Wall Street Analysts Like These 10 Stocks

2. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 95

Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, explained in a latest program on CNBC why he likes Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). Brown said the company’s upcoming quarterly report next month could be a big catalyst.

“The general idea is that if and when a stock breaks out from a typical range that it’s been stuck in, in this case like 5 years, the move could be extraordinary if it had been trapped in that range for a really long time. So there’s an old adage on Wall Street, the bigger the base, the higher in space,” Brown said. “So this is a big base and J&J the company is in the midst of a massive transition that’s been underway for years under a relatively new CEO and they have a couple of key goals and they are executing on those goals. They wanted to become a pure play healthcare company. And they are fully focused on innovative medicines which is oncology, immunology, neuroscience and medtech. So surgical robots, cardiovascular devices, orthopedics and that’s what the business now is. I think taking a step back from gigantic M&A and the types of deals that distract management and really just doing fill-in deals where it makes sense. This strategy is now being rewarded on Wall Street with the stock price working in July. They issued guidance for the rest of the year and had a lot of great news to share, a lot of milestones. The next earnings report is not until October 14th. I think the stock bides its time just under those old highs until we get that October 14th report and that could be the big catalyst.”

Mar Vista U.S. Quality Premier Strategy stated the following regarding Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 7% during the quarter amid a broad selloff in healthcare which led to the sector’s worst relative performance in twenty-five years. Proposed regulatory changes and tariffs impacting drug prices, research and development investments, manufacturing and insurance coverage all converged to create uncertainty for the sector. JNJ also suffered a setback to put talc liabilities behind them when a Texas court ruled the company’s bankruptcy strategy was not allowed. The company will return to litigating lawsuits in the courts, where the company has won 15 out of 16 cases.”