The U.S. economy is poised for a positive trajectory in 2024, marked by the first price decline in over 3-1/2 years and an annual inflation rate below 3%. The resilient labor market, decreasing inflation pressures, and potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve contributed to the optimistic outlook. This backdrop has led to a group of top tech stocks to watch.
Analysts, including Gus Faucher, express confidence in continued economic well-being, ruling out the possibility of a recession.
With this increased economic confidence, you need to buy these three top tech stocks.
Synopsys (SNPS)
Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS) is a semiconductor company offering a wide range of electronic design automation (EDA) products and services, particularly silicon. They specialize in silicon design, verification, intellectual property, and cybersecurity.
Meanwhile, SNPS stock has demonstrated remarkable performance, soaring almost 64.06% YTD. At around $524.06 per share, analysts have predicted a median price target of $610.64 to a high of $675.00.
Additionally, Synopsys has exceeded market expectations this past year. For instance, it has beaten its last four projected quarterly earnings, including the recent results from the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023. In that report, they highlight strong financials such as their revenue, which increased roughly 15%, from $5.082 billion in the fiscal year 2022 to $5.843 billion in the fiscal year 2023.
Moreover, according to a Wall Street Journal report that noted sources familiar with the matter, Synopsys is in talks to acquire the engineering software company Ansys (NASDAQ:ANSS), which has a market value of 30$ billion. If it can secure a deal (although not guaranteed), it would be noteworthy as the integration of both companies’ expertise and technologies has the potential to create a powerful synergy within the industry.
Overall, Synopsys’s latest financials, possible upcoming acquisitions, and opportunities for significant growth make this stock very compelling to buy.
Cisco Systems (CSCO)
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is a world-leading digital communications conglomerate corporation. Yahoo! Finance has 16 analysts predicting a 1-year price range on ENFN to be between $39.00 and $68.92, with a mean of $48.97.
CSCO boasts strong financials. The company reports $14.6 billion in revenue for Q4 2023, growing at a 7.6% 1-year CAGR. CSCO demonstrates great signs of profitability, with revenue growth (7.6%) outpacing operational expenditure growth (6.6%). Management has significantly improved return on investments over the past year with 23.9 billion in cash and short-term investments, growing 20.7% YoY—all in all, it’s one of those top tech stocks to consider.
Cisco has released innovative products and collaborations, poising the company for growth in 2024. This November, Cisco announced a new observability ecosystem for partners, providing insight across a wide array of categories ranging from Machine Learning Operations (MLops) to Sustainability. Cisco has also partnered with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) to create a new meeting room service, Room Kit EQX, on the Nvidia Jetson Edge AI platform. This collaboration allows for cross-platform meetings and Jetson Edge AI to improve spatial audio, significantly improving user experiences.
Cisco is a must-buy tech stock for investors going into 2024 because of the company’s strong financials, a partnership that improves customers’ user experience, and more mentioned above.
Instacart (CART)
Instacart (NASDAQ:CART), trading as Maplebear Inc, is a renowned grocery delivery business. Despite being in a competitive market with the likes of Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Amazon, Uber (NYSE:UBER), and DoorDash (NASDAQ:DASH), Instacart is still the market leader with 73% of the market share. It planned to IPO in 2021 but, due to the market environment, shelved it until the fall of 2022. Since then, the stock has fallen over 20%.
Mainly, the stock has been sold off because delivery growth has stagnated and normalized post-pandemic. The general negative sentiment towards high-growth tech stock due to rising interest rates further sent the stock down. However, the pessimism surrounding the stock now presents an opportunity for value.
This is because Instacart has successfully added advertising as a new revenue stream. Unlike Uber and Doordash, Instacart’s main customer is retail stores. With access to millions of shoppers and their purchasing data, retailers can effectively put ads onto the platform, better determine prices, and manage inventory. Ad revenue is quickly growing at 19% YoY, representing 29% of revenue. So far, this means that advertisers see results in its platform.
The valuation of Instacart is relatively cheap since many still see Instacart as a fluke from the pandemic. Wall St analysts give the stock an average price target of $35.46, with a low rating of $27, which the stock has already fallen under. In addition, at a P/S ratio of only 2.22x, it is trading at an all-time low and much lower than its competitor DoorDash at 4.81x. This makes it one of those top tech stocks to buy.
On the date of publication, Michael Que did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
The researchers contributing to this article did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.