As the second-quarter earnings season wraps up, Goldman Sachs has its eyes on a collection of internet stock picks that the Wall Street bank is optimistic on following their latest results. Goldman noted several key themes that drove the earnings season, including the return on invested capital (ROIC) for stocks tied to artificial intelligence spending, as well as the health of U.S. consumer spending. Looking ahead, Goldman thinks the visibility of profits on AI-related investment is murky, at the same time as online consumer spending is slowing and more focused on necessities. Against this backdrop, Goldman listed a collection of stocks that it thinks can best navigate this changing investment landscape, including e-commerce giant Amazon and rideshare company Uber . Here’s a look at some of the companies that made Goldman’s recommended list. All stocks mentioned are rated buy at Goldman. Shares of Amazon have added more than 17% in 2024. Goldman analyst Eric Sheridan noted that while Amazon has cautioned that consumers are likely to trade down on shopping choices, the company is well positioned to take advantage of shifting spending thanks to its scale and enormous platform. AMZN YTD mountain Amazon stock. “We believe that AMZN sees this as an opportunity to gain market share and meet consumers with lower prices, faster delivery speeds and a widening selection,” Sheridan wrote. “We believe that AMZN’s everyday essentials business is still growing well into the double-digits and discretionary/high ticket items (e.g., electronics) are still growing but at a slower pace [than] they would in a stronger economy.” Goldman’s $230 per share price target implies 29% upside from Friday’s $178.50 close. Google-parent company Alphabet , another of Goldman’s picks, has surged 17% in 2024. Sheridan said that the company’s position in AI and strong returns from its cloud segment will allow Alphabet to “support return on AI investments,” although “debates remain on capex intensity” and operating trends tied to YouTube. GOOGL YTD mountain Alphabet stock. “Going forward, we see debates centering around ability to continue to show stable/accelerating revenue trends, how much of that is driven by core workloads returning to the mix vs. AI services contribution (incl. the level of incrementality of that revenue) & continued upward bias to capital investments related to cloud infrastructure to support execution against the AI opportunity with an increasing focus on ROIC among investors,” Sheridan said. Goldman’s $217 per share outlook implies 33% upside over the next year. Other stocks that Goldman recommended included Uber and DraftKings .
