In this article, we will take a detailed look at the Trending Analyst Calls: 10 Stocks to Buy and Sell.
The AI bull run is showing no signs of a slowdown despite the bears looking to find potential risks from every angle. Most of the market gains are driven by a few major technology companies based on AI CapEx, but many notable Wall Street analysts believe this bull run is expected to continue.
Michael Kantrowitz, Piper Sandler chief investment strategist, said in a recent program on CNBC that he’d call the current AI bullish run a boom, not a bubble.
“We would characterize things more as a boom today,” Kantrowitz said. “Generally, the characteristics of a bubble are a good economy, and overall I’d say we have a good economy. Easy money, which is something we’re moving back towards with the Fed raising rates. So I think if we want to characterize this as a bubble today, it’s unlikely to pop in an easing money environment. I think it ultimately could end from a macro perspective, partially why 1999–2000 ended if we get another tightening cycle.”
READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In.
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10. iShares Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ:IBB)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: N/A
Jason Snipe, Founder and CIO of Odyssey Capital Advisors, said in a recent program on CNBC that he’s investing in IBB. Here’s why:
“But this is a subsector that’s been under the mat for quite some time. So it’s nice to see some price action there. So couple things for me. I think one, big pharma, they really need to rebuild their pipeline. So I think there’s going to be some M&A operating in the biotech space and I think that’s going to benefit the iShares Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ:IBB) and especially some of those smaller names. And I think part of it is the macro deal flow will kind of come back online in that space and I just feel like the IBB will be representative of what’s going to happen.”
9. Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 22
Bryn Talkington, Managing Partner of Requisite Capital Management, explained in a recent program on CNBC why she’s buying Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) despite the latest concerns about the credit markets. She also commented on JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s recent warnings about potential debt-related problems. Dimon recently warned that there could be credit risks in the economy, saying that “when you see one cockroach there are probably more.”
“The comment about cockroaches, I mean, you know, just calling balls and strikes, you know JP Morgan I think took a $500 million hit from the revolving warehouse facility of Tricolor and other big banks had a lot of exposure to First Brands. And so I think in the credit markets, you know, credit’s always risky and underwriting standards I think is what the question is on Tricolor and First Brands specifically. Now as it relates to these publicly traded BDCs, first of all they don’t trade with a ton of volume but as investors these companies have quarterly earnings and these I think Ares comes out October 30th and then I think November 4th for Blue Owl. You can go on, look at their website, look at their investor relations, pull up their last earnings and look at the summary of investments and see with Blue Owl, you know, all 198 discrete tech investments. They really do more software, by the way. They do across the tech stack, but they’re more focused on software lending. And you can see exactly who they have loans with, what the yield is. And so I think in terms of transparency, this private credit narrative I think is a very broad brush of a heterogeneous asset class. And so with both of these, I can get about a 10% yield. They’re both trading between like 10 to 8% below book value. I think a year from now, I can look back and have a 20% total return in an asset class that I know I have complete transparency in both of these BDCs.”
8. IONQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 30
Bryn Talkington, Managing Partner of Requisite Capital Management, explained in a recent program on CNBC why she sold her position in IONQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ), a quantum computing hardware and software company. The analyst continues to believe in the potential of the quantum computing company, but thinks it will take several years for it to bear fruit.
“I actually bought it last quarter after listening to their earnings call which I listened to a couple times. You need a dictionary because they’re talking about cubits and things like that. These are research companies whether it’s Ion or D-Wave. These are research companies. IonQ I think is the best. They continue to buy I would call research teams that are doing really cool stuff but I’m telling you these are very long long time before this company makes money. I think that these stocks have caught hold by a lot of viewers on X. They become momentum plays and so when I buy one of these companies, I’m buying it to make money and I bought it in the 30s. I sold it at 70 and I’m going to take my toys and go home and if it comes back down, I will buy it back. I do think the quantum computing is a really interesting technology, but I’m telling you, it’s five, six, seven years out and these stocks make no sense on any valuation metric that you could even remotely find.”
