Companies that will benefit from a resilient economy are among the names that caught the eyes of Wall Street and the CNBC “Halftime Report” traders on Wednesday. While investors focused on the latest earning reports, which weighed on the market, there were several upgrades by Wall Street analysts of stocks the “Halftime Report” traders own . One of those was Goldman Sachs , owned by Jim Lebenthal, partner at Cerity Partners. He called the Wall Street investment bank a high quality company at an attractive price. Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo is in agreement, boosting his price target to $420 a share from $390. The new target implies 12% upside from Tuesday’s close. While the stock is cheap, that’s not the only reason to get into the name, Lebenthal said. He also believes the economy is doing better and therefore the deal calendar is going to pick up. “There is going to be M & A activity,” said Lebenthal, who owns the stock. “There is going to be security issuance, which has basically been dead for all of these companies.” Goldman is up nearly 10% year to date. Meanwhile, American Express should see the benefit from the upswing in travel, said Karen Firestone, CEO and co-founder of Aureus Asset Management. The payments card issuer was upgraded by Morgan Stanley Wednesday to overweight from equal weight. The Wall Street firm said American Express’ higher-income customer base should position the company to weather a year that is expected to see an increase in delinquencies. AXP YTD mountain American Express’ year-to-date performance “It is really a well-run company,” said Firestone. “We like it for many reasons and think it has more to go.” Joe Terranova, senior managing director for Virtus Investment Partners, owns Tractor Supply for its fantastic balance sheet, as well as its strong momentum and customer retention, he said. Barclays initiated coverage of the stock on Tuesday with an overweight rating and $254 price target, which implies nearly 10% upside from Tuesday’s close. Cisco Systems is another name in Lebenthal’s portfolio. The company was just added to Evercore ISI’s tactical outperform list, with the firm noting that Cisco is well-positioned heading into earnings next week. Cisco has had a few good quarters and has shown that enterprise spending is “hanging in there,” Lebenthal said. “This is a lower-Beta name,” he said. “You don’t have the drama of Apple and what’s going on with China.” Another name Lebenthal owns is Delta Air Lines , which was upgraded by Redburn to buy from neutral on Wednesday. Investors who don’t believe there will be a recession will want to own airlines, Lebenthal said. Those who expect an economic downturn will want to avoid them, he added. One name that was downgraded on Wednesday was Sherwin-Williams . Keybanc cited slipping demand when it downgraded the stock to sector weight from overweight. Firestone, who owns shares, admitted the company is experiencing a “road bump.” “We think it is a great company, and we believe that we will see an improvement over the second half of the year,” she said. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
