- Wall Street is optimistic heading into 2025 after massive gains in back-to-back years.
- The US economy seems to be in sound shape, and earnings are expected to grow.
- Here are 25 stocks that UBS analysts love most right now.
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For the first time in years, the brightest minds in markets are optimistic about the year ahead.
A staggering 90% of investment firms see further gains for US stocks in 2025, based on Business Insider’s round-up of S&P 500 price target predictions. This highly positive sentiment is based on expectations for strong economic and earnings growth under Donald Trump.
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Bulls abound after what’s about to be a second straight year of 20% gains in US markets. Such strength is rare but not unprecedented, and historical precedent implies the rally could continue.
That’s a departure from last year, when most firms were cautiously hopeful. Even still, firms like UBS thought stocks would finish 2024 flat. It was a similar story in 2023, as economists called for weak growth. The brave strategists who called this major rally were firmly in the minority.
But despite what Wall Street is saying now, there’s a chance the consensus view will be wrong for yet another year if US stocks disappoint. After all, as legendary investor Bernard Baruch said, “the main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many men as possible.”
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There were plenty of jitters last week after the Federal Reserve signaled that interest rates may stay higher for longer since persistent inflation is still a risk. Instead of a year-end rally, markets had to contend with a pre-Santa sell-off, though stocks retraced much of their losses on Friday.
25 stocks in 2025
No matter what 2025 holds, there will surely be ways for savvy investors to make money.
UBS researchers continued their annual tradition of polling their North America analysts about buy-rated stocks they’re especially bullish on in the year ahead. The Swiss investment giant shared a cross-sector basket of 23 top picks before 2023 and two dozen names last December. Fittingly, the firm highlighted 25 ideas this year.
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Selecting the right stocks is arguably even tougher than determining where the S&P 500 is headed, so these names shouldn’t be treated as surefire bets.
Only 14 of the 24 picks from last year have risen from 12 months ago, and just five reached the firm’s ambitious price targets. One company rose 70% while another lost a third of its value, and the basket’s average gain of 8.2% trails the market’s 25% surge. The UBS list from 2023 also had its share of hits and misses, and 14 of those 23 names are higher in the last two years.
Below is this year’s list, featuring UBS analysts’ 25 favorite stocks. Along with each is its ticker, market capitalization, UBS price target, upside to that target, sector, industry, and thesis.