AI's Uneven Growth, Regional Bank Picks, And Beaten-Down Retail Stocks In Focus As Wedbush Analyst Shares Insights
AI's Uneven Growth, Regional Bank Picks, And Beaten-Down Retail Stocks In Focus As Wedbush Analyst Shares Insights
Kevin Merritt, the research director at Wedbush Securities, joined Benzinga's PreMarket Prep Wednesday and highlighted the firm's top bank picks, opportunities in beaten-down names and more. Merritt also spoke about the adoption of AI, and which companies will benefit from the technology in the medium to long term.
Merritt pointed out that despite the rally in large-cap techs largely driven by AI, it's a "mixed bag" in regards to which companies are the winners and losers of machine learning.
Wedbush證券研究部主任Kevin Merritt加入Benzinga的PreMarket Prep週三並重點介紹了該公司的銀行板塊首選股、被低估的機會等。Merritt還談到了人工智能的採用情況，以及哪些公司將受益於這項技術的中長期發展。
Merritt指出，儘管大型科技公司的大漲主要受人工智能驅動，但在機器學習的贏家和輸家方面，「情況五花八門」。
"I do think there's going to be a fairly heated debate about who else benefits or loses... IT services right now is quite a mixed bag," Merritt said. "The likes of Accenture has had some tough quarters over the last year... quite a bit of debate about cannibalization vs opportunity."
Merritt highlighted Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) as a company that has already capitalized on AI growth, while others, like Accenture Plc (NYSE:ACN), are expected to take longer to realize revenue gains from AI adoption. But, Merritt said that as more corporations adopt AI, IT and tech consulting companies like Accenture should benefit in the long term.
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Outside of tech and AI, Merritt pointed to the regional banking sector as one to watch. He said that Wedbush has recently become more bullish on the sector as economic conditions stabilize as the Fed cuts interest rates.
"We have been quite cautious on the regional and mid-cap bank group for the past couple of years and we just recently in the past couple of months turned to a more balanced, neutral sector view," Merritt said. "And the thought being that to the extent the economy is able to hang in there, credit metrics don't exhibit too much deterioration, and you see rates move in a more favorable direction, it's appropriate to have a more balanced stance."
Merritt highlighted Western Alliance Bancorp (NYSE:WAL) as a name that Wedbush analysts recently selected for the firm's "Best Ideas" list. Merritt also mentioned Comerica Inc (NYSE:CMA) as a regional bank that Wedbush upgraded.
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Merritt and the PreMarket Prep hosts also talked about some beaten-down retail investor favorites like Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:SBUX), Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) and Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ:CELH). Merritt said that he believes newly-appointed Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol will have a "heavy lift" to turn the story around, but that there could be "strategic value" in Celsius's stock.
「我確實認爲，關於誰還會從中受益或受損會引發一場相當激烈的辯論...目前IT服務是一個有點五花八門的領域，」 Merritt說道。「埃森哲這一類公司在過去一年裏遇到了一些困難...關於蠶食還是機遇有很多爭論。」
Merritt強調了Palantir Technologies Inc. (納斯達克：PLTR)作爲一個已經從人工智能增長中獲益的公司，而其他公司，比如埃森哲Plc（紐交所：ACN），預計需要較長時間才能從人工智能採用中實現營收增長。但是，Merritt表示，隨着越來越多的公司採用人工智能，像埃森哲這樣的IT和科技諮詢公司應該會受益於長期發展。
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在科技和人工智能之外，Merritt指出了區域銀行板塊是值得關注的一個領域。他表示，由於經濟狀況穩定且聯儲局減息，Wedbush最近對該板塊的看法變得更加看漲。
「在過去幾年裏，我們對區域和中型銀行集團一直持謹慎態度，但最近幾個月我們已經轉變爲更加均衡、中立的板塊觀點，」 Merritt說道。「如果經濟能夠堅持下去，信貸指標沒有太大惡化，並且利率朝着更有利的方向移動，那麼擁有更加均衡的立場是恰當的。」
Merritt將阿萊恩斯西部銀行（紐交所：WAL）作爲Wedbush分析師最近爲該公司的「最佳構想」列表選定的一家公司提到。 Merritt還提到了Comerica銀行（紐交所：CMA）作爲Wedbush升級的一個區域銀行。
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Merritt和PreMarket Prep的主持人們還談到了一些備受青睞的零售投資者喜愛的股票，如星巴克公司（納斯達克：SBUX），耐克公司（紐約交所：NKE）和Celsius Holdings（納斯達克：CELH）。Merritt表示，他認爲新任命的星巴克CEO布萊恩·尼科將需要進行"艱鉅的努力"來扭轉局勢，但是Celsius股票可能具有"戰略價值"。
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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.
圖像由Midjourney通過人工智能創建。
譯文內容由第三人軟體翻譯。