Bank of America said this week that a list of stocks is poised for growth as the summer heats up. The firm said companies such as Nvidia are well positioned for the second half of the year. CNBC Pro scoured Bank of America’s research to find buy-rated stocks that are too attractive to ignore. They include Nvidia, Carnival, Block and Palantir Technologies. Carnival Carnival is coming in with better-than-expected earnings at the end of June. Bank of America analyst Andrew Didora said in a recent note that this bodes well for stocks in the coming months. “Cruise spending remains healthy, and CCL had positive feedback on the pace of 2025 bookings,” he wrote. Didora said management is executing after a period of difficult years that included the headwinds of the Covid-19 pandemic. Cost savings are underway with a balance sheet that could “help drive a better valuation multiple,” the analyst said. “Stable fundamentals continue to provide the opportunity for balance sheet improvement, a key part of our investment thesis,” Didora said. Carnival is down 7% to 2024, which makes the stock extremely compelling, the analyst added. He raised his price target to $24 per share from $23, which represents a nearly 40% upside from Friday’s close. The blockchain payments company is down almost 15% in 2024, but the decline is worth buying, according to analyst Jason Kupferberg. “The stock has stalled in recent months as ’24/’25 sales estimates have continued to rise,” he wrote. The firm pointed to several reasons for the stock’s underperformance, including management changes and weaker quarterly reports than expected from other software companies.However, Kupferberg is hitting the table for Block shares.“We recognize the concerns about the US GPV [gross payment volume] growth and SMB [small and midsize businesses], but believe they are overpriced in the stock,” he said. Still, the company’s fundamentals remain strong, which is why the stock is compelling, Kupferberg said. “Attractive valuation no matter how you slice it,” he added. Palantir Technologies Shares of the software company are up nearly 60% this year, but analyst Mariana Perez Mora said Palantir is still a solid buy ahead of August earnings. entry to own PLTR options, in our view,” she wrote. Further, the analyst said the stock’s technicals remain solid. “PLTR remains within bullish trends on an absolute price basis and relative to the S&P 500,” he added It. Mora also sees a host of positive catalysts on the horizon. They include potential inclusion in the S&P 500 as well as business growth through the US Department of Defense (PLTR) to continue to see significant growth from this. trend,” she said. Square “Shares have lagged in recent months as ’24/’25 sell estimates have continued to rise … Attractive valuation no matter how you slice it. … We recognize the concerns around US GPV [gross payment volume] growth and SMB [small and midsize businesses], but believe they are over-discounted in stocks.” … However, any volatility may be short-lived as: GenAI hardware deployments are still only in year 2 of what could be a 3-5 year deployment cycle, with ~300 billion dollars per lt opportunity, 3x vs. current year; NVDA’s next-generation Blackwell AI accelerator systems will begin later this year, with solid customer demand/visibility.” Carnival “Cruise spending remains healthy and CCL had positive comments on the pace of 2025 bookings. … The stable fundamentals continue to provide the opportunity for balance sheet improvement, a key part of our investment thesis. … Management was asked on the call about paying a dividend and the team continues to make debt reduction a top priority.” Palantir “We are still early in AI adoption and expect Palantir (PLTR) to continue to see significant upside from this trend. PLTR remains within bullish trends on an absolute price basis and relative to the S&P 500 (SPX) . . . The market appears to be underestimating the risks surrounding the upcoming earnings announcement, providing an attractive entry point to own PLTR options, in our view.”
Stocks like Nvidia have more to work on this summer: Bank of America