The stock markets are at record highs, having shown a solid recovery from their sharp losses in April. Year-to-date, the S&P 500 is up 11% and the NASDAQ is up 13.5%, reflecting continued positive sentiment.
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Against this backdrop, David Kostin, chief US equity strategist for Goldman Sachs, has summed up the current situation and laid out his predictions for the coming months.
“As the economy moves through the worst of the tariff impacts we expect imminent Fed rate cuts and a re-acceleration of growth in 2026 will support further gains for US equities,” Kostin says, and goes on to add, “Our economists forecast the Fed will cut the funds rate three times this year. Furthermore, they expect the US economy will avoid a recession and re-accelerate back towards trend in 2026. The S&P 500 has typically generated positive returns in Fed cutting cycles during which the economy continued to grow and avoided a recession… We expect the S&P 500 will rise by 2% through year-end and by 6% through mid-2026.”
Alongside that broad outlook, Goldman’s analysts have also been busy pinpointing individual stocks they believe hold strong potential on their own merits. To see how those ideas stack up, we checked the TipRanks database for the broader Wall Street view on two of their top picks. The results show both carry Strong Buy ratings and double-digit upside. Here’s a closer look.
Braze (BRZE)
We’ll start in the world of software and tech, where Braze offers enterprise clients a customer engagement platform optimized for multi-channel marketing. The company’s cloud-based platform is designed to prioritize conversations over sales, providing a clear path for the target audience to move from information to buying at a comfortable pace.
Braze’s platform is data-driven and AI-powered, drawing on information from a wide range of sources. Enterprise clients use the platform to engage with their own customers, turning the sales funnel into an informative journey, encouraging sales through cross-channel messaging based on real-time data analytics. Braze’s approach fosters positive long-term connections between marketers and their customers.
The company uses AI technology to keep the platform relevant in a fast-evolving tech and marketing environment. Braze’s AI is designed to create relevant messages that lead to personalized content and recommendations for optimal results at the end of the process. From the marketer’s perspective, AI automates much of the process, for a faster response to customer needs; from the customer’s perspective, AI-driven marketing gives a more relevant sales funnel that maintains engagement.
This software firm’s platform is relevant to enterprises at all scales, and Braze counts such names as Chime, Canva, and TurboTax among its own customer base. Currently, Braze counts some 2,422 enterprise customers using its platform, which reaches 7.4 billion daily active users. Last year, the platform handled over 3.9 trillion messages and other actions.
A solid product and effective technology have brought Braze financial success. In its earnings release for fiscal 2Q26, the quarter which ended this past July 31, Braze reported revenues of $180.1 million, a total that was up 24% year-over-year and beat the estimates by almost $8.5 million. The company’s bottom line, reported as a non-GAAP EPS of 15 cents, was 12 cents per share better than had been expected.
Summing up the Goldman view of Braze, analyst Gabriela Borges notes several reasons why this is a sound buying opportunity, saying, “We continue to view Braze as a top pick and see a scenario where share gain accelerates in 2025 due to a) customers being more willing to upgrade their marketing tech stacks after 3 years of digestion; b) mechanical stabilization in NRR as Braze works through its least healthy renewal cohorts; and c) targeted improvements in S&M to lower barriers to adoption and improve engagement.”
These comments back up Borges’ Buy rating on the stock, and her $52 price target implies a 73% upside potential for the coming year. (To watch Borges’ track record, click here)
The Strong Buy consensus rating on BRZE shares is based on 15 unanimously positive analyst reviews set in recent weeks. The stock has a current trading price of $30.08, and its $43.07 average price target suggests a one-year gain of 43%. (See BRZE stock forecast)
Carlsmed (CARL)
Now we’ll shift gears, and move from software to medical tech. Carlsmed is a medical technology company now entering the commercial stage, with a focus on personalizing spinal surgeries through the use of AI. The company is working to push surgical costs down while improving medical outcomes for patients; the company’s current focus is on spinal fusion surgery, and its aprevo platform allows for AI-powered surgical planning, with precision visualizations to improve alignments and optimize the fit to each patient individually.
That’s a key point, as surgical outcomes – in all medical fields – improve with more personalized procedures and care. Carlsmed’s aprevo platform uses patient data and advanced digital technologies to achieve exactly that. Importantly, the platform is flexible enough to support a wide range of spinal operations, including various surgical techniques and precise solutions to anterior, posterior, and lateral surgical approaches to the spine.
This medtech firm is new to the public trading markets. On July 22, Carlsmed announced the pricing of its IPO, putting 6.7 million shares on the market at $15 each. The new CARL ticker started trading on July 23, and the IPO closed on the 24th. The company raised approximately $100.5 million in gross proceeds from its initial offering.
The IPO was followed, at the end of August, by Carlsmed’s first quarterly financial release as a publicly traded entity. The company’s 2Q25 results showed revenue for the quarter of $12.1 million, reflecting an impressive 99% increase from the prior-year period. The company is guiding toward full-year revenue in the range of $45.5 million to $47.5 million.
Goldman analyst David Roman has been looking at Carlsmed, and he initiated his coverage of the stock with an upbeat take. Roman sees a high potential for this company to expand its sales, writing, “Key growth drivers for Carlsmed include the anticipated sales force and broader commercial expansion where we project a 29% increase in S&M spend from 2025-2028, the launch of the Cervical indication in 2026 which expands the procedure pool by 85%, and the continued release of data points supporting the clinical differentiation of the platform. Areas of potential upside to our forecasts include greater surgeon adoption as the product and clinical data gain traction in the medical community and utilization per surgeon as the company prepares to commercialize the cervical indication that is applicable to the same surgeon base.”
Setting out his own bottom line on this stock, Roman goes on to say, “When taking into account the company’s differentiated technology position, GSe projected revenue growth trajectory, SMID cap MedTech comps, and an asset-light business model that accelerates path-to-profitability, we see meaningful upside to current valuation.”
Unsurprisingly, this outlook leads Roman to rate CARL shares as a Buy. His $19 one-year price target points toward a gain of 40%. (To watch Roman’s track record, click here)
Once again, we’re looking at a stock with a unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating – Carlsmed has picked up 5 positive analyst reviews since going public. The stock is priced at $13.60 and its $18.50 average target price implies a 12-month upside potential of 36%. (See CARL stock forecast)
To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.