TipRanks: Here are the 5 favorite biotech stocks of top analysts

Published Tue, Jul 18 201711:00 AM EDT

Harriet Lefton of TipRanks

TipRanks , a service that ranks Wall Street analysts, identified the top players in biotech coverage and found which stocks they like for the second half of 2017. 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 We combined the algorithm's insights with a database scan to find the most popular biotech stocks by top analysts right now. Here are five favorite biotech stocks from the best-performing analysts. 1. NuVasive ( NUVA ) — This spine surgery company has received eight buy ratings and one hold rating from top analysts in the last three months. The $86 12-month price target represents upside of just over nine percent from the current share price. Piper Jaffray analyst Matthew O'Brien spent time travelling with management last month. The five-star analyst came away from his trip "strongly" recommending NuVasive shares, while raising his price target to $90 from $80 (15 percent upside potential). O'Brien says the programs NuVasive is implementing "could redefine how companies operate in the spine market" and anticipates the company taking an increasing share of the domestic market. NuVasive's main offering is its minimally disruptive surgical platform called Maximum Access Surgery, or MAS, which enables spine access through the patient's side instead of through the back. 2. Dexcom (DXCM) is an innovative biotech which lets diabetes sufferers continuously monitor their glucose levels without a finger-stick blood sample. The stock has the Street's seal of approval with seven buy ratings and only one hold rating in the last three months. Most importantly for investors, top analysts are predicting an upside of 29 percent from Dexcom's Monday close at $70.69 over the next 12 months. On July 13, top Canaccord Genuity analyst Kyle Rose reiterated his buy rating with a $90 price target, which is under $20 above the current share price. He is optimistic that the stock can rally further after conducting a survey of over 100 hormone experts who confirmed that there is a robust Medicare opportunity for Dexcom's technology. "We believe investors will be rewarded for playing the long-game and remain supportive of shares ahead of what we believe will be an acceleration of growth in the H2/17" Rose wrote in a research report. 3. Neurocrine Biosciences ( NBIX ) is a biotech focused on neurologic, psychiatric and endocrine disorders, which has only buy ratings from the Street's best analysts. In fact, in the last three months the stock has received 10 consecutive buy ratings. These analysts are predicting big upside potential for NBIX of close to 50 percent over the next 12 months with a $72 average price target, up from Monday's close at $47. And the most bullish voice on the Street is H.C. Wainwright's Andrew Fein who is ranked #562 out of 4,599 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His $130 NBIX price target stands at an incredible 170 percent above the current share price. On July 11, Fein reiterated his buy rating and said he is confident on the outlook for NBIX's recently-approved drug Ingrezza. So far Ingrezza, which treats uncontrollable-movement disease Tardive Dyskinesia (TD), has seen a slower-than-expected prescription uptake. But this does not overly concern Fein who says that physicians are waiting for peer reviews and anecdotes before making prescriptions. He concludes: "while commercial ramp could be slow at first, it is likely to accelerate exponentially following positive experiences from early adopters." 4. Agilent ( A ) is one of the Street's favorite biotech stocks with five buy ratings and one hold rating from only best-performing analysts in the last three months. These analysts have an average $67 price target on Agilent which represents substantial upside of 8 percent from the current $62 share price. This Hewlett Packard-spin off, covers a diverse range of markets including cancer diagnostics and gene sequencing. The stock has just received a bullish report from Barclays' Jack Meehan . On July 17 Meehan upped his price target to $67 from $63. He is expecting a strong second quarter earnings report release next month due to solid fundamental drivers and opportunities from continued lab consolidation. 5. Hologic ( HOLX ) specializes in breast cancer imaging. With a 'Strong Buy' analyst consensus rating and average upside of 10 percent from the current stock price of $44.61, this is a top stock to track right now. We can see that in the last three months the stock has received six buy ratings and only one hold rating. Top Canaccord Genuity analyst Mark Massaro is a long-running supporter of the stock. In the last two years Massaro has issued 19 buy ratings and only one hold rating on HOLX. His most recent rating in June came with a $53 price target (19% upside). He says "HOLX remains one of our top picks for 2017… HOLX's 3D is now the only mammogram that is FDA-approved as superior to standard 2D mammography for routine breast cancer screening for women with dense breasts." This is a large market because according to the NCI, dense breasts affects approximately 40-50 percent of women ages 40-74 and significantly increases the likelihood of developing breast cancer. 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.

Hero Images | Getty Images

TipRanks, a service that ranks Wall Street analysts, identified the top players in biotech coverage and found which stocks they like for the second half of 2017.

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

We combined the algorithm's insights with a database scan to find the most popular biotech stocks by top analysts right now.

Here are five favorite biotech stocks from the best-performing analysts.