Top Wall Street analysts believe in the potential of these stocks despite macro woes

CNBC

7 hours ago

Macro uncertainty is keeping the market volatile, but investors ought to keep their focus on stocks that can provide compelling long-term returns.
Top Wall Street analysts' recommendations can help inform investors as they pick the right stocks that can weather short-term pressures with solid execution and generate impressive returns over the long term.
With that in mind, here are three stocks favored by the Street's top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Semiconductor giant Nvidia (NVDA) is this week's first stock pick. The company reported market-beating results for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Despite chip export restrictions, Nvidia remains confident about the demand for its artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Following the Q1 print, JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur reiterated a buy rating on Nvidia stock with a price target of $170. The analyst noted that the company delivered solid revenue despite lost sales related to the H20 chip export restrictions on shipments to China. However, NVDA's margins and EPS were hit by the $4.5 billion write-down related to H20 inventory write-downs.
Excluding H20 shipments, Sur projects that the July quarter data center revenue is growing at about 16% quarter over quarter, driven by continued robust spending by customers on their AI/accelerated compute projects and persistent strength in production and deployment ramp of Nvidia's Blackwell platform.
The analyst added that the demand for Nvidia's Blackwell platform is very strong and is expected to continue to surpass supply for many quarters. Sur believes that management has good visibility for solid growth through calendar year 2026, backed by recent mega data center deals (including those with UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan) and the end of the diffusion rule.
Overall, Sur concluded that Nvidia is staying ahead of competitors with its silicon, hardware and software platforms and an impressive ecosystem, "further distancing itself with its aggressive cadence of new product launches and more product segmentation over time."
Sur ranks No. 38 among more than 9,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 66% of the time, delivering an average return of 23.4%. See Nvidia Ownership Structure on TipRanks.
We move to cybersecurity company Zscaler (ZS). The company's results for the fiscal third quarter surpassed expectations, fueled by the demand for its Zero Trust Exchange platform and the growing need for AI security.
In reaction to the upbeat results, JPMorgan analyst Brian Essex reaffirmed a buy rating on Zscaler stock and boosted the price target to $292 from $275, saying, "We are encouraged by the strength in the quarter, particularly when off-calendar peers seemed to struggle with macro headwinds a bit more than expected."
The analyst noted that Zscaler raised its full-year outlook for revenue, profitability and billings. He explained that the company's performance was backed by encouraging contributions from emerging products like Zero Trust Everywhere, Data Security Everywhere and Agentic Operations. In fact, these emerging products are approaching $1 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
Essex noted that large customer momentum continued to be solid in Q3 FY25, with the number of customers with over $1 million of ARR increasing 23% year over year, keeping Zscaler on track to exceed $3 billion of ARR in the fiscal fourth quarter. He emphasized that macro commentary was better than anticipated, as management stated that the company didn't witness a "softer April," though IT budgets remain tight.
Commenting on Zscaler's Red Canary acquisition, Essex views this deal as encouraging, given that it is expected to enable the company to leverage the IP (intellectual property) and threat intel capabilities of Red Canary.
Essex ranks No. 652 among more than 9,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 58% of the time, delivering an average return of 12.6%. See Zscaler Hedge Fund Trading Activity on TipRanks.
Customer relationship management software provider Salesforce (CRM) recently reported better-than-projected revenue and earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 and raised its full-year forecast. The company also announced the acquisition of data management company Informatica for $8 billion.
Following the results, TD Cowen analyst Derrick Wood reiterated a buy rating on CRM stock with a price target of $375. Wood noted that the company's Q1 FY26 revenue and current remaining performance obligations surpassed expectations.
"We think its renewed focus on accelerating sales capacity growth is a strong demand signal & should unlock higher growth next year," said Wood.
The analyst highlighted that AI adoption is ramping for Salesforce, with Data Cloud and AI ARR rising more than 120% year over year and reflecting strong early traction for the company's Agentforce offering. Wood noted that 30% of net new Agentforce bookings came from existing customers expanding their usage. The analyst stated he is encouraged by the scale and velocity of Data Cloud, which he considers to be a leading indicator of Agentforce adoption as customers gear up to power agentic workflows.
Wood contends that with margins now in the mid-30% range, Salesforce is focusing more on growth by re-deploying AI cost savings. Notably, the company is increasing its workforce more aggressively, following a flat sales headcount in the last two to three years. The analyst sees this as a signal of positive demand, with management indicating that pipelines are growing by the double-digits.
Wood ranks No. 176 among more than 9,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 62% of the time, delivering an average return of 14.8%. See Salesforce Technical Analysis on TipRanks.