Stocks to Consider for Your Holiday Shopping List That Defy the Norm
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Dec 11 2025
0mins
Should l Buy AMD?
Source: NASDAQ.COM
Holiday Consumer Trends: Analysts discuss the current holiday shopping season, noting a trend of deal fatigue among consumers, with retail sales up 4% on Black Friday but flat when adjusted for inflation. The economy appears bifurcated, with affluent shoppers driving sales while the middle class struggles.
Stock Recommendations: The Motley Fool team shares their top stock picks for 2025, emphasizing the importance of selecting companies that understand their customers and have strong operational strategies. Notable mentions include BBB Foods and Astera Labs, both seen as having significant growth potential.
Investment Strategies: The analysts advise a cautious approach to investing, suggesting that investors start with small positions in promising stocks and gradually increase their investments based on business performance, rather than making impulsive buys.
Market Insights: The discussion highlights the impact of AI and e-commerce on consumer behavior, with companies leveraging technology to attract affluent customers while navigating challenges posed by inflation and changing spending habits.
Trade with 70% Backtested Accuracy
Stop guessing "Should I Buy AMD?" and start using high-conviction signals backed by rigorous historical data.
Sign up today to access powerful investing tools and make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Analyst Views on AMD
Wall Street analysts forecast AMD stock price to rise
33 Analyst Rating
25 Buy
8 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 200.120
Low
210.00
Averages
289.13
High
377.00
Current: 200.120
Low
210.00
Averages
289.13
High
377.00
About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is a global semiconductor company. The Company is focused on high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies. Its segments include Data Center, Client and Gaming, and Embedded. Data Center segment includes artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators, microprocessors (CPUs) for servers, graphics processing units (GPUs), accelerated processing units (APUs), data processing units (DPUs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), smart network interface Cards (SmartNICs) and Adaptive system-on-Chip (SoC) products for data centers. Client and Gaming segment includes CPUs, APUs, chipsets for desktops and notebooks, discrete GPUs, and semi-custom SoC products and development services. Embedded segment includes embedded CPUs, GPUs, APUs, FPGAs, system on modules (SOMs), and Adaptive SoC products. It markets and sells its products under the AMD trademark. Its products include AMD EPYC, AMD Ryzen, AMD Ryzen PRO, Virtex UltraScale+, and others.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
AMD Stock Pullback Presents Buying Opportunity
- Strong Quarterly Performance: Despite a more than 17% drop in AMD's stock following its Q4 2025 earnings report, the company achieved impressive revenue and earnings growth, projecting a 32% year-over-year increase in Q2 2026 to $9.8 billion, indicating robust market demand and business resilience.
- Margin Improvement: AMD anticipates a non-GAAP gross margin of 55% in the current quarter, up 2 percentage points from last year, primarily driven by the launch of its latest AI data center processors, reflecting successful positioning in high-margin product lines.
- Market Reaction Analysis: Although AMD's earnings and outlook exceeded Wall Street expectations, the stock fell 4.8% as investors took profits, creating an opportunity for new investors to enter at a relatively attractive valuation with a current P/E ratio of 31, indicating potential investment value.
- Future Growth Potential: Analysts forecast a 60% increase in AMD's earnings for both 2026 and 2027, significantly above the S&P 500 average, and if AMD trades at 22 times earnings in three years, its stock price could reach $309, representing a 51% increase from current levels, showcasing strong long-term growth potential.
See More
DIGITALOCEAN ENHANCES AGENTIC INFERENCE CLOUD WITH AMD INSTINCT™ MI350X GPU-POWERED DROPLETS
Digital Ocean Enhancements: Digital Ocean has upgraded its agentic inference cloud capabilities, enhancing its service offerings.
GPU Integration: The new features are powered by AMD's Instinct MI350X GPUs, indicating a focus on high-performance computing.
See More
AI Impact Summit: Tech Leaders Gather in India
- Intensifying Competition: At the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei shared the stage, and their choice to raise fists instead of shaking hands highlights the fierce competition between their companies for global market share and user adoption.
