As stocks remain choppy, with markets rallying in July off their June lows, only to tail off the first two days of August, Citigroup is recommending some oversold names that can enable investors to ride out the volatility. Traders shifted to riskier assets last month, with growth and cyclical sectors outperforming, as some better-than-expected earnings reports from stocks such as Amazon buoyed investor sentiment. In July, all three major averages had their best month since 2020, with the S & P 500 gaining 9.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 12.4%. Still, Citi believes investors should maintain a focus on beaten-up names, as it contemplates a “fragile risk rally.” The bank said that markets continue to deal with rising interest rates, as well as growing currency risk and geopolitical challenges. “With continued high macro risk and market volatility, we advise investors to actively balance tilts across stocks, sectors, and styles,” Citi’s head of equity quantitative trading strategy Hong Li wrote in a Tuesday note. “We continue to recommend our systematic Oversold Strategy as the volatile environment provides more opportunities for the strategy.” Here are five oversold stocks that Citi says could make for attractive buys: Source: Citi Shares of Target are oversold after dropping roughly 30% this year. The retailer dropped 25% after its first-quarter earnings report because of inventory troubles. Still, Wells Fargo this week said the beaten-up stock is a bargain at current levels, saying it could jump 20% from here. Meta is down more than 50% this year. The Facebook parent is dealing with challenges to its online advertising business amid a softening economy. It’s also spending large sums in the metaverse to focus on virtual and augmented reality technologies. Amazon lost about 20% this year. Still, the online retailer jumped more than 13% last week after reporting better-than-expected second quarter revenue , and issuing a rosy forecast.
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