Investors haven't been able to regain their equilibrium after a brutal start to 2022. Even as investors look forward to favorable longer-term prospects for the companies whose shares they own, they nevertheless have to endure the potential for economic difficulties in the near term. That has stock market participants feeling uncertain about what to do. As of 1 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.69%) was down 142 points to 30,341. The S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.20%) had fallen 8 points to 3,752, but the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.59%) had managed to eke out a 34-point gain to 11,087.

Many opportunistic investors have been combing through the hard-hit stocks in the market to try to find good long-term candidates for a recovery. On Thursday, Wall Street analysts singled out Snowflake (SNOW 2.69%) and Veeva (VEEV 1.02%) as possible opportunities for bargain-hunters. Here's what the pros are saying.

Let it Snow(flake)

Shares of Snowflake were up almost 9% Thursday afternoon. The provider of cloud-based data warehousing services got favorable comments from Wall Street, even as it has fallen by two-thirds from its all-time highs.

Analysts at J.P. Morgan upgraded their rating on Snowflake from neutral to overweight. However, they left their price target on the stock unchanged at $165 per share, which nevertheless implies another 20% or so of upside potential even from today's higher levels.

J.P. Morgan surveyed more than 140 chief information officers at a number of companies to get a sense of the trends in spending patterns among major enterprise customers. The survey found that Snowflake has seen considerable gains in popularity among its users. Moreover, J.P. Morgan believes that Snowflake's recent investor day presentation to shareholders was clear about its plans for future expansion, and customers have already responded by boosting their spending budgets on the platform.

Many investors are confident that digital transformation efforts will have to continue even if the economy slows. That could make Snowflake a recession-resistant stock, and investors can already be comfortable knowing they're spending a lot less than the shares fetched toward the end of 2021.

Viva Veeva!

Meanwhile, Veeva was up about 5% early Thursday afternoon. The life-sciences tech company got the attention of one of the biggest investment banking companies in the world, and that has investors excited about the stock's prospects.

Goldman Sachs initiated its coverage of Veeva with a buy rating, setting a $253 per share price target for the stock. That's almost 30% above where the stock is currently trading even after today's big bump higher.

Goldman pointed to Veeva's considerable competitive advantages in providing cloud-based software for use by pharmaceutical, biotech, and other life sciences companies. Some of the company's products are similar to what you'd find from less specialized providers, such as customer relationship management software and events management. However, users like drug developers and clinical trial professionals are able to find customized features that are particularly useful for their specialized needs. That should help to create a lasting moat for Veeva in Goldman's eyes, and as life sciences companies bulk up their technological prowess, the stock analysts expect Veeva will see even more business in the near future.

Wall Street analysts don't have a perfect track record, so choosing a stock based solely on an upgrade or strong initial rating from professionals at big analyst companies doesn't make sense. Yet by looking at fundamental business conditions, you can learn enough to feel more confident in the longer-term prospects for Snowflake and Veeva.