As Thanksgiving festivities wind down and markets remain closed for a two-day hiatus, investors find themselves in a brief respite from the relentless pace of trading.
This breather, however, is accompanied by anticipation, as a notable rally has propelled the S&P 500 to a three-month high. With eager eyes set on Friday’s market reopening, we’ve identified three stocks poised for potential gains in the post-Thanksgiving period.
Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA)
It’s been a historic year for Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA).
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The chipmaker saw its stock price more than triple thanks to the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) frenzy that sent its sales and profits skyrocketing in recent quarters.
NVDA surged more than 240% year-to-date, making it by far the best-performing S&P 500 stock. Naturally, many investors may think that the stock became overvalued after such staggering gains and that the ship for investing in it has sailed.
However, that’s not what Wall Street thinks. After another jaw-dropping financial performance in its fiscal Q3 2024, the majority of Wall Street giants including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs hiked their price targets further on NVDA to $650 and $625, respectively.
Those imply a potential upside of 28%-33% for the chipmaker’s stock from its current price level of $487.1.
Keep in mind, though, Nvidia did say it expects a negative impact in the current quarter from the recent chip export restrictions. That said, the stock’s near-term upside may be limited.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Like the rest of the so-called Magnificent Seven, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has been enjoying the AI-driven 2023.
This has been reflected in its recent earnings report, with the e-commerce giant posting earnings per share (EPS) of 94 cents, up 236% year-over-year. Revenue came in at $143.1 billion, up 13% from last year. Both metrics beat analysts’ expectations.
In September, Amazon reached a deal to invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic, one of the most promising young AI startups. In addition, the company also rolled out Bedrock, a service that allows Amazon Web Services (AWS) users to build generative AI applications.
Clearly, Amazon is going all in when it comes to AI as this revolutionary piece of technology continues to grab headlines.
At the time of writing, AMZN was sitting at $146.7, up 1.95% in the last trading session. The stock gained 4% over the past week and more than 14% on the month.
AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN)
UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) continues to maintain an impressive drug pipeline within the pharmaceutical sector.
The company is actively developing several key products with the potential to achieve blockbuster status.
Morningstar director Damien Conover predicts that as high-margin specialty drugs become a more substantial part of AstraZeneca’s sales, there will be an expansion in profit margins over the next five years. Currently, AstraZeneca’s stock is trading at a 19% discount compared to Morningstar’s fair value estimate of $78.
Further, equity researchers at Berenberg Bank reaffirmed their ‘Buy’ rating on AZN this week, with their current price objective indicating a possible upside of more than 23%.
The US-listed shares of AstraZeneca last closed at $63.61, down 1%. The stock rose less than 1% over the past week while losing about 1.5% on the month.
As Thanksgiving concludes and markets prepare to resume next week, the three aforementioned stocks could be poised for post-holiday gains thanks to their unique strengths.
Still, investors should keep in mind that the performance of these stocks will also be affected by the broader market trends and macroeconomic factors.
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Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
