The U.S. stock market is very close to all-time highs, even with the geopolitical risks and economic uncertainty weighing on long-term and short-terms investors alike. And now that July has arrived, it’s almost time for another earnings season that can bring added volatility for even the biggest stocks. Oggonomics has tracked the stocks in July getting “top pick” designations from Wall Street’s top analysts and brokerage firms.
Is it a coincidence that the research calls are very close to many earnings announcements, or do these analysts expect these stocks to trounce earnings and/or issue strong guidance for the rest of 2026?
The S&P 500 closed out the week of July 10 with a 10.7% gain so far in 2026 and within 1% of its all-time high. Some investors have remained cautious, while other investors have remained quite bullish in mid-2026. Each earnings season is a time when nimble investors need to pay close attention to their overall positions and portfolios.
Oggonomics tracks the flow of daily analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations to find new ideas and overlooked opportunities for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. While no single analyst report should ever be the sole basis to buy or sell a stock, it is interesting to see the “top pick” designations being named when banks, pharma and technology companies are within days or a couple weeks of their quarterly earnings reports.
Investors always need to keep in mind that analysts can get their thesis wrong. These analysts do not have crystal balls predicting the future, but it is not uncommon that they get deeper insight into corporate fundamentals that is more readily available (or at least sooner) than most investors can muster on their own. Investors should also know that no research report ever comes with money-back guarantees in the event of losses. In the end, there are no assurances that price expectations will ever be achieved.
Many other ‘top pick’ designations have also been issued, but some were either too small or did not offer enough upside to the firms’ price targets to include in this reporting. One of the key mantras of Oggonomics should also come to mind — Always a bull, you’re a fool! Always a bear, you’re broke!
These are some of the “top picks” issued specifically by each firm’s designations that have been seen in the last week, just before earnings season gets underway. All ratings, designations and price targets are from each firm listed by name. Oggonomics does not issue formal ratings or price targets of its own in individual stocks.
THE TOP EURO-BIOPHARMA
AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) remains Bernstein’s top pick in biopharma (EU) after losing 10% in the last week based on a setback for its Wainua treatment to lower blood levels of TTR (transthyretin) protein. Bernstein sees AZN as having a very robust pipeline for future drugs with revenue expectations almost 10% higher than the company’s own guidance out to 2030, calling for nearly 50% total growth from 2025 to $87 billion by 2030. AZN closed down nearly 4% at $171.61 on Friday, down 12% for the week.
ELI LILLY AT ALL-TIME HIGHS
Eli Lilly (LLY) remains the top pick in pharma for JPMorgan, noting it would not be surprised to see the pharma giant again raise its 2026 sales and EPS guidance. The firm is calling for upside to street estimates in the coming years based on Mounjaro internationally and Zepbound in Medicare, as well as upside from Lilly leading the $200+ billion incretin market. JPMorgan reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $to $1,400 from $1,300 in that same call on Tuesday. Eli Lilly closed down 2.3% at $1,188.58 on Friday and was down 2% on the week. Other firms also hiked their price targets this week ahead of earnings as well:
- BofA reiterated its Buy rating on Eli Lilly and raised its target to $1334 from $1251;
- Truist reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $1,370 from $1,281, calling for a “beat and raise” quarter;
- and RBC reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $1500 from $1250.
FACEBOOK… OR WHATEVER ITS NAME IS
Meta (META) is really still thought of as Facebook by most investors, but on July 9 BofA Securities added Meta to its US 1 List of highest-conviction buy-rated ideas. The analysts want to see that Meta can reach “frontier-level AI model capabilities” into 2027 and to see that its new AI products are gaining actual adoption to compete with its large capital spending for AI to date. BofA expects that these outcomes will re-rate Meta shares considerably higher from current levels. BofA has a Buy rating and $835 price target after two price hikes in three months. Meta closed up 6% at $669.21 on Friday with a 52-week range of $520.26 to $796.25. Meta closed up nearly 15% for the week after a strong start to July, but it’s up barely 1% YTD.
YOU PROBABLY HEARD OF NVIDIA
Nvidia (NVDA) remains a top semiconductor stock pick at Morgan Stanley, after the firm raised its price target to $288 from $285 in late-May. The call dismisses its massive $5 trillion market cap and that it is underperforming peers, noting that Nvidia will retain a large portion of its hyperscalers looking at custom silicon alternatives to cut on costs and help in delivery times. Morgan Stanley also maintains strong conviction due to Nvidia’s Neocloud, industrial and sovereign data center demand remaining strong — and despite its earnings multiple likely remaining constrained.
Nvidia closed up 4% at $210.96 on Friday, up just over 8% for the week and up 13% YTD.
WHAT WIRELESS COMPETITION?
T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) was named the top telecom pick at Morgan Stanley when the firm reiterated its overweight Overweight while cutting the price target to $230 from $260. This is filtering through the noise about competitive threats from SpaceX’s Starlink as slow to unroll and may take several years to reach a true competition status.
Elsewhere, BofA also this last week raised its prior Neutral rating up to Buy and maintaining its a $220 price objective. The BofA report noted that TMUS is less exposed to competitive risk from LEO based wireless and broadband solutions.
After its 2026 peak at $220, T-Mobile US shares fell to just under $170 before a more recent recovery to $187. It closed up over 5% for the week but its still down about 7% YTD and down 28% from its 52-week high.
WELLS BELLS…
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) has been on a recovery since May, rising from $74 to $87 in that time. Goldman Sachs added Wells Fargo to its US Conviction List for July as part its monthly updates. Its report noted that Wells Fargo is moving from defense to offense and that it is expected to improve its balance sheet with strength coming from its capital markets operations and its credit card business. Goldman Sachs reiterated its Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $93.
Wells Fargo closed up almost 2% for the week but it is still down by 6.5% YTD.
EXPEDIA: A HIGH BAR
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $315 from $270 by the independent research firm Argus on July 7. While this is not a “top pick” designation, the “handily-above-consensus” report sees multiple drivers for upside that the rest of Wall Street isn’t touting:
- Bookings are likely to benefit from increasing demand in the U.S. over the next 12 months;
- it spent $700 million on share buybacks in Q1-2026 and authorized another $5 billion in share buybacks (versus a $32 billion market cap — along with a 20% dividend hike earlier in the year);
- its current P/E ratio of 13.4-times its FY26 estimate is near the bottom of the five-year range;
- and Argus is looking for Expedia’s growth to improve further in 2027, and it raised its 2027 EPS estimate to $23.10 from $22.50 (above consensus) partly due to Expedia’s new loyalty program and AI-related improvements.
Expedia was also highlighted in the July 11 Barron’s Roundtable, with fund manager Delphi touting the stock as undervalued and much room to grow against Booking but closer to a 25% discount to its larger rival.
At $270 on Friday, Expedia’s 52-week range is $174.05 to $303.80 and Wall Street’s consensus price target is closer to $283. The stock has fallen by 4% YTD but is up 48% from a year ago and the stock is within about 11% of its all-time high from 2025.
