This article will analyze several prominent large-cap stocks that are currently exerting significant influence on market dynamics. These stocks are currently considered “hot” because their stock prices are relatively more volatile, and they draw the attention of a large pool of investors. These stocks are the most talked about, with high trading volumes, large price actions and overall hot atmosphere surrounding them currently.
What to watch when it comes to Large-Cap Stocks?
Large-Cap Stocks are usually household names, stocks which even the non-investing population has heard of. They are considered safer investments than small-cap stocks, so they will naturally bring a larger volume when it comes to trading.
Price change over the past week is the first parameter we will analyze when talking about the hottest Large-Cap Stocks. Another parameter which we will analyze is the volume of shares traded over the course of the past trading week. Even with Large-Caps, when investors and traders see large changes in volume, they could get spooked or could see an opportunity to jump in and aboard the train.
The first days of the new year, as well as the last days of the year gone, are usually very volatile. There are a lot of speculation and tax-loss harvesting going on, which affects the broader market dynamics. On the other hand, investors who took profit in 2024 are looking for new investments to start their new investment year strong. The New Year’s Day holiday also affects the trading continuity, further deepening the volatility. To see which firms kicked this year off in the red, you can check out the following article.
The Large-Caps listed here are all market titans, with market caps over $200 billion dollars. Let’s now examine how these Large-Cap Stocks earned their “hottest stocks” nickname.
10. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Return: -8.69%
Tesla shares started this week at $428.29. Tesla bulls thought that, after a pretty rough week they had before this one, a turnaround may be coming. However, Monday proved them wrong. The volume of 64.82 million shares traded wasn’t enough to keep up the positive momentum. In the end, TSLA ended the week 8.69% in red, compared to previous week.
The biggest news this week was the Tesla Cybertruck explosion, which occurred in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning. Even though the explosion wasn’t the result of a mechanical issue, it was reflected in TSLA’s price action, since its shares fell to $374 per share on Thursday, which was the lowest point since the start of December.
Many investors viewed this as a buying opportunity, likely influenced by the perceived close connection between Tesla’s CEO and the newly elected president. This sentiment, coupled with significant trading volume exceeding 95.34 million shares, drove the stock price back to $410.44 per share. Following a period of relative stagnation, Tesla experienced a surge in investor interest following the 2024 election. Tesla also brought back a perk it once offered to its users, guaranteeing them free Supercharging for life for new purchases or leases of Tesla model S. With the global electric vehicle market poised for significant growth, particularly in light of advancements such as Switzerland’s impending legalization of autonomous driving in March 2025, Tesla remains a prominent player and a compelling investment opportunity within the large-cap sector.
9. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Return: -5.61%
Mirroring the broader market downturn experienced by other Large-Cap companies this week, Apple Inc. suffered a 5.61% decline, closing Friday at $243.36 per share. Trading volume peaked on Thursday, reaching 55.73 million shares, coinciding with the week’s most significant price drop, marked by a pronounced red candle on the daily chart.
The biggest news for this stock was this week’s lawsuit settlement, dated 5 years prior, where Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit which stated that its voice assistant, Siri, was eavesdropping on its users. With companies as big as Apple, lawsuits naturally don’t come with the same impact which they would have on smaller-cap companies, but they still affect investors’ sentiment.
However, hedge funds still love this stock, making it ranked 8th on the list of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. For now, Apple has earned its nickname “hot stock” due to the negative trend it faced this week, so investors should remain cautious if this week’s trend continues to $230 levels.
8. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)
Return: -5.33%
Mirroring the broader tech sector’s downturn, Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) shares experienced a 5.33% decline this week. Given the stock’s strong performance throughout the year, profit-taking activity, particularly pronounced amidst the transition to a new trading year, likely contributed to this pullback. This is evidenced by the elevated trading volume observed on Thursday, with 31.53 million shares changing hands.
As a competitor to NVIDIA, AVGO may encounter similar challenges, including the pressure of high investor expectations. To find out more about this comparison, click here.
Despite achieving a remarkable 114.26% return in 2024, Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) continues to garner ‘Buy’ ratings from analysts. This suggests a strong underlying belief in the company’s continued growth prospects. However, investors should exercise caution following this week’s downturn. While AI demand remains robust and supports long-term bullish sentiment, the recent price weakness warrants careful consideration before jumping back into the stock. Notably, Broadcom surpassed the trillion-dollar market capitalization milestone in 2024, raising the bar for sustained growth expectations.
7. SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)
Return: -4.8%
Shares of SAP also felt the profit-taking actions of investors at the end of the year, which occurred this week, after witnessing a 61.43% increase in 2024.
This European software giant succumbed to the U.S. market trend and witnessed a 4.78% decline in its share price compared to week prior.
SAP is still a very good investment, with management focused on achieving future growth through increasing engagement with smaller businesses, as stated in this bull case report. While recent market volatility may present an opportunity for investors to accumulate shares at potentially more attractive entry points, the long-term growth prospects for SAP remain promising, underpinned by the ongoing digital transformation of businesses globally.
6. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Return: -3.8%
Despite a positive opening to the week, Netflix Inc (NFLX) shares succumbed to the prevailing market weakness, ultimately experiencing a 3.82% decline by Friday’s close.
Despite the recent price action, culminating in a closing price of $881.05 per share, Netflix remains an intriguing investment opportunity. The company continues to demonstrate robust user growth, driven by a commitment to high-quality content, exemplified by the return of popular series like “Squid Game” and the imminent arrival of WWE’s Monday Night Raw. These strategic moves are expected to bolster subscriber growth and drive revenue, positioning Netflix as a company worthy of continued investor attention.
