Five artificial-intelligence stocks lead the watch list as third-quarter earnings season begins in earnest next week, with analysts at Jefferies, Stifel and KeyBanc naming their favourite plays in a MarketWatch survey of Wall Street's earnings calls. The Nasdaq Composite has fallen about six per cent from recent highs amid AI-hype and inflation concerns, while surging demand for autonomous AI agents is being cited as a fresh catalyst. This is market news only, not a tip or advice to trade.
Microsoft, which reports on October 28, is Jefferies analyst Brent Thill's pick, on Copilot adoption, Azure growth and sustained compute demand that could allow higher prices, alongside a planned $175 billion in 2026 infrastructure spending. The stock trades at about 26 times forward earnings, against a five-year average of 28.
Shopify, reporting November 3, drew a Stifel call from J. Parker Lane, who expects a beat with revenue growth accelerating to about 35 per cent against the company's 'low-thirties' guidance, on enterprise, international and payments strength. Lane also highlighted Twilio, reporting October 29, where he expects detail on voice-agent momentum — though shares already up about 72 per cent this year set a high bar.
Cadence Design Systems, reporting October 26 after a roughly 10 per cent weekly slide, could see a 'quite large estimate revision' on strong product demand and high-teens organic growth, according to KeyBanc's Jason Celino.
CoreWeave is the list's cautionary name: shares fell more than 26 per cent this week, and the company carries about $52 billion in total debt including leases as of June, with some unsecured yields reaching 15 per cent. Thill called the reaction 'too harsh' and reiterated a Buy rating and $150 target, while BNP Paribas' Daniel Wang wants a self-sufficiency and cash-flow roadmap on the call.