- Advertising Controversy: The two companies have recently clashed over the use of ads in AI models, with Altman criticizing Anthropic's advertising strategy as 'clearly dishonest,' while Anthropic emphasized its focus on business growth rather than creating 'flashy headlines.'
- Capital Race: Since their inception, OpenAI and Anthropic have raised billions of dollars, showcasing the escalating competition for users, enterprise clients, and market share, reflecting the investment frenzy and potential in the AI sector.
- Safety Discussions: During the summit, Amodei discussed the 'serious risks' associated with AI, including autonomous behavior and potential misuse, while Altman argued that understanding AI safety should encompass 'societal resilience,' indicating differing perspectives on the future of AI safety.
See More
Nvidia Shares Decline, Yet OpenAI's Fundraising May Bring Benefits.
Nvidia Stock Performance: Nvidia's stock experienced a decline early Thursday despite positive analyst predictions regarding its upcoming earnings.
OpenAI Fundraising News: The drop in Nvidia's stock occurred alongside reports of significant fundraising plans from OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
See More
AI Regulation Showdown in New York Congressional Race
- Ad Campaign Support: The Jobs and Democracy PAC, aligned with the Democratic Party, is launching a six-figure ad campaign to support Alex Bores in New York's 12th congressional district, where Bores is a key proponent of the RAISE Act, which mandates large AI developers to publish safety protocols and report serious misuse of their technologies.
- Competitive Primary: Bores faces a crowded field in the Democratic primary, and given the district's demographics, the winner of this primary is likely to secure the general election, making AI regulation a pivotal issue for voters.
- Bipartisan Backing: The Jobs and Democracy PAC is part of a larger bipartisan initiative led by former lawmakers Brad Carson and Chris Stewart to support candidates advocating for increased AI regulation, recently bolstered by a $20 million donation from Anthropic.
- Regulatory Debate Intensifies: Congressional discussions on AI regulation are centered around whether to temporarily ban states from implementing certain AI laws to prevent a patchwork of regulations, with proponents arguing it could slow AI development, although the proposal has failed to gain bipartisan support.
See More
Samsung HBM4 Memory Chip Price Surge
- Price Surge Trend: Samsung Electronics is negotiating a price of about $700 per unit for its next-generation High Bandwidth Memory HBM4, which is 20%-30% higher than the previous generation, indicating a regained pricing power in the scarce AI memory market that could enhance semiconductor profits.
- Production Milestone: Samsung has commenced mass production of HBM4 and shipped commercial products to customers, aiming to recover its market position after initially trailing SK Hynix in early AI memory momentum, signaling a resurgence in its competitive edge in the high-end AI memory sector.
- Smartphone Cost Impact: The rising memory prices are prompting Samsung to consider a price increase of 100,000 to 200,000 won for the Galaxy S26 series, with the Galaxy S26 Ultra 512GB potentially exceeding 2 million won, which will directly affect the bill of materials for its smartphones.
- Market Competition Dynamics: Analysts expect SK Hynix to supply about 70% of HBM4, while Samsung will provide roughly 30%, suggesting that Samsung may narrow the pricing gap with SK Hynix in the coming years, especially if it supplies more premium-priced HBM to Nvidia.
See More
AMD Stock Pullback Presents Buying Opportunity
- Strong Quarterly Performance: Despite a more than 17% drop in AMD's stock following its Q4 2025 earnings report, the company achieved impressive revenue and earnings growth, projecting a 32% year-over-year increase in Q2 2026 to $9.8 billion, indicating robust market demand and business resilience.
- Margin Improvement: AMD anticipates a non-GAAP gross margin of 55% in the current quarter, up 2 percentage points from last year, primarily driven by the launch of its latest AI data center processors, reflecting successful positioning in high-margin product lines.
- Market Reaction Analysis: Although AMD's earnings and outlook exceeded Wall Street expectations, the stock fell 4.8% as investors took profits, creating an opportunity for new investors to enter at a relatively attractive valuation with a current P/E ratio of 31, indicating potential investment value.