Wasatch Long/Short Alpha Fund stated the following regarding IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Among shorts, detractors are those stocks that rose in price. One of the largest among this group was IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ), a quantum computing company. IonQ announced a new contract win during the period. But the stock’s rise was likely due more to news that Google had unveiled a new quantum chip that drastically reduces computation times. This news heightened investor enthusiasm for the field of quantum computing. However, we believe enthusiasm surrounding the company is out of touch with the company’s fundamentals, and we continue to hold a short position in the stock.”
7. Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 53
Stephanie Link, Chief Investment Strategist and Portfolio Manager at Hightower, recently made some bullish comments about Vertiv during a CNBC program. She believes Vertiv is still a strong data center play. The stock is up 60% so far this year.
“It is a data center buildout play. Capex is expected to grow about 50% between 2025 and 2029. And in that kind of backdrop, this company is able to probably put up a 15 to 20% organic growth. They have a backlog of 8.5 billion. Their book to bill is running at 1.2 times. And they’ve had record orders of 3.22 billion which rose 25% year-over-year last quarter. And what I think is the real story is not only is it the growth but I think eventually the operating margins. They’re troughing right now and I think they can accelerate from this quarter going forward and their target is to get to 25% by 2028. So add it all up Frank and I think you can see something like 7 to 10 dollars in earnings power.”
When asked about the high valuation of the stock compared to its peers, Link said the company has strong growth and it can see margin expansion in the future. She believes Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) has more “operating leverage” and a “best-in-class” management.
ClearBridge Select Strategy stated the following regarding Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) and Comfort Systems continue to benefit from the growing focus on AI and the underlying infrastructure investments required to support it. Vertiv delivers power and thermal management systems critical for data center operations, while Comfort Systems provides HVAC and electrical systems installation and maintenance. These names helped offset weakness across our more cyclical industrial positions that have yet to see a meaningful upturn in economic activity.”
6. First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 68
Doug Clinton from Deepwater Asset Management said in a recent program on CNBC that he believes First Solar is a cheap energy stock. Here is how the analyst made his bull thesis:
“I think for solar and maybe solar in general has sort of been just thrown out entirely. I think a lot of the excitement around energy production maybe as a as a era for AI has been around nuclear, not solar. And I think solar is inevitable as part of the solution to addressing how do we how do we fix this problem where we don’t have enough power to power all these data centers that we’re building. So First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR), it’s an American company. They build some of their panels in America. And I think that’s very important in this environment and with this administration. And our models have loved First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) almost all year. Trades very low double digit EPS. And so it feels like kind of a cheap play on AI as hard as that is to believe.”
Ariel Global Fund stated the following regarding First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“We also added First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), a U.S.-based photovoltaic solar technology and manufacturing company. As the only US based solar module manufacturer of scale, we believe the company stands to benefit from growing AI power demands as well as “America First” energy policy tailwinds. As of today, FSLR is sold out through 2026. However, as the final Inflation Reduction Act rules become clearer, we believe FSLR’s contract wins should accelerate, particularly as developers seek to secure as much capacity as possible to pre qualify modules for subsidies before they expire.”
5. Vistra Corp (NYSE:VST)
Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 111
Doug Clinton, Deepwater Asset Management, said in a recent program on CNBC that he’d owned Vistra Corp (NYSE:VST) in the past, but now he’s concerned about the stock’s valuation. The analyst recommended investors to prefer AI hardware and software stocks instead of AI energy plays.
“We have owned some of those names particularly Vistra Corp (NYSE:VST) and GE Vernova in the past. We don’t right now. And the concern I have is, you know, everybody’s talking about AI bubble kind of where are we? Are we near the top? For what it’s worth, I think we’re probably in 1997 in the AI trade right now, but I think there are components of the trade and things that are kind of on the periphery, particularly around nuclear and some of the energy plays and then also quantum that feels more like we’re in 1999. And so the energy stuff as important as it is and as topical as it is, is kind of the bottleneck to some of these data center buildouts that we have right now. I do think a lot of that seems to be priced in the stocks and I would rather own the hardware and the software players than energy right.”
Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth Fund stated the following regarding Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) is an integrated electricity and power generation company. As a result of increasing forecasts for future power demand growth, largely brought on by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, the company’s shares have continued to climb on investors’ expectations for future power prices. A tailwind for the stock has been Vistra’s potential to announce future power purchase agreements (PPAs) with large technology companies to satisfy the outsized power requirements of their artificial intelligence endeavors.”
