We are now entering a critical period for tech stocks. Around one-third of the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 reports in the coming days. 

This nifty calendar enables you to find stocks with upcoming earnings that have a ‘Strong Buy’ rating from the Street’s best-performing analysts. As well as the stock’s consensus rating, you can also filter by market cap and sector.

As you can see below, simply clicking on the date reveals the stocks which match your criteria- in this case ‘Strong Buy’ tech stocks. And most importantly, you can also see the upside potential from the current share price to the average analyst price target. This gives us a valuable indication of the stock’s growth potential for the coming months. The result: you don’t need to waste precious time analyzing stocks with little upside ahead.

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With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at three particularly compelling stock picks here:

Alphabet: A Bargain Buy Even At $1,115

The crunch date for this Internet giant is upon us. Alphabet (GOOGL – Research Report) is set to report its earnings results October 25. For the print analysts are anticipating $34.05B gross revenue, $25.31B net revenue, and $10.45 GAAP EPS.

“Amazon’s up about 50 percent this year, Microsoft is up about 30 percent, Google is only up about 5 percent this year, and I think it’s a great buy right now,” Strategic Wealth Partners’ CEO Mark Tepper told CNBC on October 19.

This sentiment is clearly reflected across the Street. Five-star Monness analyst Brian White (Track Record & Ratings) has just reiterated his Buy rating on GOOGL. He sees shares surging 27% to $1,415.

“Alphabet’s stock is inexpensive” concurs White, adding that the company continues to demonstrate impressive innovation. He is confident that GOOGL can hit the targeted 23% growth since last quarter, with EPS of $10.74- placing him above the Street (at $10.45).

However, regulatory and political risks are growing. Alphabet is on the political hot seat around the world with growing privacy concerns, a boiling cauldron of issues in the EU and Pentagon tensions. “In our view, Alphabet needs to tread carefully or the company may look very different in the future” the analyst warns.

Nevertheless, the bottom line is bullish: “With sales up 19% per annum over the past four years, EPS turning in a 17% CAGR and a dominant position in search with a leadership in digital advertising, we believe Alphabet should trade at a healthy premium to the market and tech sector.”

Plus, the stock has a resoundingly upbeat Street consensus. From only top analysts we have 15 buy ratings vs 1 hold rating. This is on top a $1,392 average analyst price target (25% upside potential).

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View GOOGL Price Target & Analyst Ratings Detail

“Proofpoint is on fire”

Email, social media, and mobile devices are the new tools of the trade—and for cyber criminals, the new tools of attack. By spanning email, social and mobile, Proofpoint (PFPT – Research Report) has businesses covered.

This cybersecurity stock shares Alphabet’s big day- October 25. For Q3, Proofpoint anticipates revenues of $180-182 million and billings between $218 million and $220 million. Notably, the company beat consensus estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, generating an average positive surprise of 54.36%.

Most encouragingly, Evercore ISI analyst Kenneth Talanian (Track Record & Ratings) has just added Proofpoint to his firm’s SMID Core Ideas List. “We continue to believe PFPT offers investors a unique opportunity to participate in a high-quality subscription growth story that benefits from the broader move to the cloud and remains in the early stages of the typical SaaS FCF ramp” the analyst explains.

Despite concerns about a slowdown in organic growth, business momentum remains strong. This is according to Talanian’s recent channel checks. Quotes from his channel conversations include “Proofpoint is on fire” and “Microsoft is claiming they can do everything Proofpoint and Mimecast can, but the reality is they don’t have best of breed capabilities.”

Moreover, with shares pulling back recently, risk is more than priced in. We are now looking at an attractive entry point with Talanian predicted 32% upside from current levels. His $135 price target is exactly in-line with the Street average:

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View PFPT Price Target & Analyst Ratings Detail

Apptio Inc: Attractive Entry Point For Structural Growth

Last but not least make sure to add October 29 to your diary. This is when software stock Apptio (APTI – Research Report) reports its 3Q earnings. A relative newcomer, Apptio develops technology business management software as a service applications.

Oppenheimer’s Brian Schwartz (Track Record & Ratings) is one of the Top 10 analysts ranked by TipRanks. When this is out of over 4,886 analysts that’s a pretty impressive achievement.

He is betting on the fortunes of Apptio with a Buy rating and $42 price target (48% upside potential). “The Apptio story is strong and valuation offers an attractive entry point for structural growth” the analyst states.

For 3Q, he is estimating total revenue of $58.0M (+23% y/y and +19% organic) and PF EPS of $0.01. Consensus is $58.1M and $0.03. The 3Q billings consensus is ~$60.1M. Recent checks point to a healthy operating environment for the company with ‘solid’ commercial and public sector deal activity.

But this isn’t just a short-term play. According to Schwartz, Apptio has a prime position for stellar long-term growth. “Over time, we expect the investment community to better understand that this favorable secular trend is shifting the company’s products from discretionary to strategic, and Apptio is by far the best positioned software supplier for the future” he writes.

Out of the four recent top analyst ratings, three are bullish with only one analyst staying sidelined. We can also see that the upside potential looks very promising at over 47%.

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View APTI Price Target & Analyst Ratings Detail