Finding the right stocks isn’t about uncovering a hidden secret – it’s about making sense of the data that markets generate every day. The challenge, of course, lies in cutting through the noise, and for individual investors, that’s no small task.
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Professional analysts devote entire careers to sifting through this information, but even the most seasoned experts typically focus on a slice of the market rather than the whole picture. And for most retail investors, replicating that level of analysis simply isn’t realistic.
That’s where the TipRanks Smart Score comes in. Powered by AI, the Smart Score processes the full spectrum of market data and measures every stock against factors that have historically been linked to outperformance. The result is simple but effective: a score from 1 to 10, with “Perfect 10” stocks standing out as the strongest candidates.
And when the Smart Score’s results line up with Wall Street’s own ratings, it provides a valuable second opinion, a signal that a stock deserves a closer look.
With that in mind, let’s turn to the TipRanks database and check out two “Perfect 10” stocks that analysts also rate highly.
Burlington Stores (BURL)
The first ‘Prefect 10’ stock on our list is Burlington Stores, one of the larger names in the US off-price retail sector. The company boasts a market cap of $16.5 billion, and generated net sales of $10.6 billion in its fiscal year 2024.
The New Jersey-based company has a nationwide footprint, with 1,108 store locations in 46 states, plus DC and Puerto Rico. Burlington offers customers a wide range of apparel and fashion-focused merchandise, usually at discounts of up to 60%. The product lines include ready-to-wear apparel for women, menswear, youth and baby clothes, footwear, accessories, and coats, along with beauty care, home goods, and toys and gifts.
The company has been putting into action its its Burlington 2.0 strategies, a set of initiatives designed to streamline operations and boost sales. Prominent among the initiatives are improvements in inventory and cost management, enhancements to the product offerings, and a move toward smaller stores to expand into new markets. Taken together, these are part of a coherent strategy to improve the customer experience in Burlington stores, particularly the ‘treasure hunt,’ the small thrill of finding quality goods at off prices, that brings customers into the chain.
The firm’s last set of quarterly earnings, which covered fiscal 2Q25, shows that Burlington is executing well on its strategy. Revenue was up almost 10% year-over-year, at $2.7 billion, and beat the forecast by over $72 million. At the bottom line, the company realized a non-GAAP EPS of $1.72, beating the estimates by 43 cents per share.
For Bernstein’s retail expert Aneesha Sherman, the company is well-positioned for ongoing success. She writes: “As we’ve seen in our last several months of store checks, BURL’s branded assortment keeps improving and is now on par with ROST, featuring a growing breadth of mainstream national brands that were inaccessible to BURL even a year ago. As a result, a positive AUR mix shift drove the bulk of the 5% comp, with traffic being flat (due to weather-driven traffic declines in May) and pricing only driving a small portion. We expect BURL’s strong branded mix to keep driving share gains, likely coming from other value/discount apparel retailers, as well as other off-pricers (ROST being the closest competitor)… We expect another strong result in Q3, and remain bullish both this quarter and longer-term.”
The Bernstein analyst follows her stance with an Outperform (i.e., Buy) rating on BURL, along with a $365 price target that suggests a robust one-year upside of 39%. (To watch Sherman’s track record, click here)
Overall, this retailer gets a unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating, based on 15 positive analyst reviews. The stock is currently trading for $262.90 and its $353 average target price implies a gain of 34% in the next 12 months. (See BURL stock forecast)
Universal Technical Institute (UTI)
Higher education is a rich field for debate, and not just in the classroom. Everyone agrees that building knowledge and skills is essential to success; the question is, where to go to learn? The next ‘Perfect 10’ stock we’ll look at here, Phoenix-based Universal Technical Institute, comes down squarely on the trade-school side of continuing education; the company has run a private, for-profit network of technical colleges since 1965.
UTI offers a wide range of technical and training programs in fields such as vehicle maintenance, aviation, machining and fabrication, electronics, and infrastructure maintenance. Specific courses include such things as technical certification in diesel technology, robotics and automation, welding, and HVACR. The company has campuses in nine states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. We should note that California, Texas, and Florida are the largest states in the Union by population, and that Michigan and Pennsylvania even today have particularly important industrial regions.
In addition to the Universal Technical Institute, the company also owns and operates Concorde Career Colleges, a technical school with programs in a variety of healthcare fields. Concorde operates 17 campuses in 8 states, including California, Texas, and Florida.
Altogether, UTI offers students an entry into a large number of in-demand positions across multiple fields of skilled work. The company works with a number of important trade associations, including the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, the Marine Mechanics Institute, and the NASCAR Technical Institute. UTI offers its students admission and financial support, employment support while studying, and even help with relocation.
On the financial side, this trade school network showed sound results in its quarterly results for fiscal 3Q25. The company’s revenue of $204.3 million was up 15% year-over-year and came in $4.3 million better than had been anticipated, while the EPS of 19 cents was 8 cents per share higher than expectations. Looking to the full year, the company has tightened up its revenue guidance from the range of $825 million to $835 million to a new range of $830 million to $835 million.
Northland analyst Mike Grondahl is firmly in the bull camp, noting that this for-profit education company has been working to a plan – and meeting its goals.
“UTI continues to execute on its roadmap and meet / exceed expectations. We note that the softer student starts growth in the quarter was expected due to seasonality and a cohort of students on the UTI side that started in July instead of June, and we note that nearly half of UTI division starts come in fiscal 4Q’s, with management commenting they remain on track for their overall target. It sounds like marketing efforts continue to generate strong leads (specifically with Concorde), and we expect the company to continue investing in both marketing and its admissions teams to drive strong results on a go-forward basis,” Grondahl noted.
These comments support Grondahl’s Outperform (i.e., Buy) rating on the stock. His price target, set at $38, points toward a share price gain of 37% on the one-year horizon. (To watch Grondahl’s track record, click here)
All 5 of the recent analyst reviews here are positive, making the Strong Buy consensus rating unanimous. The stock is currently priced at $27.66 and its $37 average target price implies a potential one-year upside of 34%. (See UTI stock forecast)
To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.