The finance industry is full of opinions.
To help pick out the signal from the noise, Business Insider decided to reach out to some of the best equity analysts in the US to ask a handful of key questions.
The analysts all rank as the best in their sector in Institutional Investor's 44th annual #1 All-American Equity Research Team.
The ranking is based on a questionnaire of 3,800 individuals across over 1,000 finance firms — representing about $11.3 trillion in assets under management.
We asked them four key questions: What is your top buy? What is your top sell? What is the key theme in the industry? What is it that everyone else is missing?
Scroll down to read what the top analysts in their respective fields told us.
Direct quotes are in italics for emphasis, and the text in bold is our emphasis.
Google's foray into artificial intelligence could be revolutionary
Analyst: Carlos Kirjner, Sanford Bernstein
Sector: The internet
Top Buy: Google (GOOG): "Google's investments in artificial intelligence, above and beyond the use of machine learning to improve character, photo, video and sound classification, could be so revolutionary and transformational to the point of raising ethical questions."
Top Sell: No comment.
The most important theme for the industry: No comment.
What we're watching and some are missing: Google's foray into artificial intelligence, which "nobody is paying attention to because it is not an issue that will play out in the next few quarters. But longer term it is a big, big opportunity for them."
It is too late to be negative on energy stocks
Analyst: Doug Terreson, ISI Evercore
Sector: Integrated oil
Top Buy: ConocoPhillips (COP)
Top Sell: "It's too late to be negative on Energy stocks."
The most important theme for the industry: The price of crude oil.
What we're watching and some are missing: "Forthcoming mergers and acquisitions in the sector, which will likely put in the bottom for the oil market and the Energy stocks in the next few months."
Avoid Macau
Analyst: Joseph Greff, JPMorgan
Sector: Gaming and lodging
Top Buy: Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT), because the company is likely to announce a strategic plan in the next few months that will unlock value related to fees and timeshare segments.
Top Sell: No comment.
The most important theme for the industry:"Can Macau stabilize from its recent downward trend over the last 12 months? Lots of uncertainty there. [It is] Easier for us and we think investors to focus and become more comfortable with the positive trends in Las Vegas and the US regional markets."
What we're watching and some are missing: "We are more selective now than in the last few years and think that non high-end, largely US-focused portfolios with strong brands can grow attractively and can offset the impact of modestly accelerating traditional hotel supply growth and the impact of shared accommodations (Airbnb)."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider