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Volatility reigned supreme on Wall Street once again last week. The S & P 500 lost 4.8% for its worst weekly performance since the week ending June 17. It also marked its fourth one-week decline in five weeks. Those losses came after the release of a mixed batch of economic data that included an unexpected uptick in U.S. inflation. The data and the accompanying market swings have left investors wondering where they can find shelter. With this in mind, CNBC Pro set out to find Wall Street’s favorite stable stocks. To do this, we screened the S & P 500 for names that met the following criteria: Five-year beta of less than 0.99 Buy ratings from more than 50% of analysts covering the stock Upside to average price target of more than 30% Beta is a measure of volatility relative to the overall market. If a stock has a beta of less than 1, it tends to be less volatile than the broader market. Here are the stocks that made our list. Health care names Bio-Rad Laboratories and Zoetis have the highest potential upside of any stock on the list, FactSet data shows. Analysts on average expect Bio-Rad and Zoetis to surge nearly 57% and 46%, respectively, from Friday’s close. Their five-year betas come out to 0.98 and 0.76. Bio-Rad shares have gotten crushed this year, losing 40%. However, Citi analyst Patrick Donnelly thinks the stock could do relatively well if “we enter into a recessionary environment.” In June, Donnelly highlighted the company’s portfolio consistency since 2008. “We are also optimistic around improving conditions in supply chain for Life Sciences,” wrote the analyst. Zoetis, meanwhile, is down 35% in 2022. However, Goldman’s Nathan Rich thinks the animal vaccine and drugmaker is “positioned well to maintain a high-single digit revenue growth trajectory into 2023 as demand for Librela has been stronger than ZTS expected, supply pressures are starting to ease, and its parasiticide/derm products continue to perform well.” Librela is a drug used to alleviate pain associated with osteoarthritis in animals. Rich has a buy rating on Zoetis. Another stock that made the list is Microsoft . The tech giant has a five-year beta of 0.94 and has buy ratings from 82% of analysts covering it. Analysts also expect the stock to rally nearly 34% from Friday’s close. Microsoft shares have fallen more than 27% year to date, but Morgan Stanley’s Erik Woodring said last month that Big Tech names such as Microsoft were ” underowned .” Take-Two Interactive also made the list. The video game maker has a five-year beta of 0.76 and has buy ratings from 55% of analysts covering it. The average price target on the stock is also 32% above Friday’s close. Shares of Take-Two are down 30% for the year. Other stocks that made our list are: Fidelity National Information Services, Prologis, Digital Realty, Visa, Intercontinental Exchange, Jacobs Solutions, Hasbro, Tyler Technologies, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and ServiceNow. CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
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