Wall Street firms spend the back half of every year deciding where the next round of gains might come from.
Their research gives investors a shortcut, since it packages deep company knowledge and financial modeling into a short list of names worth watching.
Raymond James just published one of those lists.
The firm’s Analyst Current Favorites highlights the stocks its analysts like best for the rest of 2026.
What stands out is the approach. Raymond James did not simply reward the biggest winners of the year. It went looking for stocks that still offer attractive value at today’s prices.
Two names on that list stand out because both have been punished by the market this year: SBA Communications (SBAC) and Somnigroup International (SGI).
Here is what the firm sees in each one, and what it means for your money.
Why Raymond James likes SBA Communications after a rough year
SBA Communications is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, but it owns nothing that looks like a normal landlord’s property.
A REIT is a company that owns income-producing real estate and passes most of its profits to shareholders as dividends.
SBA’s version of real estate is the physical backbone of your phone signal.
The company owns thousands of cellular towers, small cells, and antenna systems across North, Central, and South America, plus Tanzania and South Africa.
It leases space on those towers to wireless carriers under long-term contracts that raise the rent each year.
The real money comes from a feature called colocation.
One tower can hold equipment from several carriers at once, so SBA collects rent from multiple tenants on a single site. Each new tenant makes that tower more profitable without much added cost.
That model has not protected the stock in 2026.
Shares have been volatile because major U.S. carriers slowed their aggressive network buildouts, which in turn slowed SBA’s site development business.
What SBA’s latest earnings tell investors
The core business is still making money, even with the slowdown.
In the second quarter, SBA reported revenue of $715.3 million, up just over 2% from a year earlier and nearly $10 million above forecasts.
Adjusted Funds From Operations, the cash-flow measure REIT investors watch most closely, came in at $3.05 per share, down from $3.17 in the prior year.
Here is why that number matters to you.
AFFO tells you whether a REIT actually generates enough cash to keep paying its dividend. SBA’s did.
The company’s quarterly payout of $1.25 annualizes to $5 per share and gives a forward yield of about 2.7%, with the latest dividend declared on Aug. 3 for payment on Sept. 17.
The Raymond James price target on SBAC
Ric Prentiss, the Raymond James analyst covering SBA, thinks the sell-off in tower stocks has gone too far.
Prentiss has covered the telecom and tower sector for more than two decades.
His track record backs that experience up, since investors who followed his SBAC calls and held for a year turned a profit 75% of the time.
He argues that towers are steady, cash-producing businesses that hold up well when the economy wobbles. Prentiss also thinks fears about satellite competition are overblown, and he sees the biggest valuation opportunity in SBAC.
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That view earns SBA a Strong Buy rating and a $264 price target. From current levels near $191, that points to roughly 41% upside over the next year, TipRanks reported.
The majority of Wall Street is more cautious. SBAC holds a Moderate Buy consensus from 15 analysts, with eight Buys and seven Holds, and an average target of $223.21.
Why Somnigroup made the list despite a 30% drop
The second pick sits in a very different corner of the market.
Somnigroup International is a bedding company with a market capitalization of about $13.5 billion, and it is the largest bedding maker in the world.
Its brands include Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, and Stearns & Foster.
The global sleep market is worth about $120 billion, and Somnigroup pulled in nearly $7.5 billion of that in 2025, a figure that jumped more than 51% from the prior year.
That jump was not organic growth. It came almost entirely from folding in Mattress Firm’s retail sales after the February 2025 acquisition closed.
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The company runs three business units, Tempur Sealy, Mattress Firm, and Dreams, across more than 100 countries, with 73 manufacturing sites and more than 2,800 retail stores.
Much of that footprint is new.
The company was called Tempur Sealy until the $5 billion cash-and-stock Mattress Firm purchase. Then it was renamed Somnigroup, drawing on the Latin word for sleep.
The integration costs weighing on SGI stock
Buying Mattress Firm widened Somnigroup’s reach, but folding in a business that large has been messy.
SGI stock is down about 30% this year as investors weigh a slower bedding market, a weak U.S. housing backdrop, and integration strain.
Mattress Firm’s gross margins have slipped 360 basis points since the deal, though the unit stays profitable.
Those pressures showed up in the numbers.
In the second quarter, revenue landed at $1.82 billion, down 3% year over year and missing estimates by nearly $59 million.
Adjusted earnings of 58 cents per share matched forecasts.
One bright spot stood out. Somnigroup generated $236 million in operating cash flow, which its management called a second-quarter record.
The Raymond James case for buying SGI now
Raymond James analyst Bobby Griffin thinks investors are fixated on short-term trouble and missing the longer setup.
Griffin, who has covered consumer and hardline retail names at the firm for years, sees the pullback as a chance to buy a quality business at a discount.
His argument rests on three drivers he expects to play out over the medium term.
3 things that must go right for Somnigroup
- Cost and revenue synergies from the Mattress Firm integration keep building.
- Market share gains continue across all segments.
- Margins expand through better product mix, scale, and efficiency.
Griffin rates SGI a Strong Buy with a $90 price target, implying about 44% upside from current levels, according to TipRanks.
He is not alone. SGI holds a unanimous Strong Buy rating, with all nine covering analysts recommending it and an average target near $91.
Griffin’s firm has reiterated that bullish stance through the year, including after Somnigroup agreed to acquire Leggett & Platt, Investing.com reported.
How these two picks stack up against the market
Both stocks have something in common. Each has fallen this year, and each carries an analyst betting that the decline created an opening.
That setup can reward patient investors, but it comes with a clear catch.
Griffin himself noted the recovery in mattress demand will not move in a straight line, given soft housing and broad economic uncertainty.
The same caution applies to SBA, where a faster carrier slowdown would keep pressure on its development revenue.
What this means for your next move
SBA Communications and Somnigroup International are recovery bets, not sure things.
The upside on both names depends on trends that are still unfolding, from tower spending to housing demand.
A few points worth keeping in mind:
- Analyst targets describe a one-year view, and they change as conditions change.
- SBA’s roughly 2.7% dividend pays you something while you wait, while Somnigroup’s smaller payout offers less cushion.
- A weaker housing market or a deeper carrier pullback could delay either recovery.
For investors who prefer buying solid companies when sentiment is low, both fit that profile. Just size the position for the risk, and do your own homework before acting.
The stocks Raymond James likes best are the ones the market likes least right now. Whether that gamble pays off depends on how the rest of 2026 unfolds.
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