Top Stock Picks!

STA Research – Top 6 Stock Picks (August 2026)

1. IBM

Rating: Buy

Thesis: IBM continues to transform into a leading enterprise AI and hybrid cloud company through its watsonx AI platform, Red Hat ecosystem, and consulting business. The company is well positioned to benefit from increasing enterprise demand for AI deployment and digital transformation.

Catalyst: Enterprise AI adoption, hybrid cloud expansion, consulting growth, and recurring software revenue. IBM’s stock recently declined as the company lowered its 2026 revenue growth outlook and reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue, as delayed enterprise contracts and slower infrastructure sales outweighed continued strength in its AI, software, and hybrid cloud businesses. This event could present itself with an opportunity to enter the stock at a favourable valuation point.

View: A stable large-cap technology company offering defensive characteristics with growing exposure to enterprise artificial intelligence.

2. Microsoft

Rating: Strong Buy

Thesis: Microsoft remains one of the world’s premier AI investment opportunities, leveraging Azure cloud computing, Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub, and OpenAI technologies to drive long-term earnings growth and recurring revenue.

Catalyst: Azure cloud acceleration, enterprise AI deployment, Copilot adoption, and expanding operating margins. After a big earnings beat, and confirming viability of AI spending, stock is likely to coninue its uptrend.

View: A core long-term AI holding with exceptional financial strength and durable competitive advantages.

3. NVIDIA

Rating: Strong Buy

Thesis: NVIDIA continues to dominate the AI semiconductor market through its leadership in GPUs, networking, AI software, and next-generation computing platforms. The company remains the primary beneficiary of global AI infrastructure investment.

Catalyst: Continued hyperscaler spending, Blackwell platform deployments, sovereign AI projects, and expanding enterprise AI demand. Stock is attractive as it is still in a uptrend, giving considerable stable upside opportunity.

View: The global leader in AI computing with unmatched technological leadership and long-term earnings momentum.

4. Meta Platforms

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Meta is rapidly integrating artificial intelligence across its advertising platforms, social media ecosystem, and next-generation digital services while investing heavily in AI infrastructure to improve monetization and user engagement.

Catalyst: AI-driven advertising growth, increased engagement across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and expanding AI-powered business tools. Stock is at an attractive valuation point after earnings miss.

View: A cash-generating technology leader successfully leveraging AI to strengthen both revenue growth and operating efficiency.

5. Micron Technology

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Micron is one of the largest beneficiaries of the AI memory cycle as demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and advanced DRAM continues to accelerate across data centers and AI servers.

Catalyst: Rising HBM shipments, AI server demand, improving memory pricing, and expanding profit margins. Stock is at an attractive valuation point, after large pullback in July.

View: A leading semiconductor company positioned to benefit from one of the strongest memory upgrade cycles in history.

6. Brookfield Asset Management

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Brookfield Asset Management continues to benefit from growing institutional demand for alternative investments, including infrastructure, renewable energy, private equity, and credit markets. Its diversified fee-based business model provides stable, long-term earnings growth.

Catalyst: Higher fundraising activity, expanding infrastructure investments, renewable energy deployment, and growth in fee-bearing capital. Stock is at an attractive valuation point.

View: A premier global alternative asset manager offering diversified exposure to long-term secular growth trends and resilient cash flow generation.

Portfolio Positioning Summary

AI Infrastructure Leaders: NVIDIA, Microsoft, Micron

Enterprise AI & Software: IBM, Microsoft, Meta Platforms

Digital Advertising & AI Applications: Meta Platforms

Alternative Assets & Infrastructure: Brookfield Asset Management

Overall Strategy

This portfolio is designed to capitalize on the next phase of the artificial intelligence investment cycle while maintaining exposure to stable, high-quality businesses with durable competitive advantages. The strategy emphasizes AI semiconductors, cloud computing, enterprise software, digital advertising, and hybrid cloud infrastructure, complemented by Brookfield Asset Management’s diversified exposure to global infrastructure and alternative assets. Together, these six companies provide a balanced blend of secular technology growth, recurring cash flow, and long-term capital appreciation potential.

STA Research – Top 6 Stock Picks (July 2026)

1. NVIDIA

Rating: Strong Buy

Thesis: NVIDIA remains the dominant force in artificial intelligence infrastructure, leading the market in AI GPUs, networking solutions, and AI software platforms. Continued investment by hyperscalers and enterprises supports long-term earnings growth.

