Many investors take their lead from the so-called “smart money” in order to avoid market pitfalls and tap into outsized returns. This involves combing through analyst reports to see what the biggest shops on Wall Street are buying, and why.
There’s no guarantee that even the “strong buy” stocks that are identified by market pros are going to go up, and there are plenty of cases where the analyst community was dead wrong. But that said, these ratings can provide a strong indicator of sentiment as well as details on the overall investment thesis that many investors may be following right now.
The following seven stocks are all “strong buys” at five or more Wall Street firms, and have zero sell ratings at present. They are also big and established names with broad followings, so there’s no risk that you’re buying into the hype of just one or two shops.
This post originally appeared at U.S. News & World Report.