- Future Growth Potential: Analysts forecast a 60% increase in AMD's earnings for both 2026 and 2027, significantly above the S&P 500 average, and if AMD trades at 22 times earnings in three years, its stock price could reach $309, representing a 51% increase from current levels, showcasing strong long-term growth potential.
See More
DIGITALOCEAN ENHANCES AGENTIC INFERENCE CLOUD WITH AMD INSTINCT™ MI350X GPU-POWERED DROPLETS
Digital Ocean Enhancements: Digital Ocean has upgraded its agentic inference cloud capabilities, enhancing its service offerings.
GPU Integration: The new features are powered by AMD's Instinct MI350X GPUs, indicating a focus on high-performance computing.
See More
AI Impact Summit: Tech Leaders Gather in India
- Intensifying Competition: At the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei shared the stage, and their choice to raise fists instead of shaking hands highlights the fierce competition between their companies for global market share and user adoption.
- Advertising Controversy: The two companies have recently clashed over the use of ads in AI models, with Altman criticizing Anthropic's advertising strategy as 'clearly dishonest,' while Anthropic emphasized its focus on business growth rather than creating 'flashy headlines.'
- Capital Race: Since their inception, OpenAI and Anthropic have raised billions of dollars, showcasing the escalating competition for users, enterprise clients, and market share, reflecting the investment frenzy and potential in the AI sector.
- Safety Discussions: During the summit, Amodei discussed the 'serious risks' associated with AI, including autonomous behavior and potential misuse, while Altman argued that understanding AI safety should encompass 'societal resilience,' indicating differing perspectives on the future of AI safety.
See More
Nvidia Shares Decline, Yet OpenAI's Fundraising May Bring Benefits.
Nvidia Stock Performance: Nvidia's stock experienced a decline early Thursday despite positive analyst predictions regarding its upcoming earnings.
OpenAI Fundraising News: The drop in Nvidia's stock occurred alongside reports of significant fundraising plans from OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
See More
AI Regulation Showdown in New York Congressional Race
- Ad Campaign Support: The Jobs and Democracy PAC, aligned with the Democratic Party, is launching a six-figure ad campaign to support Alex Bores in New York's 12th congressional district, where Bores is a key proponent of the RAISE Act, which mandates large AI developers to publish safety protocols and report serious misuse of their technologies.
- Competitive Primary: Bores faces a crowded field in the Democratic primary, and given the district's demographics, the winner of this primary is likely to secure the general election, making AI regulation a pivotal issue for voters.
- Bipartisan Backing: The Jobs and Democracy PAC is part of a larger bipartisan initiative led by former lawmakers Brad Carson and Chris Stewart to support candidates advocating for increased AI regulation, recently bolstered by a $20 million donation from Anthropic.
- Regulatory Debate Intensifies: Congressional discussions on AI regulation are centered around whether to temporarily ban states from implementing certain AI laws to prevent a patchwork of regulations, with proponents arguing it could slow AI development, although the proposal has failed to gain bipartisan support.
See More
Samsung HBM4 Memory Chip Price Surge
- Price Surge Trend: Samsung Electronics is negotiating a price of about $700 per unit for its next-generation High Bandwidth Memory HBM4, which is 20%-30% higher than the previous generation, indicating a regained pricing power in the scarce AI memory market that could enhance semiconductor profits.
- Production Milestone: Samsung has commenced mass production of HBM4 and shipped commercial products to customers, aiming to recover its market position after initially trailing SK Hynix in early AI memory momentum, signaling a resurgence in its competitive edge in the high-end AI memory sector.
- Smartphone Cost Impact: The rising memory prices are prompting Samsung to consider a price increase of 100,000 to 200,000 won for the Galaxy S26 series, with the Galaxy S26 Ultra 512GB potentially exceeding 2 million won, which will directly affect the bill of materials for its smartphones.
- Market Competition Dynamics: Analysts expect SK Hynix to supply about 70% of HBM4, while Samsung will provide roughly 30%, suggesting that Samsung may narrow the pricing gap with SK Hynix in the coming years, especially if it supplies more premium-priced HBM to Nvidia.
See More
