Here are Wall Street analysts five favorite stocks heading into earnings

Published Sat, Jan 15 20229:29 AM EST

Wall Street analysts named some of their favorite stocks to buy this week as quarterly earnings kicks off. S & P 500 companies are expected to grow profit by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to Refinitiv. CNBC Pro combed through the most-recent Wall Street research to find the top buying opportunities heading into earnings. They include: General Electric , Tyson Foods and Apple , along with United Airlines and Signature Bank . United Airlines United was recently named a top pick by Cowen, as the legacy airline is expected to be a key reopening beneficiary for 2022. Investors should expect further insight when the company's reports its fourth quarter earnings next week, the firm wrote. "We attribute our optimism relative to the peer group to our view that international leisure destinations will outperform domestic beginning in summer 2022 and continue into 2023 and beyond," analyst Helane Becker said. The firm also said it expects United to "focus on paying down debt and improving its balance sheet while maintaining strong liquidity." Becker noted that other key catalysts include increased vaccinations and fleet restructurings. Shares of the United are up more than 6% year to date. Signature Bank Signature was named as a top mid-cap pick at Morgan Stanley, with the firm calling the bank's business model "unique." "We think the highlight of the quarter for SBNY will be continued extraordinary balance sheet growth, expecting Q/Q loan and deposit growth of 6.9% and 6.8%, respectively, driven by Funds Banking and growth in digital deposits," analyst Betsy Graseck wrote. In particular, cryptocurrency has been a key driver of the company's growth. "We saw this early. We organized ourselves and were determined to build an infrastructure," Signature co-founder and Chairman Scott Shay told CNBC in August. Graseck is also bullish on Signature's digital payment platform Signet. It's powered by the blockchain, which is the underlying technology of cryptocurrency. The firm has a Street high price target of $475 per share and says the stock's valuation is attractive, even as shares are up more than 128% over the past year. Signature is slated to report earnings Tuesday before the bell. Tyson Foods Shares of the poultry company are up 45% over the past year, and Stephens analyst Ben Bienvenu said the stock is just too "compelling" to ignore. The firm has a Street high price target of $110 per share for Tyson, which is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings