The Argus team of analysts has presented its Best Picks for 2025. Each analyst surveyed their coverage universe, reviewed forward-looking indicators for those companies, and made decisions about which seemingly have the most growth and investment promise for the year. Our team is deeply experienced, as each analyst has spent on average 25 years on Wall Street and 15 years at Argus Research. As such, they are well-versed in our proprietary fundamental six-point valuation process and have deep knowledge of the sectors they cover. They also have solid relationships with many of the management teams they cover. The Argus Investment Policy Committee, made up of our most senior staff, is comprised of Jim Kelleher, CFA, our director of research; President John Eade; Senior Fixed-Income Analyst Kevin Heal, Director of Financial Institutions Research Steve Biggar, and Chris Graja, CFA, our senior economist. The committee provides macro outlooks for the economy, interest rates, earnings, and the stock market. Here is the Argus Best Picks list for 2025.

Nvidia is a leading developer of graphics processing units. Traditionally, GPUs were used to enhance the experience on computing platforms, most notably in gaming applications on PCs. GPU use cases have since emerged as important semiconductors used in artificial intelligence. Nvidia not only offers AI GPUs, but also a software platform, Cuda, used for AI model development and training. Nvidia is also expanding its data center networking solutions, helping to tie GPUs together to handle complex workloads.

The S&P 500 is on target for another banner year in 2024, with an advance of more than 20%. The 2024 rally broadened out a bit from 2023, when only a handful of stocks propelled the market higher. In 2024, several sectors outpaced the S&P 500, including Communication Services, Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary, and Financial. Even the Utilities sector rose almost 20%. The average BUY-rated stock under Argus coverage increased 19%, while the average HOLD-rated stock gained 0.5%. Below are the Top-Ten performers from the Argus Universe last year, with representatives from four of the 11 major sectors, as well as the Bottom-Five performers.

Sustainable Impact Investing, or ESG investing, is gaining traction not only with Argus Research clients but also with the global investment community. BlackRock CEO Lawrence Fink, who oversees approximately $9 trillion in assets, announced in January 2020 that his firm would be investing in companies that are making progress on sustainability. He doubled down in his January 2021 letter, calling on company managements to disclose their plans for making their businesses "compatible with a net-zero economy" by 2050. As assets have flowed in over the past 40 years, Sustainable Impact Investing has evolved. The discipline, originally known as Socially Responsible Investing, focused at first on excluding companies that conducted business in South Africa, or participated in industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. Performance of these initial strategies lagged, and the approach has been modified. Now, instead of merely identifying industries to avoid, the discipline promotes "sustainable" business practices across all industries that can have an "impact" on global issues such as climate, hunger, poverty, disease, shelter, and workers' rights.