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3 S&P 500 Growth Stocks to Buy as Index Enjoys Bull Market
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The S&P 500 bounced back in 2023 after taking a beating in the prior year, gaining an encouraging 24% as steady economic growth squashed any expectations of an impending recession, while price pressures came down to levels that compelled the Federal Reserve to pause interest rate increases.
However, the S&P 500 was off to a rough start in 2024 as market participants took some profits in tech bigwigs such as Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) . But they recently returned to buy back those magnificent tech players, helping the S&P 500 enter a bull market. The broader index has soared more than 35% from its October 2022 low.
For the first time, the S&P 500 finished at a record close, in more than two years. The index has also set an intraday record high after gyrating in a tight trading range for nearly a month. The large-cap benchmark closed at 4,839.81 on Jan 19 and exceeded the previous record close of 4,796.56 achieved on Jan 3, 2022. Additionally, the index hit an intraday high of 4,842.07, easily topping the intraday record of 4,818.62 attained on Jan 4, 2022, per FactSet data.
Now, bull markets generally tend to last for quite some time. The previous bull market that started in March 2020 continued for less than two years. What’s more, the bull market that began before that prevailed for almost 10 years. It began from the Great Recession period till the outbreak of the coronavirus in February 2020. Similarly, the current bull market is expected to continue as stocks gain momentum, banking on a less hawkish Fed, upbeat consumer sentiment, and uptick in tech stocks.
As inflation has started to show signs of cooling down, the Fed has kept its interest rates unchanged in the last meeting and is widely expected to trim rates this year. Interest rate cuts are always a boon for the stock market as they boost consumer outlays, decrease the cost of borrowings, and pep up the economy (read more: 5 Top Stocks to Gain From Lower Interest Rates in 2024).
Americans are anyhow feeling much more optimistic about the current and future business scenarios, thanks to the strength in the labor market. The University of Michigan stated that its consumer sentiment index surged 21.4% year over year in January and touched its highest level since July 2021. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, too, had touched the highest level in December since July (read more: Raise a Toast to These 5 Consumer Discretionary Stocks in 2024).
Tech stocks, meanwhile, are gaining traction due to AI optimism. Taiwan Semiconductor’s (TSM - Free Report) latest upbeat earnings report also bolstered confidence for the chip sector. Gains in mega-cap tech stocks eventually erased the S&P 500’s 2024 losses. Hence, with the S&P 500 scaling upward, it's prudent for astute investors to place bets on growth stocks listed in the index.
NVIDIA is the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphic processing unit, or GPU. NVIDIA currently has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of B.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 12.9% over the past 60 days. NVDA’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 268.6%.
Salesforce is the leading provider of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM - Free Report) software. Salesforce currently has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Growth Score of B.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 1.7% over the past 60 days. CRM’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 56.5%.
Amazon is one of the largest e-commerce providers, with sprawling operations in North America, now spreading across the globe. Amazon currently has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of A.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 0.8% over the past 60 days. AMZN’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 278.9%.
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3 S&P 500 Growth Stocks to Buy as Index Enjoys Bull Market
The S&P 500 bounced back in 2023 after taking a beating in the prior year, gaining an encouraging 24% as steady economic growth squashed any expectations of an impending recession, while price pressures came down to levels that compelled the Federal Reserve to pause interest rate increases.
However, the S&P 500 was off to a rough start in 2024 as market participants took some profits in tech bigwigs such as Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) . But they recently returned to buy back those magnificent tech players, helping the S&P 500 enter a bull market. The broader index has soared more than 35% from its October 2022 low.
For the first time, the S&P 500 finished at a record close, in more than two years. The index has also set an intraday record high after gyrating in a tight trading range for nearly a month. The large-cap benchmark closed at 4,839.81 on Jan 19 and exceeded the previous record close of 4,796.56 achieved on Jan 3, 2022. Additionally, the index hit an intraday high of 4,842.07, easily topping the intraday record of 4,818.62 attained on Jan 4, 2022, per FactSet data.
Now, bull markets generally tend to last for quite some time. The previous bull market that started in March 2020 continued for less than two years. What’s more, the bull market that began before that prevailed for almost 10 years. It began from the Great Recession period till the outbreak of the coronavirus in February 2020. Similarly, the current bull market is expected to continue as stocks gain momentum, banking on a less hawkish Fed, upbeat consumer sentiment, and uptick in tech stocks.
As inflation has started to show signs of cooling down, the Fed has kept its interest rates unchanged in the last meeting and is widely expected to trim rates this year. Interest rate cuts are always a boon for the stock market as they boost consumer outlays, decrease the cost of borrowings, and pep up the economy (read more: 5 Top Stocks to Gain From Lower Interest Rates in 2024).
Americans are anyhow feeling much more optimistic about the current and future business scenarios, thanks to the strength in the labor market. The University of Michigan stated that its consumer sentiment index surged 21.4% year over year in January and touched its highest level since July 2021. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, too, had touched the highest level in December since July (read more: Raise a Toast to These 5 Consumer Discretionary Stocks in 2024).
Tech stocks, meanwhile, are gaining traction due to AI optimism. Taiwan Semiconductor’s (TSM - Free Report) latest upbeat earnings report also bolstered confidence for the chip sector. Gains in mega-cap tech stocks eventually erased the S&P 500’s 2024 losses. Hence, with the S&P 500 scaling upward, it's prudent for astute investors to place bets on growth stocks listed in the index.
Some of the prominent names are NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) , Salesforce (CRM - Free Report) , and Amazon.com (AMZN - Free Report) . These stocks carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and a Growth Score of A or B, a combination that offers the best opportunities in the growth investing space. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.
NVIDIA is the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphic processing unit, or GPU. NVIDIA currently has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of B.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 12.9% over the past 60 days. NVDA’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 268.6%.
Salesforce is the leading provider of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM - Free Report) software. Salesforce currently has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Growth Score of B.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 1.7% over the past 60 days. CRM’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 56.5%.
Amazon is one of the largest e-commerce providers, with sprawling operations in North America, now spreading across the globe. Amazon currently has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of A.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 0.8% over the past 60 days. AMZN’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 278.9%.