Catalyst: Accelerating AI infrastructure spending, next-generation GPU deployments, sovereign AI initiatives, and expanding enterprise AI adoption.

View: The premier AI infrastructure company and core long-term technology holding.

2. Barrick Mining Corporation

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Barrick offers defensive exposure to rising gold prices while generating strong free cash flow from its world-class mining operations. The company is well positioned to benefit from persistent geopolitical uncertainty and central bank demand for gold.

Catalyst: Higher gold prices, disciplined capital allocation, production growth, and continued shareholder returns.

View: A high-quality precious metals producer providing portfolio diversification and downside protection.

3. Shopify

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Shopify continues to strengthen its position as a leading global e-commerce platform by expanding merchant solutions, integrating artificial intelligence, and growing higher-margin subscription and payment services.

Catalyst: Merchant growth, AI-powered commerce tools, international expansion, and increasing payment volumes.

View: A long-term growth company benefiting from the continued evolution of digital commerce.

4. Microsoft

Rating: Strong Buy

Thesis: Microsoft is capitalizing on enterprise AI adoption through Azure cloud services, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and its strategic partnership with OpenAI. Its diversified business model and recurring revenue provide exceptional earnings visibility.

Catalyst: Azure cloud growth, enterprise AI deployment, Copilot adoption, and expanding operating margins.

View: One of the world’s highest-quality technology companies with durable AI-driven growth.

5. Alphabet (Google)

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Alphabet continues to leverage its leadership in search, cloud computing, YouTube, and artificial intelligence. The company is integrating generative AI across its products while expanding the profitability of Google Cloud.

Catalyst: AI-powered search enhancements, cloud revenue acceleration, digital advertising recovery, and enterprise AI services.

View: A diversified technology leader with multiple long-term growth engines supported by AI innovation.

6. Amazon

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Amazon continues to benefit from strong growth in AWS cloud computing, AI infrastructure services, advertising, and operational efficiencies across its global retail business.

Catalyst: AWS AI workload growth, expanding advertising revenue, logistics optimization, and improving operating margins.

View: A diversified global leader positioned to benefit from both AI infrastructure spending and consumer digital commerce.

Portfolio Positioning Summary

AI Infrastructure Leaders: NVIDIA, Microsoft

Cloud Computing & Enterprise AI: Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon

Digital Commerce: Shopify, Amazon

Defensive Hard Asset Exposure: Barrick Mining

Overall Strategy

This portfolio focuses on companies with durable competitive advantages, strong balance sheets, and long-term structural growth drivers. The strategy emphasizes leadership in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital commerce, and enterprise software, while maintaining defensive exposure to gold through Barrick Mining to help diversify risk during periods of market volatility. Together, these six companies provide a balanced mix of secular growth opportunities and portfolio resilience.

STA Research – Top 8 Stock Picks (June 2026)

1. Broadcom

Rating: Strong Buy

Thesis: Broadcom is emerging as one of the largest beneficiaries of the AI infrastructure buildout through its custom AI accelerator business, networking solutions, and hyperscaler partnerships.

Catalyst: Expanding AI semiconductor demand, custom chip deployments, and accelerating AI networking revenue.

View: High-quality AI infrastructure leader with strong earnings visibility and free cash flow generation.

2. Marvell Technology

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Marvell is gaining significant traction in AI data center networking, custom silicon, and cloud infrastructure, positioning the company as a key secondary beneficiary of AI spending.

Catalyst: Growth in custom AI chips, cloud deployments, and next-generation networking solutions.

View: Leveraged AI infrastructure growth story with expanding margins and revenue acceleration.

3. Palantir Technologies

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Palantir continues to benefit from growing adoption of its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) across government and commercial customers, creating a powerful enterprise AI ecosystem.

Catalyst: Enterprise AI adoption, government contract wins, and accelerating commercial revenue growth.

View: Leading applied AI software platform with strong momentum and expanding addressable markets.

4. Snowflake

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Snowflake is becoming a critical layer for enterprise AI by enabling organizations to manage, analyze, and deploy AI workloads using proprietary data.

Catalyst: AI data cloud adoption, enterprise platform expansion, and increased consumption-based revenue growth.

View: High-quality AI data infrastructure company benefiting from enterprise digital transformation.

