In this article, we will take a detailed look at the 10 Stocks Everyone’s Discussing Amid Latest Earnings Season.
Markets are digesting the latest earnings reports to gauge the position of major technology companies and whether they plan to continue to spend a fortune on AI. John Belton of Gabelli Funds said in a recent interview on CNBC that earnings so far back higher expectations, and the consumer seems to be “still healthy.”
“I’d say it’s so far been supportive of higher earnings expectations, which is what’s been driving stocks,” Belton said. ”Over 80% of companies that have reported so far, S&P 500 companies, are beating revenue expectations. So that’s a constructive environment. We had a read last night from Visa which shows spending trends through the first several weeks or first few weeks of October, which looks like the consumer is still healthy, and that bodes well for some of these big tech platforms.”
When asked about high valuations of tech stocks, the analyst said major AI companies like Nvidia are driven by fundamentals and the market will “keep buying” these stocks as long as their fundamentals are strong.
READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In.
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10. Oklo Inc (NYSE:OKLO)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 36
Lauren Taylor Wolfe, Impactive Capital managing partner, said in a recent program on CNBC that Oklo’s “insane” market cap and stock gains remind her of the dotcom era.
“I look at AI today, right? Oklo Inc (NYSE:OKLO). It is the largest weight in the Russell 2000 Value Index, right? It has no revenues for three years. It started the year at 3 billion. Today it’s 25 billion of market cap with no revenues in the Russell 2000 Small Cap Value Index. That’s insane. So it reminds me a lot of the dot era and what was the right thing to do in the com era. It wasn’t to short the bubble companies, right? It was to look where no one else is looking. Look at the areas where people are ignoring.”
9. Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 40
Stephanie Link, the Chief Investment Strategist, Head of Investment Solutions and Portfolio Manager at Hightower Advisors, recently said she likes auto components maker Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV). Link highlighted that General Motors is a “9% customer” of the company.
Link recommended Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV) a few weeks back on CNBC and explained her bull thesis in detail:
“It’s an auto parts company, but it’s spinning out its software business. And we have a catalyst November. They’re having an analyst day, and we’re going to learn more about the information about the spin. You know, I like spins. Spins work. They’re growing mid-single digits and margins are in expansion mode. And then the software piece, the total addressable market is like 90 billion. They’re growing mid-single digits and I think when they get away from the parent, they’ll be able to focus more on growth and see an acceleration in revenue. So it’s a spin story and it’s that’s the catalyst and that’s the reason in addition to maybe auto parts are just kind of lagging and maybe we’re in for a recovery,” the analyst said at the time.
8. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 42
Jim Lebenthal, Chief Equity Strategist at Cerity Partners, explained in a latest program on CNBC why he’s buying more Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF) shares despite recent declines. The stock surged following the steel and mining company’s latest quarterly results, but fell sharply after Wells Fargo downgraded it, calling enthusiasm around rare earths an overreaction. However, Lebenthal said he likes the stock for reasons that are not related to rare earths.
Here’s how Lebenthal defended the stock:
“The story is changing. Leave rare earths aside, okay? That is not what excites me. But the narrative is changing here. Auto demand is picking up. They’ve just signed contracts with all the major OEMs at favorable prices for the next two to three years. And we see what’s going on with GM today. I don’t know if we’ll get to that, but we see what’s going on. Auto production is going to pick up. And that’s one-third of their business. Probably more important than that is they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding with an international steel company that wants to leverage idle assets, idle plants at Cleveland-Cliffs. The story has changed.”
7. American Express Co (NYSE:AXP)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 70
Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, explained in a recent program on CNBC why he likes American Express. He believes AXP’s wealthy client base is one of the top catalysts for the company’s growth.
