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5 Must-Buy Corporate Giants as Major Indexes Hit Record High
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U.S. stocks are firing on all cylinders with the major stock indexes hitting new highs on Dec 17. Wall Street bulls, which regained momentum in November after two months of market turmoil, strengthened further in December. Year to date, the three major stock indexes — the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — have rallied 6.2%, 15.2% and 42.3%, respectively.
By any means, this is an impressive performance considering the global outbreak of the pandemic and coronavirus-led economic devastations. Market's north-bound movement is likely to continue in 2021 based on FDA's approval of two coronavirus vaccines this month, the possibility of the Congressional approval of a fresh round of fiscal stimulus this year and better-than-expected corporate earnings.
In line with Wall Street's impressive performance, several corporate behemoths (market capital > $100 billion) have skyrocketed this year. At this stage, it will be fruitful to invest in stocks of corporate giants that are members of any of the three major indexes and have strong growth potential for 2021 with a favorable Zacks Rank.
Major Indexes Hit Record High
On Dec 17, the market's benchmark, the S&P 500 Index gained 0.6% to close at record high 3,722.48. During intraday trading, the broad-market index recorded an all-time high of 3,725.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8% to close at a record high of 12,764.75. During intraday trading, the tech-laden index registered an all-time high at 12,765.25. Meanwhile, the Dow rose 0.5% to close at a record high of 30,303.37. The blue-chip index is less than 0.1% away to reach its all-time high of 30,325.79 recorded on Dec 14.
Wall Street's astonishing performance was supported by a stable U.S. economy, which remained firm despite the global outbreak of coronavirus and its devastations. The unprecedented health hazard put the global economy at complete standstill from March to May. Countries across the world, especially the United States and Eurozone members are still suffering from the resurgence of the deadly virus.
In spite of facing these problems, which forced the U.S. economy to operate at a sub-optimal level in the last 10 months, the devastations were not as severe as expected earlier. Defying all hurdles, the U.S. economy keeps growing albeit at a slow pace.
Our Top Picks
We have narrowed down our search to five corporate behemoths that have popped more than 30% year to date. This indicates two times the S&P 500 returns. These stocks have strong short-term and long-term (3-5 years) growth potential. Each of our picks carries a Zacks Rank #2. (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.
NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA - Free Report) is gaining decent market share among the gaming service providers. The strong line up of advanced graphics cards has made it a favorite graphics card provider among PC makers. Datacenter presents a solid growth opportunity for the company. NVIDIA’s GPUs are rapidly gaining from the proliferation of artificial intelligence. Its foray into autonomous vehicles and other automotive electronics space is another positive.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 18.7% for next year (ending January 2022). It has a long-term growth rate of 18.3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 0.4% over the last 7 days. The stock price has soared 126.8% year to date.
United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS - Free Report) provides letter and package delivery, specialized transportation, logistics, and financial services. It operates through three segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain & Freight. United Parcel is looking to facilitate distribution efforts, once the vaccine is commercially available.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.7% for next year. It has a long-term growth rate of 7.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 0.2% over the last 30 days. The stock price has jumped 49% year to date.
Danaher Corp. (DHR - Free Report) designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. It operates through three segments; Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions. Based on the recent market trends, Danaher sees healthy demand for bioprocessing products to be beneficial for the Life Sciences segment.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 17.5% for next year. It has a long-term growth rate of 12.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 1% over the last 30 days. The stock price has climbed 46.2% year to date.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT - Free Report) has a dominant position in the desktop PC market, with its operating systems being used in the majority of PCs worldwide. The company has doubled down on the cloud computing opportunity. Moreover, it is one of the three largest providers of gaming hardware.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 16.8% for the current year (ending June 2021). Its long-term growth rate is 13.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 5.8% over the last 60 days. The stock price has surged 39.1% year to date.
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO - Free Report) is the premier designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of semiconductor devices. Its strong relationships with leading OEMs across multiple target markets have helped it to gain key insights into the requirements of customers. In addition, Broadcom maintains an efficient global supply chain with a variable, low-cost operating model.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 18.4% for the current year (ending October 2021). Its long-term growth rate is 15%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 3.3% over the last 7 days. The stock price has advanced 34.8% year to date.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 top tickers for the entirety of 2021?
