The new year has just begun, but macro uncertainty is already hanging over investors, with Fed officials expressing concerns about inflation and its impact on the path of interest rate cuts.

During this volatile time, investors can improve portfolio returns by adding stocks backed by solid financials and long-term growth opportunities. Investment theses from Wall Street’s top analysts can inform investors in choosing the right stocks, as the professionals’ analysis is based on a deep understanding of the macro environment and company-specific factors.

Here are three popular stocks Wall Street’s Top ProfessionalsAccording to TipRanks, the platform ranks analysts based on their performance.

We started with a ride-sharing and food delivery platform Uber Technologies (Uber). The company’s revenue and profits were better than expected last year Third quarter of 2024although total bookings fell short of expectations.

Recently, Mizuho analysts James Lee Reiterates a Buy rating on Uber Technologies stock with a $90 price target. Analysts believe that 2025 is an investment year for UBER. While these investments may impact the company’s EBITDA in the short term, they are expected to drive long-term growth.

Based on his analysis, Lee expects Uber’s growth investments to drive core gross bookings to a compound annual growth rate of 16% from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2026, in line with the company’s analyst target of mid-teens growth. The analyst believes that Uber’s EBITDA growth is on track to meet analysts’ daily compound annual growth rate target of 30% to 40%. “Despite the preference for growth-oriented investments, economies of scale and improved efficiency should offset profit risks,” Li said.

Additionally, Lee believes concerns about the company’s mobile growth appear to be overblown. The analyst expects double-digit gross bookings growth (FX neutral) in FY25, with a slower pace of deceleration compared to the second half of 2024.

Additionally, analysts expect total bookings for Uber’s delivery business to remain in the mid-teens for fiscal 2025. This growth is expected to be supported by continued adoption of new verticals while maintaining food delivery market share. The analyst added that Mizuho’s inspection showed that the frequency of orders reached a new high. The examination also shows that grocery store adoption is high and user penetration is high in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Lee ranks No. 324 among more than 9,200 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings were profitable 60% of the time, with an average return of 12.9%. look Uber Technologies Stock Chart On prompt ranking.

we moved to data dog (dog), a company that provides cloud monitoring and security products. In November, the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter 2024 results.

On January 6, Monness analysts Brian White Reiterates a Buy rating on Datadog stock with a price target of $155. The analyst believes the company has taken a more balanced approach to the generative AI trend, “avoiding the absurd claims spread by many across the software complex.” He noted that DDOG is taking a more balanced approach against the challenging software backdrop of 2024. It performed well compared with peers, but he added that it lagged other stocks in Monness’ coverage.

Still, White believes Datadog and the broader industry will start to see incremental activity from the long-term boom in generative AI over the next 12 to 18 months. The analyst highlighted DDOG’s outperformance compared to peers and its transparency on its generative AI progress, noting that AI-native customers accounted for more than 6% of the company’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) in Q3 2024. %, up from more than 4% in 2024. 2.5% in the second quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2023.

White also highlighted some of the company’s artificial intelligence products, including LLM Observability and its next-generation artificial intelligence assistant, Bits AI. Overall, analysts are bullish on Datadog and believe the stock deserves a premium valuation compared to traditional software vendors due to its cloud-native platform, strong secular tailwinds in its fast-growing and observable space, and its new generative Artificial Intelligence-led technology growth opportunities.

White ranks No. 33 among more than 9,200 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings were profitable 69% of the time, with an average return of 20%. look Datadog ownership structure On prompt ranking.

semiconductor giant NVIDIA (NVDA) is this week’s third stock pick. The company is considered one of the main beneficiaries of the generative AI wave and is seeing strong demand for its advanced GPUs (graphics processing units) needed to build and run AI models.

After a fireside chat with Nvidia CFO and JPMorgan analyst Colette Kress haransur Reiterate Buy rating on the stock with price target of $170. The analyst highlighted the CFO’s assurance that despite supply chain challenges, production of the company’s Blackwell platform remains on track due to solid execution.

Additionally, the company expects spending in the data center segment to remain strong in 2025, supported by Blackwell’s growth and strong broad-based demand. Additionally, Sur noted that management sees significant revenue growth opportunities as it captures a larger share of the $1 trillion installed base of data center infrastructure.

Nvidia expects to benefit from the shift in accelerated computing and growing demand for artificial intelligence solutions, Sur added. Management believes that the company has a solid competitive advantage over ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) solutions due to multiple advantages such as ease of adoption and comprehensive system solutions.

Sur agreed, saying: “We believe enterprise, vertical market and sovereign customers will continue to favor Nvidia-based solutions.”

Among other key takeaways, Sur highlighted the launch of next-generation gaming products and opportunities to expand beyond high-end gaming into markets such as AI-powered PCs.

Sur ranks No. 35 among more than 9,200 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings were profitable 67% of the time, with an average return of 26.9%. look Nvidia Hedge Fund Activity On prompt ranking.