US stocks registered a green day on Tuesday with the Dow surging up 538 points to end 1.24% higher. S&P 500 and Nasdaq also posted gains of 0.88% and 0.64% respectively, showcasing the strength of the American economy.
As for individual stocks, analysts continue to evaluate businesses based on any public information they can gather. Some of these insights turn into stock upgrades or downgrades while others reiterate the positive or negative outlook on the stocks. We came up with a similar list of stocks that have received analyst approval this week.
To come up with the list of 10 stocks moving on analyst optimism, we considered stocks with a market cap of at least $10 billion.
10. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)
Seagate Technology Holdings plc is a data storage technology and infrastructure solutions provider. It provides video and image HDDs, enterprise nearline hard disk drivers, and network-attached storage drivers among other products. Seagate has performed in line with the S&P 500 since 2020, but it has the potential to outperform in 2025.
The company’s Q1 earnings for FY2025 exceeded estimates indicating it is in a strong financial position. It generated revenue worth $2.17 billion while net income came in at $305 million. Analysts are optimistic as they foresee a $7.06 billion increase in revenue in the next three quarters while earnings per share are expected to be $1.87, $1.92, and $2.16 in the next three quarters respectively.
The positivity is likely to continue in the future as $10.45 billion in revenue is expected in FY2026 with an EPS of $9.27. Though the stock performance was not good in the second half of the past year, it has already started recovering. The one-month returns of 15% show the current optimism among analysts and investors, with Morgan Stanley picking the stock in its Top Picks list in the IT Hardware sector.
9. Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc. (NYSE:ELS)
Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that manages campgrounds, mobile home parks, and RV parks. It is one of the biggest manufactured housing REITs in the market with a $16.2 billion enterprise value. The stock was just upgraded from Hold to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
The company has a solid balance sheet and a BBB+ credit rating (showing that the company is financially stable and can pay off its debt) from S&P. The company gained momentum in the second half of last year with a 5.3% growth rate in FFO (funds from operations) per share and a 5.8% growth rate in net operating income as compared to the previous year.
ELS shares were up 4% in the last 5 trading sessions indicating a positive outlook, which now seems to be justified with the stock upgrade. It continues to be an appealing long-term investment opportunity for investors.
8. Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:WIX)
Wix.com Ltd. is a cloud-based platform that enables the simplified creation of websites for users with a non-technical background. It provides Wix ADI, Wix editor, and other services. The company received an upgrade from Equal-Weight to Overweight with a target price of $276 at Raymond James.
In Q3 FY 2024, Wix generated revenue worth over $444.7 million with a growth rate of 13% YoY, exceeding Wall Street’s estimates. As a result, shares gained over 34% in November alone.
The company is expected to make $2.87 billion of total revenue by FY2028. The expected growth rate from 2025 to 2034 stands at 5.4%. The company’s stock performance was impressive last year as it gained over 80%, mainly on the strength of its subscriber-based business model.
7. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. is a cybersecurity company that provides cloud workloads, cloud-delivered protection of endpoints, and other services. Its target price was upgraded from $300 to $370 by Scotiabank on the back of increasing demand for cybersecurity.
The company demonstrated solid performance by exceeding $1 billion in quarterly sales for the first time in the third quarter of FY2025. Revenue increased by 28.5% year-over-year. CRWD reached another key accomplishment in fiscal Q3 by surpassing the annual recurring revenue (ARR) milestone of $4 billion.
At the end of the quarter, The company had $4.33 billion in cash while debt was just $743 million, indicating stable financial health. Just last month, JP Morgan’s analysts showed their optimism and named CRWD as one of their ‘top picks’ for 2025. In the past five trading sessions, the stock went down but keeping in mind the milestones it has achieved in the latest quarter, investors should take this as an opportunity for long-term gains.
6. Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)
Fortinet Inc. is a cybersecurity company that provides secure networking solutions to businesses. Scotiabank upgraded its target price from $110 to $115. The company has shown strong progress over the past years, increasing its revenue by 70.87% since FY2021. On the back of this strength, the company also grew its gross profit by 77.86% in the past 3 years.
