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It's been anything but a magical year for Disney (DIS) stock, now down around 40% year to date. Though many may question CEO Bob Chapek's performance, the man is staying at the house of mouse for at least another three years.

Chapek's reign has not been great for shareholders thus far; with unneeded controversies and other issues plaguing the company, Chapek is still the man that transitioned the firm into the age of streaming.

Also, given profound macro headwinds weighing on streamers and media titans, it's hard to gauge Chapek's relative performance. Over the next three years, we'll find out if Chapek's plan will work out as Disney looks to steer through a potential consumer-facing recession and economic slowdown.

Of late, it's been mostly negative news relating to Disney and the economy's fate. Still, Disney is doing a lot of things right that could help the stock find a bottom and begin to rally off of it as soon as the second half. With Shanghai reopening its doors for summer after COVID-19 lockdowns, the parks business may finally lift a coming quarter rather than weighing it down.

Disney Stock: Too Much Bad News Baked In

It's not just parks and amusements; the Disney+ platform could begin to make significant strides over its competitors through the summer. The streaming platform also serves as an excellent hedge against a late-summer or early-fall COVID-19 resurgence.

The BA.4 and BA.5 variants of Omicron are becoming dominant strains. With seasonal booster shots and a reluctance to close the economy again, a return in 2020 is highly unlikely. That said, if worse comes to worst, anything is possible - and Disney is better prepared for such a worst-case outcome in the unlikely event that COVID-19 restrictions return.

I am bullish on Disney stock heading into the second half, even if Chapek can't pull another rabbit out of a hat going into a period of economic instability.

What's Bob Chapek's Next Move at Disney?

Chapek will be known for dragging Disney out of the gutter in 2020 with its Disney+ streaming platform. Looking ahead, Disney seems poised to continue growing Disney+ as new releases continue flowing out of the pipeline. With such a strong content slate, it's arguable that Disney+ has the edge over Netflix, as it bleeds subscribers.

Further, Disney may wish to explore new frontiers in the digital realm. The metaverse and virtual experiences of tomorrow have been a hot topic. Many big-tech firms are committed to investing heavily in the effort.

Though the metaverse is still nascent, I do think Disney can make moves to ease such a transition — whenever it arrives. With Apple (AAPL) slated to pull the curtain on its headset in early 2023, the metaverse could be propelled to the forefront over the next three years of Chapek's contract.

Is Disney ready for the metaverse? Recent comments from Chapek regarding the nascent technology have been quite vague. However, Disney's newest cruise ship seems to incorporate compelling augmented-reality technologies.

Disney's cruise app reportedly has a "skyglass" augmented-reality feature that overlays constellations in the sky. It's an intriguing feature, to say the least. That said, many constellation apps have been in existence for quite some time.

In any case, Disney seems more than willing to embrace technologies to enhance the customer experience. However, that may not be good enough to make a big splash into the metaverse if it's poised for prime time within the next two years rather than the next two decades.

If Disney+ was the first act of Chapek's reign, a push into the metaverse and video games could be the second. The acquisition of a video-game behemoth could be the way to propel Disney into a new era of virtual experiences.

Of late, it's hard to ignore the growing number of video games leveraging various Disney brands. From Guardians of the Galaxy, developed by Eidos-Montreal, to the numerous slate of Star Wars games, it's clear that Disney's brands translate very well into gaming.

Rather than partnering up with developers, Disney may wish to acquire one, like Electronic Arts (EA) outright, to take gaming to the next level.

The video-game industry has undergone quite a bit of consolidation in recent years. Electronic Arts seems to be a great fit for Disney, given it's developed many of its Star Wars games and its expertise with sports titles, which would complement ESPN quite well.

Wall Street's Take

Turning to Wall Street, DIS stock comes in as a Moderate Buy. Out of 24 analyst ratings, there are 17 Buy recommendations and seven Hold recommendations.

The average Disney price target is $140.77, implying upside potential of 46.4%. Analyst price targets range from a low of $110.00 per share to a high of $229.00 per share.

The Bottom Line on Disney Stock

Disney isn't just a film and amusement parks company anymore. It's an entertainment company that's willing to explore new media.
As Chapek looks to explore new technologies to enhance the experience while potential second-half catalysts kick in for the parks, I think it'll be hard to stop a Disney stock turnaround in the second half.

Disclosure

As the painful first half of 2022 ends, many income investors are hoping for some sort of relief. Many dividend stocks have seen their yields creep subtly higher in recent months as their share prices slowly trended lower.

For income investors, the current environment has been quite hostile to dip-buyers.

We've suffered quite a few short-lived bear market bounces this year. Many more are sure to follow.

Though the likelihood of a V-shaped recovery is diminishing with every swift move lower, there are still plenty of oversold stocks out there overdue for a relief bounce.

In this piece, we'll use the TipRanks Comparison Tool to evaluate three dividend stocks that Wall Street still views as "Strong Buys."

Broadcom (AVGO)

Broadcom stock is a designer and developer of semis and associated software. The chip stock plunge has been brutal to the $195 billion firm, which is now off 27% year-to-date.

