‘Party Like It's 1999,' Says BTIG as PLTR, MSTR, and Others Fuel Nasdaq Rally
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This remarkable strength in the Nasdaq 100 has also led to gains in the Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ), which tracks the index. As a result, the ETF is now the fifth-largest in the world by assets and has jumped by 17% since June, bringing its total year-to-date return to 10%. Despite uncertainty in the broader market, this surge shows that investors still have a lot of confidence in large tech and growth stocks, which make up a big portion of the index.
Therefore, many of the biggest winners in the Nasdaq 100 this year also come from the tech sector. In fact, leading the pack is Palantir Technologies (PLTR), which is up 102% so far in 2025. Other strong performers include Zscaler (ZS) (+59.7%), KLA Corp (KLAC) (+49.8%), and Strategy (MSTR) (+48.3%). In addition, well-known names like DoorDash (DASH), Constellation Energy (CEG), Lam Research (LRCX), CrowdStrike (CRWD), MercadoLibre (MELI), and Netflix (NFLX) round out the top 10 with increases of more than 37% this year.
Is QQQ Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on QQQ stock based on 92 Buys, nine Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average QQQ price target of $603.33 per share implies 6.8% upside potential.
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Solid Corporate Earnings Results Support Stocks
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Piper Sandler Says These 2 Stocks Are Top Picks for the Second Half of 2025
There's no magic formula for picking winning stocks, but having the right guide can make all the difference. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. That's where Wall Street's analysts come in. With a front-row seat to market movements and company performance, these pros make it their business to spot standout opportunities. And now, with 2025 beyond the halfway mark, it's the perfect moment to check in on the names they're backing for the rest of the year. Watching the current mid-year situation for Piper Sandler, analyst Jason Bednar lays out the attributes he's looking for in top-pick stocks, writing: 'Key themes across our top names include confidence we have in management's execution against guidance and Street estimates for the coming quarters, balance sheet flexibility that is good and/or improving, and risk/reward that skews favorably based on a combination of catalysts and valuation on shares.' With this in mind, we dug into the TipRanks database to get the broader Wall Street take on two of his top picks, and both are rated Buy, with the potential for double-digit gains. Let's break down the names, the numbers, and what makes them stand out. STERIS (STE) First up on our list, STERIS, is a medical technology (medtech) company. STERIS was founded in 1985 and is based in Ohio; the company got its start specializing in low-temperature liquid sterilization of surgical instruments. Today, the company is a global leader in infection prevention, offering a line of products and services designed to support patient care for a better medical outcome. To achieve that goal, STERIS offers a diverse array of products, including medical consumables such as detergents, endoscopy accessories, and barrier devices. On the service side, the company can install and maintain medical equipment, provide sterilization for medical devices, repair medical instruments and scopes, and provide lab testing. Finally, STERIS can also provide its customers with larger-scale capital equipment, such as surgical tables, automated endoscope reprocessors, and even integrated connectivity solutions for today's high-tech operating rooms. STERIS offers its products under several categories, and reports its revenue under the categories Healthcare, Applied Sterilization Technologies (AST), and Life Sciences. The largest of these is Healthcare, which accounted for approximately 73% of the company's total revenue in its last reported quarter. That quarter was fiscal 4Q25 (March quarter), for which STERIS reported $1.5 billion in total revenue. This was up 4% year-over-year and beat the forecast by $30 million. At the bottom line, STERIS realized a quarterly adjusted net income of $2.74 per diluted share, a figure that was 14 cents above expectations. The company's free cash flow rose year-over-year, from $620.3 million to $787.2 million in the current report. Checking in with Piper Sandler, we find that analyst Bednar wastes no time in explaining why this stock made his list. Bednar writes, 'Why is it a top idea? STE is a model of consistency, posting MSD+ top-line and HSD/LDD bottom-line growth in six of the past seven years, underpinned by healthy end markets, disciplined capital allocation and a focus on lean operations. For medtech investors, that's a model deserving