HSBC has high hopes for the third quarter earnings season and is sure that some stocks will do better than others. In the three months ended June 30, nearly 79% of companies in the S & P 500 beat analysts' earnings expectations, while 60% of companies in the index posted an upside surprise to Wall Street revenue forecasts. Ahead of the third-quarter earnings season, HSBC recently listed its favorite stocks to buy, where it believes market expectations are low and there are opportunities. More than half the analysts covering Target give the stock a buy rating, and the average price target implies 16% upside. The average price target corresponds to upside of just 3% or so, based on the same FactSet survey.

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Persons: Daniela Bretthauer's, Bretthauer, Stephen Bersey's, Bersey, Wesley Brooks, Brooks, Morgan Stanley Organizations: HSBC, BlackRock, JPMorgan, Wells, Financial, Citigroup, PNC Financial Services, Netflix, Procter, Gamble, Wall, Target, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle, 3M, 3M's Locations: Wells Fargo, Minnesota, Target's, Friday's