In Q3 2024, the product revenue of the company increased by 1.7% YoY while its service revenue went up by 19.1% YoY. In the previous 4 quarters, it generated $2.81 billion of gross profit, corresponding to a net income of $126.7 million. It is projected to earn an annual EPS of $2.25, $2.42, and $2.79 in 2024, 2025, and 2026 respectively. Revenue estimates indicate an expected revenue growth of $5.88 billion in 2024 and $6.63 billion in 2025.
The stock price surged over 55% in the past year, so it might seem overvalued. However, growth-oriented investors won’t mind taking a risk at this point in order to catch some of the future growth that may not yet be priced in.
5. Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)
Palo Alto Networks Inc. is a global cybersecurity solutions provider. The company’s target price was increased from $223 to $230 with the maintained Overweight rating. Morgan Stanley analysts believe the recent downturn in PANW’s stock price created an opportunity for investors to take a position in the stock:
We see an increasingly attractive entry point in PANW and believe the stock can double in 4-5 years based on larger platform deals and share gain across multiple security categories.
The company’s second-quarter FY2025 results will be declared on 20th February. Estimates show the firm is expected to generate $2.24 billion in revenue with adjusted EPS of $0.78. Going forward, it will likely improve its profit margins in 2025 and 2026 by 1.5% each year, driving about 22% growth in earnings. The projected target price for 2025 is around $208.
4. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Microsoft Corporation is a technology company that creates and supports software, devices & solutions, and services. Its business process and productivity segment provides Microsft Teams platform, office consumer services, exchange, and other services.
Donald Trump has just announced Project Stargate which includes private sector investments in AI infrastructure to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. Microsoft will likely be a beneficiary of this as it is a key player in the AI infrastructure and also a partner in the project. Moreover, Microsoft also has a significant stake in OpenAI, a major partner of this initiative.
Wedbush Securities analysts believe this will start a new wave of spending on AI infrastructure. Project Stargate may just be the beginning and the rest of the Big Tech companies could chip in with their contributions as well, taking total investments to well over a trillion dollars in the coming days.
3. NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE:NRG)
NRG Energy Inc. is a home services and energy company that operates through corporate activities, Vivint smart home, and other segments. The company was upgraded by Evercore ISI from In-Line to Outperform with a target price hike from $74 to $126. The stock is up 111% in a year but analysts believe it is still undervalued.
NRG Energy’s consumer demand is increasing after a strategic partnership with Renew Home and Google Cloud. With this partnership, the company is well-positioned to utilize Renew Home’s technology to adopt clean energy. The improving gross margins add icing on the cake for NRG and continue to propel it to new 52-week highs.
2. Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)
ULTA Beauty Inc. is a retailer specializing in beauty products in the US. The company sells both private-label and branded products in its stores. Despite a disappointing performance in the last year, the stock is up 25% in the last two months, so an analyst upgrade was coming.
Morgan Stanley analysts consider the company to be operating in an attractive category that continues to see healthy spending. Beauty spending is increasingly becoming a non-discretionary expense and people see it as an integral part of their lives. On top of that, the outlook for the beauty industry itself is quite promising in 2025. When one combines this with the 44 million loyalty members that ULTA has and its $500 price target, investors are likely to be attracted to the stock.
1. Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW)
Snowflake provides a cloud-based platform that helps in data processing and warehousing while streamlining and simplifying workflows in various industries. The company’s price target was raised from $190 to $210 by Wedbush Securities.
Snowflake will continue to be a beneficiary of the AI spending boom, which is now further strengthened by Donald Trump’s focus on investing more in the sector. Analysts believe the company will gain market share this year in a market that could be as big as $2.3 trillion in 10 years from now.
The stock is down 50% from its all-time highs hit 3 years ago. As a stock that could benefit from increased AI spending by other companies, there is a lot of value to be had at these levels.
Snowflake is not on our latest list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 71 hedge fund portfolios held SNOW at the end of the third quarter which was 69 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of SNOW as a leading AI 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 as promising as SNOW but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
