‘It’s Summertime’: Goldman Sachs Says Market Looks Resilient — Suggests 2 Stocks to Buy

Summer may still be a few weeks away on the calendar, but the unofficial start to the season has already arrived, bringing with it a surge in consumer confidence.

The Consumer Confidence index showed a sharp spike in May, jumping more than 12 points to a reading of 98.0. That marks a strong turnaround from April, when the index fell to its lowest level in nearly 14 years. Confidence was up after April economic data showed slowing inflation along with improvements in the jobs market.

That brings us to a recent note from Goldman Sachs, in which the market intelligence team gives an upbeat outlook on the current situation, pointing out that the US economy “remains resilient.”

Goldman’s stock analysts are running with this thesis, and recommending two stocks to buy for the summertime. We’ve looked them up in the TipRanks database, and found that the Street’s wisdom also gives both stocks a ‘Buy’ rating; let’s take a closer look and find out why.

Array Technologies (ARRY)

We’ll start with Array Technologies, a solar energy industry tech firm. Array’s specialty is developing solar tracking technology, particularly at the utility scale. Solar tracking systems allow photovoltaic arrays to follow the sun’s path across the sky, an important movement for maintaining maximum efficiency while generating energy. The various systems – which include both hardware and software – are key links in the solar energy chain, and make a vital contribution to keeping sustainable energy cost-effective.

Array has 30 years of experience behind it, and today boasts offices and markets in the US, Brazil, the UK, Spain, South Africa, and Australia. The company’s products include its flagship DuraTrack, which is designed for large, multi-row photovoltaic power arrays, as well as the STI H250 dual-row system for solar sites with fragmented installations, and the company’s newest tracking solution, OmniTrack, which adapts the DuraTrack technology to unlevel terrain, giving utility-scale energy producers greater flexibility in choosing locations for new solar arrays. Array also offers products for effective sky tracking, to maximize efficiency, and hail protection, to guard against inclement or extreme weather conditions. Array announced last month the introduction of its Hail XP system, designed to provide industry-leading hail and wind event protection in conjunction with the DuraTrack platform.

In the first quarter of this year, Array brought in revenues of $302.4 million, representing an impressive 97% year-over-year growth and beating the forecast by $38 million. At the bottom line, the company’s non-GAAP EPS, at 13 cents, was 4 cents per share better than expected. Array finished the quarter with a sound workload – the total executed contracts and awarded orders came to $2 billion as of March 31.

For Goldman analyst Brian Lee, the key point here is Array’s sound business model and potential for continued success, even should input prices climb. Lee writes, “We continue to believe that ARRY could see both upside to revenue, margins, and EPS this year as we see several tailwinds emerging through the remainder of the year. On the top line, increases in steel prices could drive incremental upside to the top line as these higher inputs costs are typically passed along 1 for 1 to customers which would result in flat margins but upside to gross profit dollars… We anticipate ARRY’s new products, along with the 100% domestic content orders to all be accretive to margins and believe there could be additional upside to margins heading into the back half of the year.”

Lee puts a Buy rating on ARRY shares, and his $11 price target implies a robust one-year upside potential of 67%. (To watch Lee’s track record, click here)

The 17 recent analyst reviews on this stock include 6 Buys and 11 Holds, for a Moderate Buy consensus rating. The stock is currently trading for $6.58, and its $7.63 average target price suggests that it will gain 16% on the one-year horizon. (See ARRY stock forecast)

Sotera Health (SHC)

Next on today’s list of Goldman picks is Sotera Health, a company that works in the healthcare industry, providing mission-critical services such as end-to-end sterilization solutions and lab testing. Sotera operates three distinct business segments—Sterigenics, Nordion, and Nelson Labs—which provide direct services to more than 5,000 customers across 50 countries. Backing its services, Sotera operates 50 sterilization facilities and 12 laboratory and advisory locations, and can provide more than 900 advanced lab tests. The company employs approximately 3,000 people and boasts that its customers include 9 of the top 10 pharmaceutical firms.

Sotera’s services are used in several important fields, aside from the pharmaceutical industry. Medical device companies turn to Sotera for testing services, and the food industry uses the company’s services in quality control to prevent food- or beverage-borne pathogens from reaching consumers.

The company’s most recent testing advance was announced by Nelson Labs, the Sotera business focused on microbiological and analytical chemistry testing. In March of this year, Nelson Labs announced product-sterility testing through rapid microbiological methods (RMMs), with the new tests performed at locations in the US and Europe. The new approach provides a versatile solution in the field of rapid sterility testing.

When it comes to financial results, Sotera showed modest gains in the 1Q25 report, the last set of results to be released. The company’s quarterly revenue of $255 million was up 2.8% year-over-year, while the 14-cent non-GAAP EPS was up by a penny.

Goldman analyst Matthew Sykes sees this company in a sound position, explaining why the rewards outweigh the risks here, Sykes states, “SHC represents a defensive growth option within our universe without a meaningful impact from tariffs and no Academic & Government exposure. Additionally, the inherent pricing power in their business could see an acceleration given the expected inflationary environment due to the macro backdrop potentially adding to the top line growth rate as the year progresses. We believe SHC is an attractive way to gain exposure to the continued growth in the Medtech product innovation cycle. While potential litigation remains a risk, we believe the uncertainty has reduced following the recent IL settlement (Sterigenics entered into a $30.9 million settlement to resolve 97 additional ethylene oxide claims related to its former facility in Willowbrook, Illinois), and we expect this risk to lessen over time as they work through the process.”

The analyst gives Sotera shares a Buy rating, which is complemented by a $17 price target that suggests a 12-month upside potential of 39.5%. (To watch Sykes’ track record, click here)

These shares have earned a Moderate Buy consensus rating from the Street, based on 3 recent reviews that break down 2 to 1 in favor of Buy over Hold. The stock is selling for $12.19, and its $15 average price target indicates room for a gain of 23% over the next year. (See SHC 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.