Top stock picks for the second half of the year from BTIG

CNBC

19 hours ago

As the second half of the year kicks off, BTIG's list of recommended stock picks could win big. The first half of 2025 was marred by raging volatility resulting from President Donald Trump's universal tariff policies and armed conflict in the Middle East. But stocks have more than made up for heightened uncertainty, with the S & P 500 bouncing back more than 20% from the April low to reach three all-time highs in the past four sessions. Goldman Sachs noted that this marked the index's fastest recovery ever from a decline of more than 15%. Now Goldman is optimistic that the latest move has legs, at least for the next few weeks. And several other banks, including Citigroup , JPMorgan , Barclays , Deutsche Bank and RBC , have all raised their year-end targets for the market. In a Tuesday note, BTIG analysts shared their highest conviction investment ideas for the next 12 months, including the following stocks: Starbucks , up 4% this year, was recommended by BTIG. The brokerage firm's price target of $105 per share is approximately 11% above where the coffee chain closed Wednesday. "While progress has taken longer to materialize, frustrating some investors with shares only slightly positive in the first half, we still believe it is happening and will set the stage for outsized same-store sales and earnings growth in 2026 and beyond," wrote BTIG analyst Peter Saleh. "The recovery trajectory now looks like it will emerge towards year-end 2025 and into the first half of next year. Granted this is further back than we expected six months ago, but we still expect it will catalyze shares once it does emerge." BTIG believes that shares of Dexcom could rise 30% from here, based on Wednesday's close. The maker of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems has already risen 7.5% year to date, although the stock tumbled Tuesday after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed competitive bidding for CGM and infusion pump manufacturers. BTIG wrote on Tuesday that Dexcom remains its top large-cap stock pick for the second half of the year. "The company is continuing its turnaround, with positive trends from late last year persisting in Q1," wrote analyst Marie Thibault. "We believe DXCM is on the right track to meet expectations, return to high-teens or better sales growth in 2H25 and beyond, and meet its [lomg-range planning] targets. We think shares can continue to steadily re -rate throughout the rest of 2025 as DXCM gets back to its winning ways." Other stocks that BTIG rates highly include AppLovin , Capital One Financial and Snowflake .