“American Express Co (NYSE:AXP) is, in addition to being the primary financial to capitalize on the fact that 50% of the spending in this economy in the United States is coming from the top 10% of households, every one of them has an AMEX Platinum card in their wallet. It’s also a bigger story about capital return and I’m going to get to that in one second. I would just point out it’s tough to buy stocks at all-time highs. Nobody wants to do that and I don’t aim to do that specifically, but this is a fresh breakout to new highs. There are now no natural sellers left here. I think it could march up to 400 over time. And the reason I don’t personally own it is because I’m already very exposed. American Express is the second largest holding at Berkshire Hathaway. It makes up 16% of Berkshire’s portfolio. They have 152 million shares. So they have 50 billion worth of AMEX on their books and I am a long-term Berkshire Hathaway shareholder. So I don’t need to double own AMEX. That’s why I’m not personally in this.”
GreensKeeper Asset Management stated the following regarding American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“The top contributor to the portfolio in the second quarter was American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) +18.6%. AXP’s affluent customer base continued to spend in Q1, with revenues up 8% at constant currency, causing the stock to end the quarter just shy of its all-time high. During Q2, AXP announced upgrades to its US Consumer and Business Platinum cards, which will be released later this year. AXP continues to tailor its products to capture the spending of younger consumers, with Millennials and Gen Z now accounting for 35% of total US consumer spending. We believe these investments will strengthen the company’s network effect and further lock young consumers into AXP’s ecosystem as their incomes and card spending continue to rise. Additionally, AXP is widening its use cases on the commercial side of the business with recent product launches tailored towards working capital and expense management. This should expand the number of transactions that AXP can participate in and increase switching costs with commercial card users.”
6. Apollo Global Management Ord Shs (NYSE:APO)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 86
Joseph Terranova, Senior Managing Director, Virtus Investment Partners, said in a recent program on CNBC that sentiment around financial stocks has deteriorated following recent concerns about debt and credit quality. However, the analyst said major stocks like Apollo Global Management Ord Shs (NYSE:APO) are now “oversold.” The analyst said he has APO in his portfolio.
“I think they’re getting oversold. I think clearly the mood has soured, in particular for the financial sector itself. Keep in mind, in the month of October, while we have the shift towards quality, healthcare is up 5%, financials are down 2%. They’re the worst-performing sector so far month to date. I think the private equity space has been somewhat oversold, and also I think we’ve taken to the extreme the concerns surrounding private credit and specifically applying it to these individual names. We own Apollo Global Management Ord Shs (NYSE:APO). I also like Carlyle. Also, I will share that in the last week, I probably had three meetings about private infrastructure. I don’t know if you’re seeing that—you see more of that world than I do—but it seems as though the new quote-unquote alternative is let’s go to private infrastructure because the government and the municipalities don’t have the money. The private sector does. Let’s make the investment there. Let’s get the retail community in it as well. And BlackRock bought a big global infrastructure a few months ago as well.”
Baron FinTech Fund stated the following regarding Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Shares of alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO) detracted in the first quarter, largely stemming from a reversal in sentiment on the economy and capital markets activity. As mentioned above, alternative asset manager stocks performed well last year, especially after the November elections, on expectations of a recovery in capital markets activity fueled by deregulation and economic growth. Those expectations waned in the first quarter due to uncertainty and volatility around the Trump administration’s policy initiatives. As sentiment faded, alternative asset manager stocks gave back their post-election gains. We continue to own the stock due to Apollo’s differentiated focus on credit and strong management team.”
5. AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 89
Jason Snipe, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Odyssey Capital Advisors, recommended investors to “stay long” AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) during a recent program on CNBC. ABBV shares are up 25% so far this year.
Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund stated the following regarding AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“AbbVie Inc.’s (NYSE:ABBV) shares were a detractor for the portfolio in the second quarter. We attribute the weakness primarily to the underperformance of the broader biopharmaceutical industry, which is under pressure as it navigates policy threats from the Trump administration surrounding both tariffs on the pharmaceutical sector and a proposal to explore most-favored nation prescription drug pricing.”
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