A lot of retail investors like to follow the tips of sell side research brokers in coming to investment decisions. The brokers are often quite close to a company's management and should have a good read on its outlook.
At the same time though brokers' ratings are not always up to date and if you follow the crowd investing it might actually become a little harder to 'beat the market'.
Still it's worth taking a look to see what shares analysts currently peg as 'strong buys' given the analysts are some of the best researchers and financial modellers around.
Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1) is the footwear retailer behind the HypeDC, Athlete's Foot, Platypus and Subtype shoe stores, among others. It also has exclusive distribution rights to popular brands like Dr Martens and Caterpillar.
At $1.55 shares change hands for 15.5x trailing earnings per share (EPS) with a 5.3% trailing yield plus full franking credits. It's forecasting more profit growth in fiscal 2020 and has a 10-year EPS compound growth rate of 14.5%. You can see why brokers like this stock.
Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) is another business from the stable of tech entrepreneur Bevan Slattery. Megaport sells enterprise clients the option to manage their bandwith or internet connectivity on a personalised basis. This can help its clients save time and money while helping them harness the potential of the digital economy.
For the quarter ended September 30 2019 it posted an operating cash loss of $6.54 million on sales of $11.3 million. Cash on hand is an impressive $69.3 million to mean it has room to fund its aggressive physical expansion plans.
Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR) is the business behind the Star Sydney and Brisbane's Treasury Casino. It's also investing heavily to develop its Sydney casino and in new projects on the Gold Coast. Normalised net profit fell 8.4% over fiscal 2019 to $224 million. Star has some exposure to inbound Australian tourism, but is also about to face strong new competition from Crown Resorts (ASX: CWN) in Sydney.
The casino industry has been a tough business globally for the past few years as resorts in Macau, Las Vegas and Australia all delivered weaker-than-expected results on the back of changing trends. Analysts probably like Star's moderate valuation and reasonably reliably dividends.