The company recently agreed to acquire virtualization software company VMWare, in a deal worth $61 billion. Such a deal bolsters Broadcom's software presence, and given the timing of the deal (after a sizable decline in tech stocks), there's a good chance that Broadcom walked away with a bargain. Add potential synergies into the equation, and the VMWare deal is one that should be applauded by investors.

Despite Broadcom's diversification into software via M&A, the company is still subject to the ups and downs of the semi space. Though chip demand remains incredibly robust to date, there's no telling what a severe recession could entail for the chip maker.

On the one hand, networking chip demand seems to be on the uptrend, thanks partly to the resilience of the enterprise, who's still more than willing to invest in the digital transformation trend. On the other hand, it's difficult to gauge where demand will be at year-end if further evidence of an economic slowdown materializes.

If demand diminishes rapidly, any supply-chain ramp-up in response to the semi shortage could lead to discounting down the road. Over many quarters, chip demand has been high, but supply is constrained. Once supply is back in order, there's no telling where demand will be. For Broadcom, that's a major near-term risk.

In any case, I'm a fan of Broadcom's latest acquisition. It demonstrates that management is disciplined regarding prices they'll pay. At writing, AVGO stock trades at 6.7 times sales and 24.3 times trailing earnings. With a 3.38% dividend yield, Broadcom seems like a great value.

It’s not often that the analysts all agree on a stock, so when it does happen, take note. AVGO’s Strong Buy consensus rating is based on a unanimous 13 Buys. The stock’s $700.58 average price target suggests a considerable upside of ~47% from the current share price of $477.84. (See AVGO stock forecast on TipRanks)

Shell (SHEL)

Shell is an oil supermajor that finally slipped into a correction after running with the energy bulls for over a year. Shell is a British firm with a simplified share structure, and a juicy 3.5% dividend yield following the latest pullback.

As oil prices creep higher again, it's tough to count out the energy giant as it looks to make the most of its oil and gas windfall. Over the long run, Shell is ready to transition into renewables, with an energy-as-a-service model that reacts accordingly to the times.

Indeed, renewables are the future, and Shell wants to be relevant in such a future. In the meantime, it's all about the upstream and marketing segments, which are still heavily influenced by the price of oil. As upstream slowly winds down production over the years, Shell may not be the go-to play to play a "higher for longer" type of environment.

In any case, the LNG (liquefied natural gas) business is an excellent transitionary energy that can help Shell slowly reduce its carbon emissions over the decades. With a low 0.7 beta and a modest 9.4 times trailing earnings multiple, Shell is a great stock to hedge your bets.

The 4 recent analyst reviews on this energy company break down 3 to 1 in favor of Buys over Holds, and support the Strong Buy analyst consensus rating. Shares are trading for $51.90 and the average target of $68.43 implies an upside of ~32%. (See SHEL stock forecast on TipRanks)

Hasbro (HAS)

Hasbro is a toy company that's slid about 20% year-to-date. The stock never regained its pre-pandemic highs. Now that we're talking about a recession, the stock has been downtrending again. While it's unlikely that Hasbro will revisit 2020 lows, it seems like a consumer recession could weigh heavily on holiday demand. For such a seasonal stock, recent macro headwinds are not encouraging.

Still, analysts are upbeat, with a "Strong Buy" rating. The stock is holding its own rather well through the recent wave of supply-chain disruptions. Just because the supply side is on the right track does not mean demand will remain robust going into year-end. Further, a continuation of COVID headwinds could also weigh heavily.

Though digital games and other technologies could steer spending away from toys, I do think there's no reason why physical toys and games can't co-exist. They have for years, after all.

For now, the retail stalwart is a low-cost income play. At writing, the stock trades at 1.8 times sales and 28.2 times trailing earnings, with a 3.34% dividend yield.

Overall, HAS stock has picked up 8 recent analyst reviews, which break down to 6 Buys against 2 Holds, for a Strong Buy consensus rating. The shares are trading for $81.35, and their $109 average price target indicates ~34% upside for the next 12 months. (See HAS stock forecast on TipRanks)

Conclusion

Many analysts have been lowering the bar on price targets and ratings on stocks of late. The following three names have retained their "Strong Buy" status and are great long-term plays for yield hunters.

Wall Street expects the most from Broadcom of the three names in this piece, with more than 40% in year-ahead upside.

To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

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R. Kelly on Friday sued the Brooklyn jail that has housed him since his racketeering and sex crimes conviction, saying it wrongly put him on suicide watch after he received a 30-year prison sentence despite knowing he was not suicidal.

The current environment of high interest rates is not boding well for most companies. However, financial services giant Citigroup (NYSE: C) is benefiting well from the situation. In fact, Citigroup’s Global Head of markets also recently acknowledged that “volatility is basically our friend.”

However, how far can the company benefit from this volatility? This question can be answered in brief. Nonetheless, it is prudent to consider all possibilities and outlooks before coming to any conclusion about a stock.

Granted, the monetary tightening period will boost the firm’s net interest revenues for some time, but it is only a matter of a few weeks before these gains might start getting offset by other more significant concerns.

