Wall Street still has a huge amount of influence over stocks. Especially when it comes to day-to-day fluctuations, you can often attribute big gains or losses to what analysts have to say about a company.
On Tuesday, a couple of stocks stood out in getting attention from Wall Street pros. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.56%), S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.11%), and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +0.35%) all seeing modest gains on the day, the moves for Generac Holdings (GNRC 0.15%) and NextDecade (NEXT +2.38%) were notable and raised some eyebrows among market participants.
|
Index |
Percentage Change (Decline) |
Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow Jones Industrials |
(0.09%) |
(31) |
|
S&P 500 |
+0.02% |
+1 |
|
Nasdaq Composite |
+0.31% |
+43 |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
This powerful stock is heating up
Shares of Generac Holdings climbed more than 6% on Tuesday. The maker of backup generator equipment for residential and commercial customers earned some favorable comments from analysts looking for ways to play the summer storm season.
Installing a home generator. Image source: Getty Images.
The positive views came from analysts at KeyBanc, who reaffirmed their price target of $400 per share on Generac. As they see it, the company trades at an attractive level compared to its past earnings and future prospects, especially given rising interest in its products to provide standby power for homes when grid power becomes unavailable. It's common at various points of the year for investors to start paying attention to Generac again, whether it's when winter storms hit or as hurricane and tornado season approaches in the late spring and summer months.
Solar energy storage is also a potential growth area for Generac. As more homeowners have seen the value of keeping their property in shape and in optimal condition during the pandemic, the value of Generac systems has gone up in the eyes of many.
With today's rise, Generac is among the few huge performers from 2020 that have regained nearly all of their losses in the past few months. The stock is now challenging record highs, and continued success in driving demand could be what pushes Generac over the top.
NextDecade gets another vote of confidence
Gains for small-cap NextDecade were much larger. The stock rose almost 60% on Tuesday.
The catalyst for the little-known provider of liquefied natural gas was another upgrade from Wall Street analysts. The latest came from Evercore ISI, which boosted its rating on the stock from in-line to outperform. Evercore also tripled its price target on NextDecade's stock to $9 per share, leaving room for more upside even after today's big gains.
For years, U.S. natural gas prices have been low enough relative to their levels in other parts of the globe to encourage would-be importers of U.S. natural gas to consider LNG transport. Yet the huge disruptions in the energy market in 2020 due to the pandemic put at least a brief halt to most of those prospects. Now, though, investors increasingly see the prospects for NextDecade as becoming favorable enough for it to move forward with its Rio Grande project in Texas.
The energy industry has rebounded sharply in 2021, and that's helping stocks throughout the sector. With LNG becoming economically viable again, it could spell a nice turnaround for NextDecade and its peers.