5. Barrick Mining Corporation

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Barrick offers attractive exposure to gold amid persistent fiscal deficits, geopolitical uncertainty, and central bank demand for hard assets.

Catalyst: Higher gold prices, operating efficiency improvements, and strong free cash flow generation.

View: Defensive hedge against macroeconomic volatility with attractive valuation support.

6. Stantec

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Stantec continues to benefit from large-scale infrastructure, environmental consulting, water, and energy transition spending across North America.

Catalyst: Infrastructure investment growth, backlog expansion, and margin improvement.

View: One of Canada’s premier engineering and infrastructure compounders with strong earnings visibility.

7. NVIDIA

Rating: Strong Buy

Thesis: NVIDIA remains the dominant supplier of AI compute infrastructure, benefiting from unprecedented demand for GPUs, networking, and AI software ecosystems.

Catalyst: Continued hyperscaler AI spending, sovereign AI projects, and enterprise AI adoption.

View: Core AI holding and primary beneficiary of the global AI investment cycle.

8. Salesforce

Rating: Buy

Thesis: Salesforce is embedding AI across its customer relationship management platform through Agentforce and generative AI solutions, enhancing customer productivity and monetization.

Catalyst: AI product adoption, enterprise spending recovery, and operating margin expansion.

View: Large-cap enterprise software leader with improving AI monetization potential.

Positioning Summary

AI Infrastructure Core: Broadcom, Marvell Technology, NVIDIA

Enterprise AI & Software: Palantir, Snowflake, Salesforce

Defensive / Hard Asset Exposure: Barrick Mining

Infrastructure & Real Asset Growth: Stantec

Overall Strategy

Focus on the companies most directly benefiting from the next phase of artificial intelligence adoption, spanning AI chips, networking, data infrastructure, enterprise software, and applied AI platforms. The portfolio balances high-growth technology leaders with selective exposure to infrastructure and gold, providing both secular growth

STA Research – Top 5 Stock Picks (May 2026)

1. HEALWELL AI Inc.

Rating: Speculative Buy | Target: C$4.75
Thesis: HEALWELL AI is expanding rapidly across healthcare AI and preventative diagnostics, leveraging acquisitions and proprietary clinical decision tools to build a scalable healthcare intelligence platform.
Catalyst: Continued integration synergies, AI healthcare adoption, and recurring SaaS revenue growth.
View: High-risk, high-upside Canadian AI healthcare play with long-term scalability potential.

2. BigBear.ai Holdings

Rating: Speculative Buy | Target: US$9.00
Thesis: BigBear.ai is positioned to benefit from rising government and defense-related AI spending, particularly in predictive analytics, cybersecurity, and autonomous systems.
Catalyst: New federal contract wins and accelerating AI defense spending.
View: Volatile but potentially high-beta AI infrastructure and analytics exposure.

3. Tempus AI, Inc.

Rating: Buy | Target: US$68.00
Thesis: Tempus AI combines clinical data, genomics, and artificial intelligence to improve precision medicine, positioning itself at the intersection of healthcare and AI analytics.
Catalyst: Expansion of oncology partnerships and increasing adoption of AI-assisted diagnostics.
View: Emerging leader in AI-driven healthcare data with significant long-term optionality.

4. monday.com Ltd.

Rating: Buy | Target: US$340.00
Thesis: monday.com continues to gain enterprise traction through workflow automation and integrated AI productivity tools, supporting strong recurring revenue growth.
Catalyst: Enterprise client expansion and monetization of AI-enabled workplace solutions.
View: High-margin software compounder benefiting from digital workplace transformation.

5. WELL Health Technologies

Rating: Buy | Target: C$8.50
Thesis: WELL Health is building a diversified digital healthcare ecosystem through telehealth, EMR platforms, and AI-enabled patient engagement solutions.
Catalyst: Margin expansion, acquisition integration, and growing digital healthcare demand.
View: Attractive Canadian healthcare technology platform with defensive growth characteristics.

Positioning Summary

AI / Digital Health Core: HEALWELL AI, Tempus AI, WELL Health

Enterprise AI / Productivity: monday.com

Defense & Government AI Exposure: BigBear.ai

Overall Strategy

Focus on high-growth artificial intelligence and digital healthcare platforms with exposure to enterprise software, predictive analytics, and healthcare digitization. The portfolio emphasizes secular AI adoption trends while balancing speculative upside with scalable recurring revenue businesses.