Top Wall Street analysts like these stocks for their growth prospects

Optimism around artificial intelligence has helped lift the S&P 500 in 2024, boosting key chip stocks and power plays in the utilities space.

Investors seeking sustainable returns will need to look for companies with solid long-term growth potential.

To this end, top Wall Street analysts, with their expertise, can help investors understand the key drivers that could support a company’s long-term growth and pick stocks that are likely to deliver lucrative returns.  

Here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.

Fortinet

This week’s first pick is cybersecurity company Fortinet (FTNT). The company aims to become a leader in the secure access service edge space. Fortinet leverages machine learning and AI technologies to offer cybersecurity solutions.

Recently, TD Cowen analyst Shaul Eyal reaffirmed a buy rating on Fortinet stock and raised the price target to $90 from $75. The analyst stated that channel checks and discussions with industry participants indicate continued recovery in FTNT’s business and healthy demand across the company’s broad product portfolio.

In fact, channel checks suggest that Fortinet’s third-quarter revenue and billings will reach the top end of the company’s outlook, with the possibility of a modest upside. Also, the analyst is confident about his Q4 revenue growth estimate of 12%, given “healthy closure rates and further pipeline building into a seasonally strong 4Q24.”

Eyal also noted that one of the key drivers supporting Fortinet’s ongoing recovery is the solid traction in the company’s operational technology products, backed by a long-term replacement cycle that will replace legacy OT systems. The analyst added that FTNT is also gaining from the adoption of AI-led networks and the company’s growing focus on cloud security, which was bolstered by the recent acquisition of Lacework.

Eyal ranks No. 12 among more than 9,100 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 71% of the time, delivering an average return of 27.3%. (See Fortinet Insider Trading Activity on TipRanks) 

GitLab

We move on to GitLab (GTLB), an AI-powered, cloud-based software company that helps organizations enhance developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, and reduce security and compliance risks.

Following meetings with the company’s management, Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz reiterated a buy rating on GitLab stock with a price target of…