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5 Must-Buy Corporate Giants as Major Indexes Hit Record High
U.S. stocks are firing on all cylinders with the major stock indexes hitting new highs on Dec 17. Wall Street bulls, which regained momentum in November after two months of market turmoil, strengthened further in December. Year to date, the three major stock indexes — the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — have rallied 6.2%, 15.2% and 42.3%, respectively.
By any means, this is an impressive performance considering the global outbreak of the pandemic and coronavirus-led economic devastations. Market's north-bound movement is likely to continue in 2021 based on FDA's approval of two coronavirus vaccines this month, the possibility of the Congressional approval of a fresh round of fiscal stimulus this year and better-than-expected corporate earnings.
In line with Wall Street's impressive performance, several corporate behemoths (market capital > $100 billion) have skyrocketed this year. At this stage, it will be fruitful to invest in stocks of corporate giants that are members of any of the three major indexes and have strong growth potential for 2021 with a favorable Zacks Rank.
Major Indexes Hit Record High
On Dec 17, the market's benchmark, the S&P 500 Index gained 0.6% to close at record high 3,722.48. During intraday trading, the broad-market index recorded an all-time high of 3,725.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8% to close at a record high of 12,764.75. During intraday trading, the tech-laden index registered an all-time high at 12,765.25. Meanwhile, the Dow rose 0.5% to close at a record high of 30,303.37. The blue-chip index is less than 0.1% away to reach its all-time high of 30,325.79 recorded on Dec 14.
Wall Street's astonishing performance was supported by a stable U.S. economy, which remained firm despite the global outbreak of coronavirus and its devastations. The unprecedented health hazard put the global economy at complete standstill from March to May. Countries across the world, especially the United States and Eurozone members are still suffering from the resurgence of the deadly virus.
In spite of facing these problems, which forced the U.S. economy to operate at a sub-optimal level in the last 10 months, the devastations were not as severe as expected earlier. Defying all hurdles, the U.S. economy keeps growing albeit at a slow pace.
Our Top Picks
We have narrowed down our search to five corporate behemoths that have popped more than 30% year to date. This indicates two times the S&P 500 returns. These stocks have strong short-term and long-term (3-5 years) growth potential. Each of our picks carries a Zacks Rank #2. (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.
NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA - Free Report) is gaining decent market share among the gaming service providers. The strong line up of advanced graphics cards has made it a favorite graphics card provider among PC makers. Datacenter presents a solid growth opportunity for the company. NVIDIA’s GPUs are rapidly gaining from the proliferation of artificial intelligence. Its foray into autonomous vehicles and other automotive electronics space is another positive.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 18.7% for next year (ending January 2022). It has a long-term growth rate of 18.3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 0.4% over the last 7 days. The stock price has soared 126.8% year to date.
United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS - Free Report) provides letter and package delivery, specialized transportation, logistics, and financial services. It operates through three segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain & Freight. United Parcel is looking to facilitate distribution efforts, once the vaccine is commercially available.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.7% for next year. It has a long-term growth rate of 7.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 0.2% over the last 30 days. The stock price has jumped 49% year to date.
Danaher Corp. (DHR - Free Report) designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. It operates through three segments; Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions. Based on the recent market trends, Danaher sees healthy demand for bioprocessing products to be beneficial for the Life Sciences segment.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 17.5% for next year. It has a long-term growth rate of 12.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 1% over the last 30 days. The stock price has climbed 46.2% year to date.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT - Free Report) has a dominant position in the desktop PC market, with its operating systems being used in the majority of PCs worldwide. The company has doubled down on the cloud computing opportunity. Moreover, it is one of the three largest providers of gaming hardware.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 16.8% for the current year (ending June 2021). Its long-term growth rate is 13.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 5.8% over the last 60 days. The stock price has surged 39.1% year to date.
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO - Free Report) is the premier designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of semiconductor devices. Its strong relationships with leading OEMs across multiple target markets have helped it to gain key insights into the requirements of customers. In addition, Broadcom maintains an efficient global supply chain with a variable, low-cost operating model.
The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 18.4% for the current year (ending October 2021). Its long-term growth rate is 15%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 3.3% over the last 7 days. The stock price has advanced 34.8% year to date.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 top tickers for the entirety of 2021?
These 10 are painstakingly hand-picked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. They are our primary picks to buy and hold. Start Your Access to the New Zacks Top 10 Stocks >>