It is also expected that after WWE, Netflix Inc (NFLX) will offer more sports streaming content, opening the doors to more opportunities and possibilities for both streaming and advertising. According to many analysts, Netflix, as well as some other companies, faces slight technological issues, and after they figure them out, they will continue their further growth.
That’s why this stock is one of the hottest to watch after the bad week it had, since it could present a nice opportunity for investment, if the current pullback trend continues.
5. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Return: -2.59%
Microsoft Corporation followed the big-tech trend and ended the week 2.59% in red, compared to the previous week, without any unusual jumps in the volume of shares traded.
Microsoft is still a hot stock, even though it is a 3 trillion-dollar company. The negative trend stocks faced this week presented a buying opportunity for investors, since Microsoft plans to increase their investment in the AI field over the course of 2025, increasing their profit potential along the way. Microsoft announced that they are planning to invest $80 billion in artificial intelligence data centers, with more than half of the amount going to U.S. infrastructure.
4. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)
Return: -2.38%
Oracle Corporation experienced a modest decline this week, closing 2.38% lower than the previous week at $166.32 per share, mirroring the broader market trend. While trading volume this week (5.2 million shares) was below the recent monthly average of 8.85 million shares, a notable degree of buying pressure emerged near the $164.80 level, suggesting underlying support for the stock price.
Even though this stock has had its ups and downs over the course of the past week, it seems like investors have taken each opportunity provided to them to buy this share at a lower price and hold it for the long term, since analysts are still expecting Oracle to beat the earnings and grow further during 2025.
Oracle is one of the key players in the AI software industry, and this position allows it to accumulate profits, and even pay out a dividend of $0.40 per share, whose yield of 1% is above the industry average.
3. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Return: -0.62%
Amazon had a relatively good week compared to other stocks analyzed, closing only 0.62% below last week. Its shares witnessed a positive trend this week, meaning that investors started to pour their funds into this safe haven of a stock during the volatile start of 2025. Its volume didn’t show any spikes, which reflects consistency and investor confidence in this stock.
Amazon isn’t an online retailer that competes with Walmart. Amazon is a cloud computing and advertising company. Amazon is one of the obvious winners of the AI revolution because training large AI models requires massive computational power, which AWS provides through its high-performance computing infrastructure. AWS offers a comprehensive machine learning platform that simplifies the process of building, training, and deploying AI models. AWS’s customers prefer AWS over their in-house infrastructure because they can scale up or down instantly, rather than wrestling with the limited availability of NVIDIA’s GPU AI chips. These customers aren’t likely to switch due to high switching costs.
The total cloud market is expected to grow from $700 billion in 2024 to nearly $2400 billion in 2032. Amazon is a toll booth operator in the cloud computing and AI industries which is why Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy said AI is a “really unusually large, maybe once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity”.
Amazon is also an exciting investment opportunity because of its fast-growing advertising business. Amazon generated total advertising revenues of $14.3 billion during the third quarter, growing at a year-over-year rate of also 19%. Amazon will probably generate more than $60 billion in advertising revenue over the next 12 months. That’s 9% of the global digital advertising market. Google captures close to 28% of the global digital advertising market. Most investors don’t realize that Amazon’s advertising business is one third as big as Google’s and should be valued at close to $1 trillion.
2. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
Return: 0.8%
Shares of Advance Micro Devices ended this week 0.80% in green, compared to the previous week. The volume of shares traded was between 30 and 34 million, with constant selling pressure. A slight dip in the share price provided a buying opportunity, resulting in an immediate recovery and possible trend reversal.
This price action was followed with a nice volume of 36.7 million shares traded. The future looks bright for the whole AI sector as well as the semiconductor industry, and since AMD stock is positioned 19th in the list of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds, there is no doubt that AMD will come closer to its recent 2024 highs. Northland Capital agrees with this view:
“Northland Capital rated AMD as Outperform with a price target of $175, highlighting more upside than risks for 2025. AMD is projected to gain market share in AI GPUs, server CPUs, and PCs as challenges in embedded and gaming segments ease. AI revenue is estimated to grow from $5.2 billion in 2024 to $9.5 billion in 2025, with the MI325X competing well against Nvidia. In server CPUs, AMD’s Turin chips are expected to outperform Intel’s Granite Rapids, with non-AI data center revenue projected at $8.5 billion in 2025. In PCs, AMD may benefit from increased demand as Windows 10 support ends, potentially driving client revenue beyond $9 billion. The firm said:
“AMD remains one of our top picks for calendar year 2025. We anticipate AMD will continue gaining market share in AI GPUs, server CPUs, and PC clients as the headwinds from embedded and gaming segments subside. AMD’s AI strategy is driven by its roadmap and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) advantages, while its server and client CPU products outperform competitors. The PC refresh cycle could be stronger than current expectations, presenting significant upside to calendar year 2025 estimates.”
1. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Return: 4.27%
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) had a great week in the market. It was the strongest stock of the “Magnificent 7”, closing 4.27% in green.
Since the AI sector doesn‘t show signs of stopping in 2025, investors are positioning their portfolios hoping that NVDA can have another great year as it did last year, when it returned 171%. The demand is still strong, pushing market leaders such as NVDA to new heights.
NVDA is still years ahead of its competition when it comes to the products and services it provides, so this competitive advantage could still fuel further growth in 2025. Analysts are expecting further earnings-per-share growth rates over the course of this year, so NVDA, even after a nearly 200% surge in 2024, is still considered “hot” and the leader of the Magnificent 7.
While we acknowledge the potential of NVDA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.