TipRanks
Wall Street has known its share of legends, but few of them have made as big a splash as “the Man Who Broke the Bank of England.” That nickname belongs to George Soros who earned the tag after famously betting against the British Pound in 1992; following the Black Wednesday crash, the hedge fund manager pocketed $1 billion in a single day. This is the stuff that Wall Street legends are made of.
By then Soros was already incredibly successful and in the midst of steering his Quantum Fund to decades-long average annual returns of 30%.
Today, Soros remains the chair of Soros Fund Management and is thought to be worth over $8 billion, a figure which would have been far greater but for the billionaire’s extensive philanthropic work.
So, when Soros takes out new positions for his stock portfolio, it is only natural for investors to sit up and take notice. With this in mind, we decided to take a look at three stocks his fund has recently loaded up on. Soros is not the only one showing confidence in these names; according to the TipRanks database, Wall Street’s analysts rate all three as Strong Buys and see plenty of upside on the horizon too.
EQT Corporation (EQT)
We’ll start with the largest natural gas producer in the US. EQT is an $8 billion industry giant, operating in the gas-rich Appalachian states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. With 1 million acres of land holdings in the Marcellus and Utica shale deposits, and 19 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, the company is well-positioned to gain from the current regime of rising gas prices, even as the Biden Administration pushes an anti-fossil fuel strategy.
One clear sign of EQT’s strong position: the stock is up 65% year-to-date, even after some late-summer volatility. In the most recent quarterly report, for Q3, the company’s revenue came in at $1.79 billion, reversing the year-ago quarter’s $255 million revenue loss, while the EPS of 12 cents was up from a year-ago loss of 15 cents per share. Looking forward, management has boosted this year’s guidance on free cash flow upward by $200 million.
From Soros’ position, it’s clear that he sees profit potential in natural gas. His fund pulled the trigger on 534,475 shares, giving it a new position in EQT. At current prices these shares are now worth over $11.4 million.
Soros isn’t the only one giving this resource stock some love. Wall Street analyst Vincent Lovaglio, writing from Mizuho Securities, points out several strong points from 3Q21.
“Gas realizations were better than expected, low end of full year capex guidance is down slightly, full year operating cash flow guide is higher on the commodity rally and in line with our full-year forecast, and the company optimized firm-transport agreements expected to lower unit gathering while improving realizations.”
In addition, Lovaglio isn’t shy in setting forth his opinion that the company will start returning cash to shareholders, sooner rather than later, believing EQT is “positioned to announce a cash return framework early next year.”
In line with these comments, Lovaglio rates EQT stock a Buy and his $35 price target points toward 68% upside in the next 12 months. (To watch Lovaglio’s track record, click here)
Overall, the Strong Buy consensus rating on this stock is supported by 11 recent reviews, which include 9 Buys against just 2 Holds. The shares are selling for $21.35 and the $29.64 average price target suggests an upside of 42%. (See EQT stock analysis on TipRanks)
