After the market reaches a new high, which US stocks are worth buying? Here are 3 recommended by Oppenheimer.

The decline in the US inflation rate and the expectation of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve this year have supported investors' optimism, leading to another historic high for the Pro UltrPro Shrt S&Pro 500. This has influenced Oppenheimer's Chief Investment Strategist, John Stoltzfus, in his current view of the economy. The strategist recently stated, "In our view, 'so far, so good' is what the US domestic economic data shows. Despite facing a tightening cycle, the US economy has indeed shown some signs of slowing down, but it still maintains resilience. In our view, the Federal Reserve has always been very sensitive in how it uses its responsibility to combat inflation. Since March 2022, the Federal Reserve has been able to raise interest rates without pushing the economy into a recession."

After reflecting optimistically on recent events, Oppenheimer's stock analysts have given a buy rating to a series of stocks. They recommend taking action when it seems like another bullish phase is starting and tell investors that it is time to "pull the trigger" on certain stocks. This article combines data from TipRanks, a platform that tracks Wall Street analysts' ratings, to analyze whether it is worth "pulling the trigger" on three companies that Oppenheimer is bullish on.

Bread Financial Holdings (BFH.US)

Bread Financial is a company engaged in online financial niche businesses, providing a suite of simple and personalized choices for loans, savings, and payments. The company is known for its credit card rewards program and offers customers a US Amex card with a guaranteed 2% cashback reward and zero annual fee. In addition, Bread Financial's customers can also open personal savings accounts with a minimum opening balance of only $100 and an annual interest rate of up to 5.15%, ensuring a substantial return. Bread Financial also provides its customers with the Bread Pay online payment application, which is a non-credit card application designed to provide quick and convenient payment options for current purchases.

The company's fourth-quarter financial report showed total revenue of $1.02 billion, a 1% YoY decrease, but $33.3 million higher than expected. Bread Financial has consistently exceeded expectations in its quarterly financial reports recently. The company's earnings per share were $0.90, in line with expectations. While not exceeding expectations, Bread Financial's earnings fully cover the company's regular stock dividends. The current dividend is $0.21 per share, which has remained stable since 2020, with the next dividend distribution scheduled for March 15th. With an annualized payment of $0.84 per share, the yield is moderate at 2.36%.

Oppenheimer analyst Dominick Gabriele believes that this stock is undervalued. Gabriele wrote about the company, "In times of economic difficulty, we usually stay away from transformation stories, but Bread Financial's valuation and capital metrics approaching appropriate scale are very attractive." Bread Financial has increased its tangible common equity/tangible asset ratio to 9.63% in the fourth quarter, while also repaying a significant amount of debt. Despite the impact of late fees being a major obstacle, this management team has proven to us that they are thoughtful and focused on long-term returns."

In pointing the way forward for the stock, the analyst added, "Diversified channels, simplified models, and a more robust balance sheet should reassure investors. Bread Financial strives for continuous improvement in core efficiency every year. Credit remains a headwind, but the company is tightening its lending."

Finally, Gabriele rates Bread Financial stock as "outperform (buy)" with a target price of $52. While O'Brien is bullish on the stock, Wall Street is generally cautious. The stock has recently received ratings from 12 analysts, with 1 buy, 7 hold, and 4 sell ratings, for a consensus rating of hold. The current price of the stock is $35.47, and the average target price of $35.09 suggests that the stock is expected to remain range-bound for the time being.

Coinbase Global (COIN.US)

Coinbase, a leader in the cryptocurrency field, operates a major cryptocurrency exchange and provides its trading platform and crypto wallet on desktop and mobile devices. Users can buy and trade most major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC. Cryptocurrency trading has become big business. For example, a few numbers are enough to illustrate the scale of Coinbase's operations. The company serves users in over 100 countries and custodies over $114 billion in protected assets on its platform. Secondly, Bitcoin reached a peak of over $64,000 in November 2021, and although it fell to less than a third of that value within a year, this flagship cryptocurrency has rebounded and risen to a level of $42,000. Coinbase profits handsomely from these gains and related trading activities, and despite a pullback from its peak in December 2023, the stock still shows a 12-month gain of 123%. The company's current market value is close to $30 billion.

