5 Stocks Wall Street Loves Right Now

By Larry Gellar Here we have 5 of the most recent analyst upgrades. CVS Caremark (CVS) and Macy’s (M) continue to outdo their competition. Meanwhile, Capital One (COF) and Marriott (MAR) are making unique value propositions that investors should keep an eye on. L-3 (LLL) has been tapped by the Air Force to continue making F-16 systems. Let’s see what specifically has been happening with these stocks: FBR Capital Markets added Capital One Financial to its Top Pick List due to acquisitions that should improve earnings going forward. One such acquisition is ING Direct, which is a branchless bank. In fact, the liquidity from that business will help to offset the risk that Capital One is taking on by buying HSBC’s (HBC) U.S. credit card segment. More importantly, though, neither transaction should put Capital One at risk of becoming a highly regulated financial institution. That has many investors excited, and the stock price has moved up over $5 per share since December. Regardless, price-to-earnings and price-to-sales ratios for Capital One are still pretty low compared with companies like American Express (AXP), which could see $66 by 2013, and Discover Financial Services (DFS). One statistic investors will have to keep an…