TipRanks: These are the 5 favorite commodity stocks from Wall Street's top analysts

Published Fri, Mar 31 201712:19 PM EDT

Harriet Lefton of TipRanks

TipRanks , a service that ranks Wall Street, identified the best analysts covering the commodities industry and found which stocks they like right now. We use a natural language processing algorithm to rank analysts based on two factors: Average return of buy-sell recommendations. Success rate of buy-sell recommendations. Here are five favorite stocks from the best-performing basic materials analysts: 1. Albemarle ( ALB ): With a strong buy analyst consensus rating, this specialty chemical company has a best-performing analyst average price target of $116, which translates into upside of 10 percent from Thursday's closing share price of $105.14. Five-star Deutsche Bank analyst David Begleiter reiterated his buy rating on Albemarle on March 17 with a $116 price target, calling ALB the best growth story in metals. The rating came after Albemarle's investor meeting where it implied a five-year annual earnings growth rate of 15-22 percent. The world's leading producer of lithium has seen demand for the metal soar due to the increased use of lithium-ion batteries in electrical vehicles and mobile devices. 2. Parsley Energy ( PE ): This oil and natural gas company has a strong buy consensus rating from best-performing analysts. In the last three months, no hold or sell ratings have been published on the stock. Parsley focuses its operations on the Permian Basin, an extremely rich resource that has now been producing oil for close to 100 years. At $31.90, share prices are down from high levels of around $37 in January and this has created a buying opportunity, say top analysts who have an average 12-month price target on the stock of $45. Prices dropped following Parsley's announcement that it will buy $2.8 billion of assets from Double Eagle Energy Permian — its second deal in the area in less than a month. 3. Rice Energy ( RICE ): This natural gas and oil company has received a string of buy ratings from best-performing analysts. And with an average price target of $29.33, top analysts are forecasting serious upside potential for the stock of more than 20 percent from current prices. Four-star BMO Capital analyst Phillip Jungwirth reiterated his buy rating on the stock on March 22 with a $30 price target. Rice Energy is actively developing shale through its 176,000 net acre operations in Pennsylvania and 59,000 net acres in Ohio. The company recently announced a substantial $1,035 million budget for drilling and completion activity in 2017. 4. Celanese Corp ( CE ): This specialty materials company has received only buy ratings from analysts in the last four months. Share prices soared from $60 in September to $90 earlier this week. Sentiment shifted after the company released very strong 3Q16 results and the rally has held. The average price target among top analysts is $100. 5. Pioneer Natural Resources ( PXD ): With only buy ratings in the last seven months, this exploration and production company has a strong buy consensus rating from best-performing analysts. The strong-growth stock has a top analyst average price target of $219, which represents a 20 percent gain from Thursday's closing share price of $182.48. Pioneer, which has significant operations in the Permian Basin, impressed the market with its plan to boost output by a 15 percent compound annual rate through 2026. This would take production up to 1 million barrels of oil or equivalent per day (BOE/D) within the decade. Editor's note: TipRanks is a fintech company that ranks analysts and financial bloggers based on their picks' performance. This piece highlights analysts with great track records who are not necessarily from the biggest firms.

Natural gas is flared at a Pioneer Natural Resources well in Texas.

Eddie Seal | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Average return of buy-sell recommendations.

Success rate of buy-sell recommendations.

Here are five favorite stocks from the best-performing basic materials analysts: