The holidays are behind us. All the traders and Wall Street professionals are back at the trading desk, and after a dreadful 2022. We saw an almost 20% loss for the S&P 500 last year and a massive 33% loss for the Nasdaq composite index. Many investors remain worried about the path forward, and with good reason. Given the massive spike in inflation last year, the Federal Reserve’s hand was forced, and the federal funds rate was raised from literally 0% this time last year to the current 4.25% to 4.50%.
While most of the heavy lifting appears to be over, as evidenced by a drop in the December increase to 50 basis points from 75, it is a good bet that we can see three additional 25-basis-point hikes this year, with the first coming at the end of January/February Fed meeting, as the Fed moves closer to the expected terminal rate of 5.00% to 5.25%.
Given the potential for continued volatility in the first half of this year, it may make sense to take a long look at the best ideas from the top brokerage firms on Wall Street. In a new research report, BofA Securities is among the first out with its top trading ideas for the first quarter of 2023. Earlier this week we also had a look at the firm’s top picks for 2023.
The BofA Team has nine stocks to buy and one expected to underperform. The long ideas look like outstanding stock picks for growth investors, as they are the firm’s highest conviction short-term ideas for the first quarter. It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.
Chart Industries
While somewhat off the radar, this top idea has huge upside potential to the BofA target price. Chart Industries Inc. (NYSE: GTLS) manufactures and sells engineered equipment for energy and other industries worldwide.
The company provides bulk and packaged gas cryogenic solutions for the storage, distribution, vaporization and application of industrial gases; cryogenic trailers, ISO containers, bulk storage tanks, loading facilities and regasification equipment for delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG) into virtual pipeline applications; and large vacuum insulated storage tanks as equipment for purchasers of standard liquefaction plants.
Chart Industries also offers process technology, liquefaction train and critical equipment for the LNG, including small to mid-scale facilities, floating LNG applications and large base-load export facilities; brazed aluminum, Core-in-Kettle, heat exchangers, cold boxes, air-cooled heat exchangers, pressure vessel, and pipe works; and air-cooled heat exchangers and axial cooling fans for power, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refining applications.
In addition, it provides highly engineered equipment that is used in specialty end-market applications for hydrogen, LNG, biogas, CO2 Capture, food and beverage, aerospace, lasers, cannabis and water treatment; and cryogenic components, including vacuum insulated pipes, specialty liquid nitrogen, end-use equipment and cryogenic flow meters.
The BofA Securities price target is $190, and the consensus target is even higher at $205.60. The stock ended Wednesday trading at $119.19 a share.
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