of a premium valuation. Growth in the high-margin AST segment has improved sequentially for six consecutive quarters, and the segment growth outlook has gotten cleaner of late… Balance sheet leverage is as light as it's been in several years (~1.3x net leverage), and this Board/mgmt team have a bias to accretive M&A.' Based on this stance, Bednar rates STE shares as Overweight (i.e., Buy), with a $280 price target to suggest a one-year upside potential of 24%. (To watch Bednar's track record, click here) The consensus rating here is a Moderate Buy, based on 5 Buy and 2 Hold ratings. Meanwhile, the $270.33 average target price indicates room for an upside of 20% by this time next year. (See STE stock forecast) Merit Medical Systems (MMSI) The second stock we're looking at here is another medtech, Merit Medical Systems. This firm, based in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, Utah, is known as a developer, manufacturer, and distributor of medical devices, particularly devices used in interventional, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures. Merit Medical's product lines feature proprietary designs, and are intended to be disposable; they are most often used in the fields of cardiology, radiology, oncology, critical care, and endoscopy. Merit Medical has a global footprint, with some 7,300 employees, including an international team of marketers and clinical support that totals more than 800. The company is recognized as a global leader in disposable medical tools. The company boasts a market cap of $5 billion. Earlier this month, Merit suffered a sharp blow to its stock price, falling as much as 10% on July 16, after a regulatory disclosure. That disclosure involved a warning letter from the FDA, regarding issues of quality control at one of the company's manufacturing facilities. These types of warnings are not uncommon from regulators, but in this case, the timing is a problem – Merit is currently expanding its product lines, and a warning letter of this type may have a stronger impact than usual. The company has already stated that it is working in concert with the FDA to address the issues raised in the letter. Looking at Merit's product lines, we find that the company has its hands in a wide range of categories. To give a small list: the company produces hemostasis accessories, dialysis equipment, safety kits, infusion systems, pulmonary stents, GI dilation balloons, and blood sampling devices. The company also provides educational resources, including on-demand courses and recorded webinars, to provide tutorials on its various equipment lines and products. We can also note that on May 6 this year, Merit announced its latest regulatory approval, with Health Canada's approval of Merit's Wrapsody Cell-Impermeable Endoprosthesis. The company is also undergoing a leadership change, and current CEO Fred Lampropoulos will be stepping down in October. His place will be taken by Martha Aronson, effective on October 3. Mr. Lampropoulos will remain as Chairman of the Board. Merit's last quarterly report covered 1Q25, and in that quarter the company had revenues of $355.4 million. This was up 10% year-over-year and beat the forecast by $2.8 million. The non-GAAP EPS figure, of 86 cents, beat expectations by 11 cents per share. Checking in again with Piper Sandler's Bednar, we see the analyst weighing various pros and cons here, writing, 'MMSI has demonstrated durable and consistent growth and management has been superb in managing investor expectations over the past 4+ years… Management already positively pre-announced 2Q and detailed CEO transitions plans, but we also see an EPS beat and guidance raise as being in order. The WRAPSODY reimbursement strategy will be a focal point after failing to secure TPT on management's previously announced timeline, but we're optimistic the developments to date will result in this being more of a short delay for securing TPT.' Summing up, Bednar sees this medtech as a solid choice, and advises investors to buy in, saying of MMSI, 'Longer-term, we believe an extension of what's been a solid execution story should keep MMSI one of the premium mid-cap assets in medtech.' These comments are complemented by an Overweight (i.e., Buy) rating, and a price target which, at $110, points toward a one-year gain of 29%. This stock has earned a Strong Buy from the Street's analysts, a consensus based on 10 recent reviews that split 9 to 1 in favor of Buy over Hold. The shares are currently trading for $85.06 and the average price target of $108.80 implies the stock will gain 28% in the next 12 months. (See MMSI stock forecast) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks' Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks' equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment. Disclaimer & DisclosureReport an Issue Sign in to access your portfolio
