If the idea is to buy low, then going shopping for stocks when markets are flirting with record highs might not seem like the greatest idea. But there are always select names set to outperform — and that's especially true when market leadership is comparatively narrow.
Although a number of the Magnificent 7 stocks have done much of the bull market's heavy lifting, that hardly means these names are doomed to underperform from here. Indeed, as we'll see below, three of Wall Street's top five stocks to buy now hail from the Magnificent 7. Companies from the real estate, aerospace and, uh, french fry sectors are also ably represented.
Here's how we found the top S&P 500 stocks to buy now. It's well known that industry analysts are reluctant to slap Sell ratings on the names they cover. There are a bunch of reasons for this, some more defensible than others. What's less commonly understood is that Strong Buy recommendations, while not nearly as rare as Sell calls, are in somewhat short supply too.
If you run a screen of the S&P 500 using data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, you'll see that analysts assign a consensus recommendation of Sell to a total of two stocks. At the other end of the ratings spectrum stands the Street's highest recommendation of Strong Buy. A total of 25 stocks make the cut there, as you can see in the chart below.
But first a note on our methodology: S&P Global Market Intelligence surveys analysts' stock recommendations and scores them on a five-point scale, where 1.0 equals Strong Buy and 5.0 means Strong Sell. Any score of 2.5 or lower means that analysts, on average, rate the stock a Buy. The closer the score gets to 1.0, the stronger the Buy call.
In other words, lower scores are better than higher scores.
Have a look at the chart below to see the 25 stocks in the S&P 500 that score an elite Strong Buy recommendation from industry analysts. Investors who fear it's too late to buy Amazon.com (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) or Nvidia (NVDA) will be happy to see they easily made the list.
Even if you'd invested at seemingly the worst possible moment (at any of the market's highest points before a crash or recession), you'd still have earned positive returns by today. Research also shows that, historically, there's never been a bad time to invest in the S&P 500 if you're a long-term investor.
Currently there's no upside potential for VOO, based on the analysts' average price target. Is VOO a Buy, Sell or Hold? VOO has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy which is based on 401 buy ratings, 97 hold ratings and 8 sell ratings.
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK. A 0.62%) (BRK. B 0.67%) CEO Warren Buffett is widely considered a legend on Wall Street, and for good reason. The conglomerate's portfolio has substantially outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 since Buffett became CEO in 1965.
A handful of Big Tech stocks have fueled the S&P 500's rally so far this year, with shares of Nvidia Corp.(NVDA) surging around 155% in 2024, according to FactSet data. Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. (META), Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Amazon.com Inc.
The Magnificent Seven stocks are a group of high-performing and influential companies in the U.S. stock market: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Tesla. Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett used the film name in 2023 when commenting on these seven firms.
Introduction: My name is Corie Satterfield, I am a fancy, perfect, spotless, quaint, fantastic, funny, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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