Top 5 Stock Recommendations from Wall Street's Most Reliable Analysts Last Week
Market Overview: U.S. stocks mostly declined on Friday, with the Dow Jones dropping over 300 points, while the Nasdaq fell by 0.5% and the S&P 500 and Dow saw slight gains of 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively.
Analyst Ratings Insights: Benzinga's Analyst Ratings API provides curated stock ratings from major banks, helping investors navigate varying analyst opinions and improve trading outcomes.
Top Analyst Picks: Recent ratings from top analysts include Asiya Merchant (Citigroup) maintaining a Neutral rating on HP Inc., Trevor Walsh (Citizens) maintaining a Market Outperform rating on SoundThinking, and John Todaro (Needham) maintaining a Buy rating on Circle Internet Group, among others.
Recent Developments: Analysts have adjusted price targets for several stocks, with notable expectations for gains in companies like NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices, reflecting ongoing market dynamics and company performance updates.
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- Share Acquisition: On February 17, 2026, Cantor Fitzgerald disclosed to the SEC the acquisition of an additional 3,333,423 shares of IREN, with an estimated transaction value of $171.96 million, indicating strong confidence in the company's future prospects.
- Market Value Increase: This acquisition led to a $124.65 million increase in IREN's quarter-end value, reflecting the dual impact of new purchases and price changes, thereby solidifying Cantor Fitzgerald's investment strategy in the digital asset sector.
- Portfolio Adjustment: Following this transaction, IREN now represents 1.99% of Cantor Fitzgerald's 13F AUM, while the firm drastically reduced its stake in CoreWeave by 86%, highlighting its focus on IREN's growth potential.
- Market Performance: As of February 17, 2026, IREN shares were priced at $40.97, up 215.9% year-over-year, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 by 203 percentage points, showcasing its robust performance in the data center and Bitcoin mining sectors.
- Share Acquisition Details: On February 17, 2026, Cantor Fitzgerald disclosed the acquisition of an additional 3,333,423 shares of IREN, with an estimated transaction value of $171.96 million based on the quarterly average price, indicating strong confidence in the company.
- Value Increase: The quarter-end value of IREN's position rose by $124.65 million, reflecting both new purchases and stock price movements, suggesting Cantor Fitzgerald's optimistic outlook on IREN's future growth.
- Market Position Analysis: With a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, IREN represents only 1.99% of Cantor Fitzgerald's 13F AUM, yet its growth potential has drawn investor interest, particularly given its dependency on a contract with Microsoft.
- Investment Strategy Shift: Cantor Fitzgerald significantly increased its investment in IREN while reducing its stake in CoreWeave during Q4, indicating a belief that IREN may offer higher return potential moving forward.
- Market Confidence Revived: Meta's commitment to invest billions in Nvidia chips not only provides a much-needed financial boost to Nvidia but also has the potential to reshape market perceptions of its technological advantages, thereby enhancing its stock performance.
- Competitive Landscape Shift: With Meta's investment, Nvidia is likely to regain investor attention, prompting a reassessment of its core position in the AI sector, especially in light of competitive threats from companies like Google.
- Product Portfolio Advantage: Meta plans to utilize not only Nvidia's GPUs but also deploy its CPUs independently, indicating the significant value of Nvidia's product portfolio in meeting Meta's growing computational demands.
- Long-Term Value Consideration: CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasizes the importance of evaluating the

- Hedge Fund Activity: Appaloosa, led by billionaire David Tepper, made significant changes to its tech portfolio in Q4 2025.
- Increased Investments: The fund increased its investments in Micron and Alphabet.
- Reduced Holdings: Appaloosa reduced its stakes in AMD, Alibaba, and Uber.
- Market Strategy: These adjustments reflect the fund's strategic approach to navigating the tech sector.
- AMD Performance Fluctuations: Despite AMD's quarterly revenue rising 34% to $10.3 billion, driven by 39% growth in data center and 37% in client segments, the stock has dropped 24% in a month due to disappointing guidance, indicating market concerns about future performance.
- Broadcom Growth Potential: Broadcom's stock has retreated 20% from its December peak, yet after a revenue growth slowdown from 44% to 24% in fiscal 2025, analysts expect a rebound to 52% in fiscal 2026, alongside a dividend that has increased for 15 consecutive years, highlighting its long-term investment appeal.
- Coinbase Market Pressure: Coinbase's shares have plummeted 63% since last summer's peak, with total revenue and transaction revenue showing sequential declines, and early guidance for subscription and services revenue suggests an 18% drop, reflecting significant market challenges ahead.
- Unchanged Investment Strategy: Despite market challenges, Cathie Wood remains committed to her investment style, continuing to add shares of AMD, Broadcom, and Coinbase, demonstrating confidence in the long-term growth potential of these tech stocks.
- Strategic Transition Opportunity: Starboard Value LP, a significant shareholder of Riot Platforms, is urging the company to swiftly pivot from bitcoin mining to the AI and high-performance computing (AI/HPC) data center market, emphasizing the potential of this transition, particularly in light of a recent deal with AMD.
- Key Agreement Details: Riot's agreement with AMD involves an initial lease of 25 CIT MW, with potential expansion to 200 CIT MW, generating $311 million in revenue over the next decade with an 80% EBITDA margin, indicating a robust financial outlook.
- Resource Advantage: Riot's data center locations in Corsicana and Rockdale, Texas, offer 1.7 GW of available power, positioning the company as a strong contender in the AI/HPC hosting market, capable of attracting top-tier tenants and enhancing its equity value.
- Internal Improvements and Governance: Riot's transition also includes internal enhancements such as new hires and the resolution of a lawsuit, which will free up capacity for development, improve governance, and operational efficiency, further solidifying its market position in AI/HPC.










