, 20 – 100 Day MACD Oscillator, 20 – 200 Day MACD Oscillator, 50 Day Moving Average, 50 – 100 Day MACD Oscillator, 50 – 150 Day MACD Oscillator, 50 – 200 Day MACD Oscillator, 100 Day Moving Average, 150 Day Moving Average, 200 Day Moving Average, and 100 – 200 Day MACD Oscillator.

 Analysts are high on this stock too. On April 26, 2022, HSBC maintained a Buy rating on Coca-Cola and raised its price target from $68 to $72. Guggenheim also kept its Buy rating and adjusted its price target from $68 to $71. Meanwhile, on the same day, Credit Suisse upped its price target from $66.00 to $68.00 and kept its “outperform” rating on the stock. At the same time, RBC Capital maintained its outperform rating on Coca-Cola and raised its price target to $69 based on strong organic sales. JP Morgan, back in March, also held its overweight rating and raised its price target to $68.

Based on 19 total ratings from the past three months, according to TipRanks, the general consensus is that the Coca-Cola stock is a MODERATE BUY. 13 rated it a buy, 6 a hold, and 0 a sell. The average price target is $70.00 with a high forecast of $76.00 and a low of $60.00. The average price target represents a 7.30% change from its April 28, 2022, closing price of $65.24.

The Company’s year-to-date low and high are $57.06 and $67.20, respectively. Outside of its significant earnings beat on both the top and bottom lines, Coke’s organic revenue, which strips out currency swings as well as acquisitions or divestitures, rose 18% in the quarter ended April 1, as unit case volume rose 8%. Despite its cost of goods sold rising 17% to $4.09 billion, Coke’s operating income also managed to increase 25% to $3.41 billion year-over-year.

Summary:

UNH and KO are both fantastic buys this week. But, neither of them are a Bigstocks BIG buy. Our last 3 BIG buy stock picks grew a combined 368% after our alert. Click here to unveil our current featured BIG buy stock.