Here are 4 top internet stock ideas for 2017 from Evercore ISI

Published Wed, Dec 28 20168:56 AM EST

Evercore ISI gave clients its favorite internet company recommendations for next year based on the most important trends in the industry. "As we consider how broader trends around data and compute are manifesting, scale in audience and infrastructure matters most, and competitively speaking at least, we don't see this as changing in the coming year," analyst Ken Sena wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. "Our buys remain among the most scaled companies within our coverage." Here are four buy-rated internet companies Evercore ISI recommends. "We see Amazon as among the best positioned to leverage this data science trend. In retail, improvements in data-driven efficiencies are opening addressable markets, both in terms of geographies and newer product categories (e.g., food, apparel)," he wrote. "Amazon's ability to quickly act on these consumer insights is driving increased frequency of use, including Prime memberships, and higher conversion for overall share gain." The analyst has a $990 price target on Amazon.com , representing 28 percent upside from Tuesday's close. Alibaba is "among the more attractively valued names within our buy-rated coverage universe, where opportunities around branded engagements, entertainment, and Cloud are early innings," he wrote. "We place Alibaba among our top picks, both in China and across our broader overall coverage. This is due to its 440mm active buyers and what we see as a very attractive China ecommerce story." The analyst has a $125 price target on Alibaba , representing 43 percent upside from Tuesday's close. "Facebook continues to be a top pick of ours as we see its leading audience scale, engagement, and improving infrastructural capability as making Facebook a key integration across industries," he wrote. "In addition, as data capabilities and integrations continue to increase between FB and its partners, we see its platform becoming more significant." The analyst has a $155 price target on Facebook , representing 31 percent upside from Tuesday's close. "We see Google as among the greatest beneficiaries from the advances being witnessed in data science and infrastructure," he wrote. "As new interfaces emerge, such as voice, or daily experiences centered on data take hold, and these can cover everything from a recommended video clip to autonomous driving, Google is extremely well positioned." The analyst has a $1,001 price target on Alphabet , representing 24 percent upside from Tuesday's close. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story.

A worker at an Amazon shipping center in Schertz, Texas.

Robert Daemmrich Photography | Corbis | Getty Images

Evercore ISI gave clients its favorite internet company recommendations for next year based on the most important trends in the industry.

"As we consider how broader trends around data and compute are manifesting, scale in audience and infrastructure matters most, and competitively speaking at least, we don't see this as changing in the coming year," analyst Ken Sena wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. "Our buys remain among the most scaled companies within our coverage."

Here are four buy-rated internet companies Evercore ISI recommends.