Moreover, the lower credit losses that Citigroup witnessed in the past year are not a secular trend and were a result of stimulus presented by monetary and fiscal policies to help the economy grow out of the COVID-induced recession in 2020.

RBC (RY) Capital Market analyst Gerard Cassidy pointed out a key concern in this regard. Although an uptick in credit losses will bring the metric to normal and manageable levels for Citigroup, a recession might lead to higher-than-desired credit losses, hurting the bottom line.

“We believe aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve that results in driving the U.S. economy into a recession in 2022 is the key risk for the company and our rating and price target. A recession would bring on elevated levels of credit losses, which would depress earnings,” noted the analyst, reducing his price target to $60 from $65 per share.

Looking Beyond 2022

Nonetheless, Cassidy was optimistic about Citigroup’s longer-term prospects, leading him to reiterate a Buy rating on the stock. Citigroup expects to meet various key medium-term profitability targets under the leadership of the new CEO, Jane Fraser.

Cassidy also believes that Citigroup has solid chances to benefit from the growth of emerging markets over the long term as more than 50% of the firm’s revenues come from out of North America.

The analyst believes that Citigroup is aware that it needs to scale its U.S. consumer business to attain sustainable long-term growth. This explains why the firm is investing heavily in that area. To that end, Citigroup launched the Custom Cash Card last year and, most recently, the self-directing investment digital offering. Nonetheless, there is still more room to scale.

“To narrow the profitability gap between its two large peers, Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan (JPM), in the U.S. consumer business, however, it will need to be more aggressive in building scale, in our view,” explained Cassidy.

Wall Street’s Take

Wall Street is cautiously optimistic about Citigroup, with a Moderate Buy rating based on seven Buys, seven Holds, and one Sell. The average Citigroup price target is $62.93, indicating upside potential of 34.3% from early-Friday price levels.

Bottom Line

Being one of the most established players in the financial services sector, there is a good chance for Citigroup to navigate the near-term risks to its growth.

Disclosure

Mexico's environment ministry said on Friday it rejected a key environmental permit for a solar power plant German automaker Audi has proposed to build near its factory in the central Mexican state of Puebla.

Indonesia raised palm oil export quotas on Saturday, allowing companies that have sold palm oil domestically to export seven times the amount of their domestic sales starting July 1, a senior minister said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted 19-2 to recommend that future booster shots for preventing infection with Covid-19 be tweaked to address "super-contagious" Omicron variants, as the Associated Press reports.

AP further notes that Pfizer (PFE) and Moderna (MRNA) are already on the case, and brewing up new booster vaccine formulas that they hope will satisfy the FDA. At the same time, however, Novavax (NVAX) is still trying to win approval of its own original-recipe Covid vaccine, known as NVX-CoV2373, or Nuvaxovid. Novavax thinks its vaccine, which is protein-based rather than mRNA-based, will prove to be effective at combating Omicron without further tweaking.

Just hours after the advisory committee vote, Novavax issued a press release of its own, discussing data that it has provided VRBPAC. As the company argued, Nuvaxovid incites "broad antibody responses" to both the original Covid-19 variant, to Omicron, and to "other circulating variants" as well. And just in case anyone missed the point, Novavax stated straight out that it "will be ready to supply Omicron-based vaccine this fall in accordance with FDA Advisory Committee recommendation" -- and noted that it told VRBPAC so when it participated in the same meeting that resulted in the 19-2 recommendation to focus on Omicron going forward.

So what does this mean for Novavax stock? Jefferies analyst Roger Song had some thoughts on that score.

The good news is: Song is optimistic. The analyst notes that in accordance with VRBPAC's wishes, in addition to its original recipe Nuvaxovid formulation that may soon receive FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), Novavax is also working up two vaccines with Omicron in mind -- one that is "monovalent" (i.e. targeted specifically at preventing infection with the BA.1 Omicron variant), and a second that is "bivalent" -- designed to scare off both "ancestral" forms of Covid, and also BA.1.

Both of these more Omicron-specific vaccines are currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials, notes Song. What's more, the timeline actually looks kind of propitious for Novavax.

The EUA for original recipe Nuvaxovid could be granted as early as July, in time for Novavax to begin vaccinating any holdouts who might have been leery of taking an mRNA vaccine, and were waiting for Novavax to finish its protein-based vaccine. Then, once those initial rounds of immunization have been accomplished, and it's time to start thinking about a booster shot in the fall -- well, that's exactly the time VRBPAC is recommending the FDA start pushing Omicron-specific boosters.

And by then, not only Pfizer and Moderna, but Novavax, too, may have a booster or two (or four) to offer.

Based on this potential scenario, Song is sticking with his "buy" rating on Novavax, and his $190 price target, too. Investors could be sitting on returns of 232%, should his thesis bear fruit over the next 12 months. (See NVAX stock forecast on TipRanks)

Turning now to the rest of the Street, most other analysts are on the same page. Out of 9 analysts that have thrown an opinion into the mix, 7 were bullish, making the consensus rating a Moderate Buy. To top it all off, the $138 average price target brings the upside potential to 141%. (See NVAX stock forecast on TipRanks)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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