Top 7 AI Stocks With Explosive EPS Growth Potential, According to WarrenAI

Investing.com -- UBS downgraded Aegon to Neutral, saying the stock’s risk-reward has become more balanced ahead of the insurer’s capital markets day (CMD) on Dec. 10.

The bank lifted its price target slightly to €7.3 from €7.2 but said its updated sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) work shows the shares are “fairly priced” with limited room for upside.

Analysts led by Nasib Ahmed expect management to outline a 2027 (FY27) free cash flow (FCF) target of about €0.9 billion, which would sit modestly below consensus.

UBS also sees a potential dividend target of 0.45 euros, slightly under market expectations.

Aegon shares have outperformed U.S. life insurers over the past year but lagged the broader European sector. UBS argues that the company’s valuation already reflects its business mix and execution risks, particularly around its U.S. operations, which account for roughly two-thirds of group earnings.

Its refreshed valuation puts Aegon’s overall SOTP range at €7 to €9.8 per share, with the base case toward the bottom end due to lingering uncertainties over unlocking value across the group.

A potential bright spot at next week’s event could come from capital returns. Analysts say Aegon has capacity for as much as €1.1 billion in share buybacks during 2026, versus its own €0.5 billion expectation.

A larger program would “be taken positively” with the bank calculating that a €1 billion repurchase would equate to 3%–4% of the company’s market capitalization.

The note also breaks down updated valuations for the group’s major components. The U.S. business, branded Transamerica, is assessed at €7.1 billion in the base case, in line with peer free-cash-flow multiples.

The U.K. arm is valued at €2.1 billion, the international division at €1.2 billion, and the asset-management unit at €1.3 billion. The holding company and other items collectively subtract €1.2 billion from the total.

While buybacks and potential disposals could support the equity story, high exposure to equity-market and credit risks offsets that upside, according to UBS.

Analysts expect Aegon to keep recurring buybacks of €300 million per year from 2027, but stresses that “execution risk and exposure to market risks remain high.”

Investing.com -- RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage on Mitie Group, the UK facilities-management and compliance services provider, with an “outperform” rating and a 195p price target, saying the company enters its 2025-27 strategic period with strong revenue visibility, a growing base of higher-value work, and improving profitability metrics.

The brokerage said Mitie holds about 14% share of the £30 billion UK outsourced FM market, the largest among domestic providers.

It added that Mitie’s £33 billion pipeline, the highest on record, feeds a £16.5 billion secured order book, which has expanded about 45% since the strategic plan was launched for F2025-27E. 

The secured order book accounts for more than 65% of RBC’s three-year forward revenue forecasts, providing what it described as a high level of revenue coverage.

RBC flagged a first-half H1 F26 book-to-bill ratio of 141%, compared with 147% in F2025, indicating continued demand across Mitie’s services. 

The brokerage expects a 10.7% three-year revenue CAGR to F2027E, including 7.2% organic, and noted that Mitie had already reported 12.9% revenue growth in F2025 and 10.4% year-over-year growth in H1 F26. 

Mitie’s Business Services and Technical Services divisions generate roughly half each of group revenue, with transformation projects contributing an increasing share of both divisions’ totals.

RBC said margin improvement is supported by growth in higher-margin transformation and newly added compliance services.

The brokerage expects Mitie’s operating margin to improve to about 5.1% by F2027E from 4.6% in F2025, supported by the addition of Marlowe’s higher-margin 7-9% compliance operations and its planned £30 million in cost synergies over three years.

Transformation projects accounted for 12.5% of Business Services revenue and 41.5% of Technical Services revenue in F2025, with the projects pipeline growing 44% to £6.9 billion by H1 F26.

On cash generation, RBC estimates free cash flow of £121 million in F2026E and £152 million in F2027E, consistent with management’s £120 million and £150 million targets. Mitie targets a 30-40% dividend payout, and RBC noted about £100 million in ongoing share buybacks. 

It expects the company to invest up to about £75 million per year in smaller acquisitions while keeping leverage within the 0.75x-1.5x range; net debt peaked at about £475 million after acquiring Marlowe in H1 F26. 