Coinbase's trading activities have caught the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which filed a lawsuit against the company in June of last year. The SEC claims that Coinbase should be subject to its regulation and is currently an unregistered securities broker. Coinbase has taken action to seek dismissal of the lawsuit, and a judge in this case may make a decision on the motion to dismiss within the next three months. In the recent earnings report, Coinbase's total trading volume in the third quarter of last year was $76 billion, with total revenue of $674 million, a year-on-year growth of 14.2%, exceeding expectations by about $20 million. According to GAAP, the company's net loss per share was 1 cent, but this is also better than expected, which was a loss of 52 cents per share.

Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer, is optimistic about Coinbase and lists several reasons why the stock deserves an upgrade: "Our upgrade is based on our argument that 1) Coinbase will win in the SEC lawsuit, or the court will dismiss it; 2) Net income of spot Bitcoin ETF is positive; 3) Coinbase's fundamentals are on the rise; 4) It is expected that GAAP earnings per share will be positive in the fourth quarter or early 2024; 5) Multiple near-term and long-term catalysts... During the cryptocurrency winter, the stock has been under strict scrutiny. While many peers went bankrupt, Coinbase still stood there fighting for its business and industry. We believe that the company is stronger than many people imagine, and the management team is tougher than most investors imagine."

Lau upgraded Coinbase's rating from "Neutral" to "Outperform (Buy)" and gave a target price of $160. However, Wall Street's view is not so optimistic. According to the latest 20 ratings, the general rating for Coinbase stock is "Hold", with 8 Buy ratings, 4 Hold ratings, and 8 Sell ratings. The current trading price of the stock is $125.20, and the average target price of $128.58 indicates that the stock is expected to remain at roughly the same level in a year.

Entrada Therapeutics (TRDA.US)

The last company on Oppenheimer's supported list is Entrada Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company in the early clinical stage. The company is taking an exciting and interesting approach to treat rare genetic diseases for which there is currently a lack of effective treatment. Entrada is researching a new platform technology called Endosomal Escape Vehicle (EEV), which is both universal and modular. This platform allows the development of a new class of EEV drugs that can achieve targets previously considered "undruggable."

Entrada's EEV platform achieves new functionality by effectively delivering therapeutic agents through intracellular pathways in various organs and tissues. This ability to reach intracellular targets is crucial because approximately 75% of disease-causing factors are located inside cells, but currently only 2% or less of therapeutic approaches can reach the intended targets. The company's preclinical research shows that drugs using EEV can achieve the expected intracellular targets in up to 50% of the time. This opens up new opportunities for the treatment of various diseases.

Entrada is utilizing its proprietary technology to develop new therapies for several diseases, with the most advanced research targeting Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The company's leading product line includes the candidate drug ENTR-601-44, which aims to address the underlying genetic causes of the disease. The candidate drug is an EEV oligonucleotide designed to induce functional dystrophin protein in muscle cells.

The company currently has ENTR-601-44 in a Phase 1 clinical trial in the UK, with dosing completed for cohorts 1 and 2. Data from this trial is expected to be released in the second half of this year. Another setback is that in November of last year, Entrada reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused to lift the hold on the Phase 1 clinical trial being conducted in the United States.

Hartaj Singh, an analyst at Oppenheimer, believes that despite the FDA's hold on the company's trial, Entrada, especially its lead candidate drug, deserves closer attention from investors. He is optimistic about the prospects of clinical data this year and wrote, "We see a strong preclinical foundation for the company's proprietary, agnostic intracellular delivery platform - EEV. EEV therapy has demonstrated high intracellular uptake in tissues and has the potential to improve therapeutic indices. Entrada is initially exploring neuromuscular diseases such as DMD and DM1 (in collaboration with Vertex). Preclinical data from mice and NHPs give us confidence in the target of the lead program ENTR-601-44, with improvements in dystrophin protein from control levels to double digits and sustained dosing intervals of 6 weeks or longer... We await clinical data from the Phase 1 healthy volunteer trial of ENTR-601-44 in the second half of the year."

These comments support Singh's "outperform (buy)" rating for Entrada, with a target price of $22. Wall Street analysts also have a positive view on the stock, with a unanimous "strong buy" rating from analysts, and Entrada recently received four positive ratings, resulting in a consensus rating of buy. The stock is currently priced at $14.83, with an average target price of $21, indicating a potential upside of approximately 41.5% in the next year.