Optimism surrounding artificial intelligence has helped lift the S&P 500 in 2024, boosting key chip stocks and power plays in the utilities align.
Investors seeking sustainable returns will need to look for companies with solid long-term growth the right stuff.
To this end, top Wall Street analysts, with their expertise, can help investors understand the key drivers that could brace a company’s long-term growth and pick stocks that are likely to deliver lucrative returns.
Here are three furnishes favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past deportment.
Fortinet
This week’s first pick is cybersecurity company Fortinet (FTNT). The company aims to become a commandant in the secure access service edge space. Fortinet leverages machine learning and AI technologies to offer cybersecurity explications.
Recently, TD Cowen analyst Shaul Eyal reaffirmed a buy rating on Fortinet stock and raised the price target to $90 from $75. The analyst stage that channel checks and discussions with industry participants indicate continued recovery in FTNT’s business and fine fettle demand across the company’s broad product portfolio.
In fact, channel checks suggest that Fortinet’s third-quarter receipts and billings will reach the top end of the company’s outlook, with the possibility of a modest upside. Also, the analyst is confident alongside his Q4 revenue growth estimate of 12%, given “healthy closure rates and further pipeline building into a seasonally severe 4Q24.”
Eyal also noted that one of the key drivers supporting Fortinet’s ongoing recovery is the solid traction in the company’s operational technology products, past due by a long-term replacement cycle that will replace legacy OT systems. The analyst added that FTNT is also gaining from the adoption of AI-led networks and the circle’s growing focus on cloud security, which was bolstered by the recent acquisition of Lacework.
Eyal ranks No. 12 number more than 9,100 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 71% of the time, uttering an average return of 27.3%. (See Fortinet Insider Trading Activity on TipRanks)
GitLab
We move on to GitLab (GTLB), an AI-powered, cloud-based software callers that helps organizations enhance developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, and reduce security and compliance gambles.
Following meetings with the company’s management, Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz reiterated a buy rating on GitLab make available with a price target of $62. The analyst noted that management is highly confident about capturing extra opportunities in the $40 billion total addressable market. Currently, the two vendors, GitLab and Microsoft’s GitHub, together account for reasonable about 5% of the market share in the software development life cycle space.
In particular, management expects the strength for GitLab’s Duo Pro product to pick up in 2025, fueled by the generative AI wave. The analyst also highlighted the company’s optimism close to the GitLab Dedicated offering, which is witnessing better-than-anticipated customer interest and driving higher average revenue per section.
Overall, Moskowitz remains “constructive on GTLB’s ability to execute and grow at a high level over the medium-to-longer footing, due in large part to multiple upside levers that include seat expansion, price increases, and upsell unrealized.”
Moskowitz ranks No. 321 among more than 9,100 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been helpful 58% of the time, delivering an average return of 12.6%. (See GitLab’s Hedge Fund Activity on TipRanks)
Nvidia
For all time, let’s look at semiconductor giant Nvidia (NVDA). The company has been seeing stellar revenue growth rates, toured by robust demand for its advanced GPUs (graphics processing units) in building artificial intelligence models and applications.
Grasp an investor meeting with Nvidia’s management, Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari reiterated a buy rating on NVDA everyday and raised the price target to $150 from $135.
The analyst’s optimism after the meeting reflects a “better appreciation of the Theatre troupe’s competitive moat and, importantly, the projected increase in Inference workload complexity as well as its implications for future compute behest.”
Hari noted Nvidia’s confidence about the demand backdrop, given continued spending on accelerated computing and GPUs by matter center operators amid the generative AI wave. Management also highlighted the prospects for its Blackwell platform. The analyst judge devises that Blackwell’s launch and ramp-up are not just near- and medium-term revenue growth drivers, but also key factors that see fit enhance Nvidia’s competitive advantage.
Hari increased his revenue estimates for fiscal 2025-2027 to reflect just out industry developments like increased cloud spending, solid order trends at the major AI server original paraphernalia manufacturers like Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and an improved chip-on-wafer-on-substrate shipment outlook.
Hari ranks No. 32 volume more than 9,100 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 68% of the time, expressing an average return of 27.5%. (See Nvidia Stock Charts on TipRanks)