Inorganic growth added 4.1% in F2025 and 4.2% in F2024, with Marlowe contributing about 6% annualised inorganic growth in F2026E. Mitie has historically delivered ROIC above 20%, with RBC forecasting 21.1% in F2027E.

RBC’s valuation model implies 8.2x C2026E EV/EBITDA, above Mitie’s three-year and five-year averages. However, the broker said Mitie still trades below broader FM and technical-services peers. 

RBC cited wage inflation, contract-delivery execution, public-sector renewal risk, technology failures and M&A integration as key downside risks. 

It said Mitie’s record pipeline, margin expansion drivers and rising mix of higher-value work create potential for further rerating if execution remains consistent.

Investing.com -- Wolfe Research says the crypto market is at a moment of maximum disagreement, and potentially maximum opportunity.

Analysts Rob Ginsberg and Read Harvey wrote in a note Thursday that sentiment is “at an all-time divide,” with half of market participants convinced the bear market is only beginning while others believe “the bottom is in on every bounce.”

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Wolfe places itself “somewhere in the middle,” but argues investors may be approaching a favourable entry point.

The firm reiterates its call for Bitcoin to bottom around $75,000, saying “that remains intact in our view.”

And while BTC has rebounded “back above $90k,” Wolfe cautions that buying fervor has not reemerged, pointing to continued weakness in crypto ETF flows and broad declines across digital assets.

According to the analysts, “every coin we track remains down 20–50% over the past 3 months.”

Still, Wolfe highlights one encouraging signal. On a relative basis to equities, crypto has traded in a “predictable range over the past 2 years,” and each major drawdown has found support at the same level, an area that marked past turning points.

“We are back at that level,” the firm writes. “So, crypto bulls, the floor is yours.”

Near-term momentum is also improving. Wolfe notes that daily MACD indicators show strength building across the space, though it remains unclear “if it is the start of legitimate improvement or just short-lived.”

Bitcoin’s recent bounce is viewed as particularly constructive, with “momentum [turning] positive again” as the token reclaimed $90,000.

The analysts say the “real first test” will be the 50-day moving average at $101,000, with the more meaningful psychological level for investors likely to be $100,000.

Investing.com -- Iveco Defence Vehicles (IDV) expects a significant acceleration in orders driven by the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program, according to the unit’s CEO Claudio Catalano.

Speaking at a defence conference in Rome on Thursday, Catalano noted that the upcoming SAFE program could create "a non-linearity in our order intake and require us to be able to significantly accelerate our production."

The defence unit, which is in the process of being sold by truck-maker Iveco to state-controlled aerospace and defence group Leonardo, views this growth with mixed feelings. Catalano expressed both enthusiasm and apprehension, noting that the company "must be ready to respond to the needs of our European allies" by expanding production capacity.

To prepare for increased demand, IDV is making substantial investments in its production facilities in Bolzano and Piacenza. The company has also established a specialized division in Turin focused on propulsion engines for defence applications.

When asked about potential benefits from the Leonardo acquisition, Catalano stated that the deal would enable "a rounder and better offer for clients."

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures edged higher Thursday, as investors eyed upcoming economic data ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve policy-setting meeting.

At 05:35 ET (10:35 GMT), Dow Jones Futures traded 50 points, or 0.1%, higher, S&P 500 Futures gained 5 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 18 points, or 0.1%.

The main averages on Wall Street climbed in the prior session, with lackluster private-sector payrolls adding to expectations that the Fed will lower interest rates at next week’s policy meeting, pricing in roughly a 90% chance of a 25-basis-point cut.

Weekly jobless claims due

There are more labor market numbers to study Thursday, with the U.S. Labor Department set release its weekly reading of first-time applications for unemployment benefits later in the session.

Economists anticipate that the reading will come in at 219,000, up marginally from 216,000 in the prior week.

Last week’s numbers marked a seven-month trough for the metric, indicating that while layoffs and firings remained low, demand for Americans looking for work has stayed muted.

