Analysts upgraded these stocks, saying they're safe from the coronavirus outbreak

Published Sat, Mar 7 20208:12 AM EST

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) It was another week of turbulence for the market , but Wall Street analysts analysts have upgraded a slew of stocks that may provide investors safety amid the COVID-19 fears. CNBC PRO examined the most recent Wall Street research and found buy-rated stocks that include: Verizon , Leidos , Neenah , Oracle , and Masimo . Here are stocks top analysts say are safe from the coronavirus: Verizon Cowen lifted its rating on the telecommunications giant to outperform and said it sees a unique opportunity for investors to own the stock. The firm said it understood there was a myriad of cheap stocks for clients to choose from but said Verizon is in a class of its own. "We've noted in the past that Verizon is among our favorite safe-haven stocks in a risk-off market," analyst Colby Synesael wrote. "The U.S.-centric utility-like (relatively acyclical) business provides insulation against the global concerns and potential moderating macro-economy," he said. Shares of the company are down over 8% this year. Masimo The manufacturer of patient monitoring technologies could actually be a beneficiary of the coronavirus should it continue spreading, according to Raymond James. The firm said the company's oxygen monitoring product would likely be used on patients admitted to the hospital with the illness. "With Masimo stock down ~8% last week, we believe investors should begin to accumulate the shares due to the company's greater insulation from COVID-19 disruption on a relative basis versus other companies in our hospital supply coverage universe," the firm said in its upgrade of the stock. "Although we concede that valuation is not inexpensive at 41.2x 2021E cash EPS, we view Masimo as one of the best growth stories in our universe," they said. The stock was up over 6% on the week. Leidos A handful of government services stocks were upgraded by Wells Fargo this week. Leidos had its rating lifted to overweight from equal weight with the firm saying it had "limited" exposure to the coronavirus and the Asian supply chain. Leidos is an aviation, defense, and IT research company that works with government agencies like the Department of Defense and and Homeland Security. "Primarily domestic revenue reduces risk. Often run mission critical IT and operations for federal government so should continue even if U.S. fears worsen," analyst Ed Caso said. The firm went on to call the stock "defensive" in nature. Shares of the company were down over 4% this month. Masimo - Upgraded to 'outperform' from 'market perform,' Raymond James "With Masimo stock down ~8% last week, we believe investors should begin to accumulate the shares due to the company's greater insulation from COVID-19 disruption on a relative basis versus other companies in our hospital supply coverage universe. Moreover, although Masimo did not benefit from COVID-19 in China due to limited share, should the virus spread in Europe and the U.S., the company could see a small net positive impact to revenues. ... Although we concede that valuation is not inexpensive at 41.2x 2021E cash EPS, we view Masimo as one of the best growth stories in our universe." Leidos - Upgraded to 'overweight' from 'equal weight,' Wells Fargo "Large addressable market (~$200B), mostly (U.S.) domestic, high barriers to entry (given contracting process and need for prior performance), multi-year contracts, improving pricing, at least stable EBITDA margin expectation (mix biggest factor), limited capex needs, so very predictable free cash flow outlook. Underperformed Relative to Overall Market. From 52-week highs, shares (BAH -10%, LDOS -13%, MANT -16% v. S & P500 -9%). COVID-19 Exposure Limited, in our view. Primarily domestic revenue reduces risk; Often run mission critical IT and operations for federal government so should continue even if U.S. fears worsen; Given services very limited exposure to Asian supply chain challenges; Often able to do 'remote/at home' work if client closes office." Verizon - Upgraded to 'outperform' from 'market perform,' Cowen "We get it, a multitude of stocks are optically "cheap" amid the COVID-19 downturn, and the impact of the virus is admittedly still uncertain. However, we've noted in the past that Verizon is among our favorite safe-haven stocks in a risk-off market. The U.S.-centric utility-like (relatively acyclical) business provides insulation against the global concerns and potential moderating macro-economy." Neenah - Upgraded to 'buy' from 'neutral,' DA Davidson "As indicated, we've been waiting for Neenah to do a deal to reignite sales and earnings growth, and they appear to have delivered. Meanwhile, the stock (like the market) has been crushed of late due to anemic growth and more recently Coronavirus fears. We believe Neenah has very little China exposure, although global automotive filtration sales could be sluggish. With Neenah shares now trading at their lowest level in 5-years, we believe it's time to get re-engaged in the story." Oracle - Upgraded to 'buy' from 'hold,' SocGen "Defensive + undemanding valuation = upgrade to Buy. ... Why do we believe that Oracle could be less impacted? 1) We estimate that two-thirds of Oracle's revenue are recurring thanks to its Maintenance and Cloud businesses. 2) In our view, Oracle's execution capacity ranks among the best in the sector. In the past two recessions, the group successfully increased its margins thanks to its ability to cut costs rapidly. 3) Oracle's Autonomous Database could ramp up faster than we currently anticipate in a slowdown as customers could reduce their total cost of ownership thanks to the absence of human database administrators. We estimate that Database accounts for 37% of group revenue. 4) Oracle's cloud applications, notably ERP, could benefit from customers' faster shift to the cloud. As of now, their growth has been consistently above 30%."

Pedestrians cross Herald Square in front of a Verizon Wireless store in New York.

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(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

It was another week of turbulence for the market, but Wall Street analysts analysts have upgraded a slew of stocks that may provide investors safety amid the COVID-19 fears.

CNBC PRO examined the most recent Wall Street research and found buy-rated stocks that include: Verizon, Leidos, Neenah, Oracle, and Masimo.