After reporting quarterly results this summer, Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Nvidia Corp. all saw a drop in their stock prices. But as we move into the third quarter earnings season, Wall Street experts still like these stocks a lot.
The most analysts gave Amazon AMZN 0.91% and Microsoft MSFT -0.78% buy rates out of all the S&P 500 companies, according to a report released by FactSet on Friday. There were 95% of experts who follow those two companies who said they should buy both. Nvidia got 94%.
Given how big those companies are, that might not be a surprise. But the biggest tech companies have had to deal with high expectations after an AI-driven run up in their prices. They’ve also been worried about the cost of investing in technology and when it will pay off. Nvidia NVDA -1.59%, on the other hand, is worried about delays for its Blackwell chips.
Still, Sebastien Naji, an analyst at William Blair, began covering Nvidia last week, which is the same thing as giving the stock yet another “buy” rating.
He said, “There’s still room on this train.”
“The company’s long history of being a leader in GPU-based parallel computing has set it up to be a leader in AI today,” he said. “Nvidia has also been able to get a bigger share of IT and data center spending since it stopped just designing chips and started designing whole infrastructure systems.”
GE Aerospace (GE 0.68%), Schlumberger SLB -0.80%, and Axon Enterprise Inc. are also in the Top 10 list of companies that investors think you should buy. By AXON 0.91%
UnitedHealth Group Inc. is a health insurer that makes Tasers, body cameras, and software for police forces. The stock prices of Vistra Corp. VST fell 16.60%, United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL fell 0.80%, and Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL fell 0.40%.
When it comes to those with the most sell ratings? Three out of four analysts at Paramount Global (Para -0.86%) said the stock should be sold. This was the second-highest percentage of any company in the entertainment business, after Disney. Franklin Resources Inc. BEN -0.29%, an investment company, had 44% of ratings that said it should be sold.
FactSet says that 11,882 analysts have given ratings to businesses in the S&P 500. The company says that 54.5% of those are buy ratings, 40.2% are hold ratings, and 5.2% are sell ratings.
It will be a while before the third quarter results come out because the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last week. But experts say it might take a while for customers to notice the difference.
The call you need to mark on your calendar
Costco: At the beginning of this month, Costco Wholesale Corp. raised its membership fees for the first time in seven years. Wall Street had been waiting for this for a long time because demand had stayed strong during the recession of the last four years. When the membership warehouse store, famous for its big-sized items, hot dogs, and chicken bakes, posts its quarterly results on Thursday, we might get a sneak peek at the effects. People are still having a hard time with higher prices, but they are turning to the biggest discount stores to take a break. Analysts on Wall Street have mostly only good things to say about Costco COST 0.69%. Some have pointed out gains in market share and strong sales of non-food items, while sales at other stores have stayed the same. But because Costco’s stock is up 62% in the last year, people are expecting more stock gains, which makes me wonder if they will happen.
