The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights NVIDIA, Meta, Amazon, eBay and American Water Works
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 22, 2024 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: NVIDIA Corp. NVDA, Meta Platforms, Inc. META, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, eBay Inc. EBAY and American Water Works Company, Inc. AWK.
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
5 Solid Stocks to Buy as S&P 500 Hits New Record High
Wall Street has been on a rally this year, with major indexes hitting all-time highs in the past couple of months. The S&P 500, particularly, is on a dream run, with the index hitting multiple record highs in the past month.
On Mar 20, the S&P 500 achieved a record high after closing above the 5,200 level for the first time. The index finished at 5,224.62 on Wednesday. Year to date, the index has advanced 9.5%.
The fresh high came after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and said that it expects three rate cuts before the end of 2024. Higher interest rates have been hurting consumers over the past year.
The Federal Reserve paused interest rate hikes in July 2023 and kept rates unchanged in its current range of 5.25-5.5% after hiking it by 525 basis points.
Inflation has cooled in the past several months. Optimism surrounding the end of the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening campaign and multiple rate cuts this year has been driving the rally.
The U.S. economy is also on solid ground, with the GDP growing 2.5% in 2023 compared with 1.9% in 2022.
The S&P 500’s rally over the past year has been driven by tech stocks, primarily because of the ongoing enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), especially generative AI. AI-centered stocks rallied last year and the momentum continues into this year, with a large number of companies trying to jump on the AI bandwagon.
Our Choices
Given this scenario, it would be ideal to invest in S&P 500 stocks such as NVIDIA Corp., Meta Platforms, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., eBay Inc. and American Water Works Company, Inc. that have a strong potential in 2024. These stocks have a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and assure good returns. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
NVIDIA is the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphic processing unit, or GPU. Over the years, NVDA’s focus has evolved from PC graphics to AI-based solutions that now support high-performance computing, gaming and virtual reality platforms.
NVIDIA has an expected earnings growth rate of 82.3% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 18.4% over the past 60 days. NVDA presently has a Zacks Rank #2.
Meta Platforms is the world’s largest social media platform. META’s portfolio offering evolved from a single Facebook app to multiple apps like photo and video sharing app, Instagram, and WhatsApp messaging app owing to acquisitions. Along with the in-house developed Messenger, these apps now form Meta’s family of products used by almost 3.96 billion people on a monthly basis as of Sep 30, 2023.
Meta Platforms has an expected earnings growth rate of 34.1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 13.1% over the past 60 days. META presently sports a Zacks Rank #1.
Amazon.com is one of the largest e-commerce providers, with sprawling operations in North America, now spreading across the globe. AMZN’s online retail business revolves around the Prime program, which is well-supported by the company’s massive distribution network. Further, the Whole Foods Market acquisition helped Amazon establish its footprint in the physical grocery supermarket space. AMZN also enjoys a dominant position in the cloud-computing market, particularly in the Infrastructure as a Service space, thanks to Amazon Web Services.
Amazon.com has an expected earnings growth rate of 40.7% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 12.1% over the past 60 days. AMZN currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.
eBay operates an online shopping platform that provides sellers the tools to build online store formats, making it easier for customers to browse by brands. Over the years, EBAY has evolved from a relatively small community user-based auction site to a worldwide commercial behemoth store.
eBay has an expected earnings growth rate of 8% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 3.9% over the past 60 days. EBAY presently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
American Water Works provides essential water services to more than 14 million customers in 24 states and has an employee strength of 6,500. AWK also acquires small water service providers to expand its customer base.
American Water Works has an expected earnings growth rate of 6.1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 0.6% over the past 60 days. AWK presently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) : Free Stock Analysis Report
