If the idea is to buy low, then going shopping for stocks when markets are at record highs might not seem like the greatest idea. But there are always select names set to outperform – and that's especially true when market leadership is comparatively narrow.
Although six of the Magnificent 7 stocks have done much of the bull market's heavy lifting, that hardly means these names are doomed to underperform from here. Indeed, as we'll see below, three of Wall Street's top five stocks to buy now hail from the Magnificent 7. Companies from the real estate, biotech and oil & gas sectors are also ably represented.
Here's how we found the top S&P 500 stocks to buy now. It's well known that industry analysts are reluctant to slap Sell ratings on the names they cover. There are a bunch of reasons for this, some more defensible than others. What's less commonly understood is that Strong Buy recommendations are also quite rare.
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If you run a screen of the S&P 500 using data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, you'll see that analysts' assign a consensus recommendation of Sell to a total of four stocks. At the other end of the ratings spectrum stands the Street's highest recommendation of Strong Buy. A total of 18 stocks make the cut there, as you can see in the chart below.
But first a note on our methodology: S&P Global Market Intelligence surveys analysts' stock recommendations and scores them on a five-point scale, where 1.0 equals Strong Buy and 5.0 means Strong Sell. Any score of 2.5 or lower means that analysts, on average, rate the stock a Buy. The closer the score gets to 1.0, the stronger the Buy call. In other words, lower scores are better than higher scores.
Have a look at the chart below to see the 18 stocks in the S&P 500 that score an elite Strong Buy recommendation from industry analysts. Investors who fear it's too late to buy Amazon.com (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) or Nvidia (NVDA) will be happy to see they easily made the list.
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| Company (ticker) | Analysts' consensus recommendation score | Analysts' consensus recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO) | 1.17 | Strong Buy |
| Amazon.com (AMZN) | 1.30 | Strong Buy |
| Microsoft (MSFT) | 1.33 | Strong Buy |
| Delta Air Lines (DAL) | 1.33 | Strong Buy |
| Nvidia (NVDA) | 1.38 | Strong Buy |
| Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE) | 1.39 | Strong Buy |
| Bio-Techne (TECH) | 1.40 | Strong Buy |
| Targa Resources (TRGP) | 1.41 | Strong Buy |
| DexCom (DXCM) | 1.42 | Strong Buy |
| NiSource (NI) | 1.43 | Strong Buy |
| Schlumberger (SLB) | 1.43 | Strong Buy |
| Lamb Weston (LW) | 1.46 | Strong Buy |
| Elevance Health (ELV) | 1.48 | Strong Buy |
| Assurant (AIZ) | 1.50 | Strong Buy |
| Mastercard (MA) | 1.50 | Strong Buy |
| Mondelez (MDLZ) | 1.50 | Strong Buy |
| S&P Global (SPGI) | 1.50 | Strong Buy |
| Uber Technologies (UBER) | 1.50 | Strong Buy |
