In this article, we will take a detailed look at the Top 10 Stocks Wall Street is Buzzing About These Days.
An increasing number of analysts are pointing out that the AI revolution that started with the launch of ChatGPT is here to stay, and we are still in the early innings of a broader AI infrastructure build. Brent Thill from Jefferies highlighted in a latest program on CNBC why he believes we are in the early phases of AI infrastructure buildout.
“I’m a tech analyst, so I don’t cover other sectors, but I would say that we had a big fear at the beginning of the year in macro, and all these stocks did nothing. And then we’ve ripped now into the face of a better environment. The CEO of IBM said something very telling on the earnings call last night—he went from cautious optimism to optimism. IBM’s results were mediocre, but Arvind is a great leader, and I respect what he has to say. In his global travels, he’s seeing deal velocity improving, deal sizes picking up, and companies getting ready for AI. All these things suggest we’re still at the beginning of this buildout. And when you look at the percent of AI deployed inside enterprises, it’s tiny.”
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For this article, we picked 10 stocks Wall Street analysts were talking about recently. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
10. Joby Aviation Inc (NYSE:JOBY)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 23
Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, recently talked about how impressed he is with the electric vehicle takeoff and landing aircraft company Joby Aviation Inc (NYSE:JOBY) stock performance. Brown recommends that people keep the stock on their radar.
“I brought the stock to the show on June 17th and I took an initial position and I said this is highly speculative. It’s really not the kind of thing that I do a lot of. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy that much of it. It’s up 104% since then. Did not expect that. If I did, I would have bet the rich. So, let’s just be very clear. This thing took off way faster than I had a chance to accumulate. But I just want to give people an update as to what’s going on and why. They just doubled their air taxi production capacity in the state of California and made a major announcement in Ohio. These are eVTOL. Basically, these are electric vehicle, electric vertical takeoff and landing. So they are—think of it like a cross between a helicopter and a plane for very short trips. They just want to lift you up off the ground, bring you to your destination, drop you off. There will be a lot of uses for these over the next 10 years. This is the leading company in the space. Just delivered their first production aircraft to Dubai.”
Brown believes Joby Aviation Inc (NYSE:JOBY) progress in the US could be its next catalyst:
“They’re running an eVTOL trial in Dubai where I guess the government’s allowing them to do more than they could do here. So in the United States, the last thing they have to clear is the final FAA certification phase. That’s the next catalyst. I don’t know how much the stock rally is already pricing that in, but I’m going to remain long with my position. Very exciting company. Highly speculative. Not telling people to buy it up 100% in a month, but keep it on your radar. It’s worth learning what they’re working on.”
9. Fastenal Co (NASDAQ:FAST)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 39
Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, recently highlighted Fastenal Co (NASDAQ:FAST) as one of his best stock picks in the market. Here is how Brown explained his thesis about the stock:
“When you look at a long-term chart of this, it’s just up and to the right. The buyers come in pretty much on every dip, and the trend line has been pristine dating back to early 2023. Basically, what they’ve done is they’ve Amazon-ed the construction business. They have something called Fastenal Managed Inventory. It’s a digital tech platform so that you don’t even have to reorder the things that you’re running out of as an industrial company building things. Fastenal already knows, and they will deliver what you need right to the site. And this has been incredible for the business.44% of total sales last quarter, which they announced on Monday, came in as a result of this FMI technology—this platform that I’m talking about. The important thing to understand here is it’s an industrial company. It’s not a tech company, doesn’t grow revenue at 40% a year or anything like that, but it’s incredibly well-managed.”
8. General Dynamics Corp (NYSE:GD)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 46
Citi’s Jason Gursky named General Dynamics Corp (NYSE:GD) as one of the top stocks to benefit from the increasing defense spending in the US and Europe. The analyst believes the new contracts these companies are winning “look more margin-accretive going forward.”
Gursky mentioned specifically why he likes General Dynamics Corp (NYSE:GD):
“Shipbuilding is another area of focus. There’s concern over the capacity gap between the U.S. and China, with China having far greater production capacity. That’s why we’re constructive on Huntington Ingalls and General Dynamics—they’re positioned to benefit from investment in shipbuilding infrastructure.”
7. Rtx Corp (NYSE:RTX)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 79
Citi’s Jason Gursky said in a recent program on CNBC that increasing defense budgets in the US and Europe are likely to help several major defense companies, including Rtx Corp (NYSE:RTX).
“It’s hard not to like both defense and aerospace. Heading into earnings next week, we’re particularly constructive on defense names. Rising budgets in the U.S. and Europe are providing strong visibility for these companies.”
Asked which companies stand to benefit the most from Congress’s defense policy bill, the analyst named Rtx Corp (NYSE:RTX) among the companies positioned to benefit “front and center.”
“Honestly, I think it’s a rising tide for everyone. But if you look at the president’s priorities—air and missile defense, Iron Dome, etc.—the key beneficiaries are the missile makers. RTX and Northrop are front and center.”
ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy stated the following regarding RTX Corporation (NYSE:RTX) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“In industrials, defense names RTX Corporation (NYSE:RTX) and Northrop Grumman led performance as geopolitical tensions remained elevated. Both companies have moved away from fixed-price contracts, and as those contracts have diminished as parts of their business, should see margin expansion over the next few years. European countries have also pledged to increase their spending on defense, which, given the lack of capacity available for European defense companies, should benefit U.S. defense primes.”
6. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 99
Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, explained in a recent program on CNBC why he’s bearish on Pfizer. Brown said he was “dead wrong” in hoping to see a turnaround at the pharma giant.
“Do you know how hard it is to find a stock as bad as Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) like in the last couple of years? I managed the impossible. I haven’t really lost a lot of money here. I think my initial purchase was like 28. But it’s a loss nonetheless. But the way I think about these types of things, it’s a loss relative to the overall market having gone up so much, which makes it even worse. And I stuck to my guns on this for no reason. I’m not really a value investor. I just felt the stock was so hated and down so much that it was a relatively low-risk entry and at some point they’d find a way to turn it around. I was right about the low-risk entry part, but I was dead wrong. There is no turnaround. Maybe it’ll happen starting today now that I’m no longer in the stock.”
5. Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 119
Talking about Morgan Stanley’s bullish call on Eli Lilly, Kevin Simpson, Capital Wealth Planning founder and CIO, said that he agrees with the call and thinks the company’s GLP-1 oral medication Orforglipron could be a “game changer.”
“The catalyst, Frank, is if they can deliver an oral drug. And I believe that they will. This ORFO would be a game-changer 100%. If their orals are as effective or almost as effective as the injectables, then this is a catalyst and I couldn’t agree more with the call.”
Macquarie Large Cap Growth Fund stated the following regarding Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“The largest individual detractors from performance relative to the benchmark were not owning Meta Platforms, not owning Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), and our position in Electronic Arts Inc. Eli Lilly stock recovered following a period of volatility in the second half of 2024 as investors digested the possibility of competition, sustained compliance for patients taking its weight-loss therapy, and side effects, among other threats that the valuation hadn’t reflected. The stock recovered some value in 1Q25, but we continue to be on the sidelines.”