Investors were able to study a weaker-than-expected reading from the private sector labour market earlier this week. ADP said U.S. private payrolls shrank by 32,000 in November — a surprising drop after a revised gain the prior month and far below economists’ consensus for a gain.

Although there has been a relative dearth of more comprehensive official employment data due to a record-long federal government shutdown, the Fed argued at meetings in October and September that there is enough evidence of a slowing in the labor market to warrant an easing in borrowing costs.

Adding to the dovish sentiment is growing speculation over the next Fed leadership. Reports that the Trump administration abruptly cancelled interviews with other Fed chair candidates have strengthened the view that Kevin Hassett -- widely perceived as more dovish than current chair Jerome Powell -- could take the helm in 2026.

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Salesforce lifts 2026 guidance

In the corporate sector, Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) shares rose strongly in premarket trading after the software company lifted its fiscal 2026 revenue and adjusted income guidance.

Underpinning the upbeat outlook were projections for strong growth in demand for the group’s AI-enhanced agent platform, especially among its enterprise clients.

Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) stock also climbed after the value retailer reported third-quarter earnings that significantly beat analyst expectations, driven by robust comparable sales growth and successful store expansion.

By contrast, Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) stock dropped sharply after the cloud-based data storage stock provided a slightly disappointing outlook for its product revenue growth for the January quarter.

Elsewhere, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) will be in the spotlight after Brussels opened a new antitrust investigation into the tech giant over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in WhatsApp, the European Commission said on Thursday, reflecting rising scrutiny of Big Tech’s use of generative AI.

Crude edges higher

Oil prices rose after more strikes on Russian oil infrastructure raised threats to global supply, adding to the lack of progress in diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Brent futures climbed 0.4% to $62.90 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced 0.5% to $59.25 a barrel.

A Reuters report on Wednesday, citing sources, said that Ukrainian forces struck the Druzhba pipeline in Russia’s central Tambov region, reviving concerns over potential disruptions to Russian oil exports.

At the same time, high-level peace talks between U.S. and Russian officials concluded without any breakthrough earlier this week.

Ayushman Ojha contributed to this article

Investing.com – India stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Real Estate and IT sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 added 0.18%, while the BSE Sensex 30 index added 0.19%.

The best performers of the session on the Nifty 50 were Hero MotoCorp Ltd (NSE:HROM), which rose 2.07% or 128.50 points to trade at 6,340.00 at the close. Meanwhile, IndusInd Bank Ltd. (NSE:INBK) added 1.68% or 14.20 points to end at 861.10 and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (NSE:TCS) was up 1.51% or 48.00 points to 3,228.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Reliance Industries Ltd (NSE:RELI), which fell 1.14% or 17.60 points to trade at 1,521.20 at the close. Hindalco Industries Ltd. (NSE:HALC) declined 0.72% or 5.85 points to end at 810.45 and Titan Company Ltd (NSE:TITN) was down 0.68% or 25.80 points to 3,792.00.

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were IndusInd Bank Ltd. (BO:INBK) which rose 1.93% to 862.80, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (BO:TCS) which was up 1.48% to settle at 3,227.00 and Tech Mahindra Ltd (BO:TEML) which gained 1.26% to close at 1,561.20.

The worst performers were Reliance Industries Ltd (BO:RELI) which was down 0.91% to 1,525.00 in late trade, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (BO:MRTI) which lost 0.71% to settle at 15,970.00 and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (BO:KTKM) which was down 0.53% to 2,134.00 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the India National Stock Exchange by 1448 to 1033 and 40 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 2226 fell and 1697 advanced, while 170 ended unchanged.

Shares in Hero MotoCorp Ltd (NSE:HROM) rose to all time highs; up 2.07% or 128.50 to 6,340.00.

The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was down 3.68% to 10.80 a new 1-month low.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.10% or 4.20 to $4,228.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.56% or 0.33 to hit $59.28 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.38% or 0.24 to trade at $62.91 a barrel.

USD/INR was down 0.28% to 89.92, while EUR/INR fell 0.29% to 104.93.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 98.83.