The Zacks Analyst Blog highlights NVIDIA, Visa, Robinhood Markets, Shopify and Block

On December 19, 2024By Littum

Chicago, IL – December 18, 2024 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the analyst blog. Each day, Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events affecting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured on the blog include: NVIDIA Corp. NVDA, Visa Inc. V, Robinhood Markets, Inc. HOOD, Shopify Inc. SHOP and Block, Inc. SQ.

The dream run for Bitcoin (BTC) continues, with the cryptocurrency hitting a new all-time high and surpassing $106,000 for the first time. Optimism about a more crypto-friendly environment under President-elect Donald Trump’s regime in 2025, coupled with hopes of another rate cut this week, have fueled the Bitcoin rally.

Given the positive sentiment and an all-but-certain rate cut this week, investing in Bitcoin-centric stocks such as NVIDIA Corp., Visa Inc., Robinhood Markets, Inc., Shopify Inc. and Block, Inc. is a wise decision. These stocks have strong growth potential for 2025. Each of these stocks has experienced positive earnings estimate revisions in the past 60 days and has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy), or 3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

On Monday, Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $106,533 and last traded at $105,963, up 3% in the last 24 hours. Many had expected Bitcoin to pull back after it surpassed $100,000 for the first time earlier this month. However, that did not happen. Several factors have driven the crypto rally, which has intensified over the past month.

This week’s rally gained momentum after Micro Strategy was included in the Nasdaq 100 index. This is expected to attract more investment in the software company, which has shifted its focus towards buying Bitcoin.

Bitcoin boomed in 2023 and started this year on a high. However, the rally stalled in April and even the Bitcoin halving event did little to help the cryptocurrency. The recovery started after the Federal Reserve announced its first rate cut in more than four years in September. November finally added fuel to the rally with Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

Trump’s election has given hope for a crypto-friendly environment, with the president-elect already selecting a number of pro-crypto people for key cabinet and regulatory roles. During his campaign, Trump promised to make the US the “crypto capital of the world” and outlined plans to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and select regulators that support digital assets.

There are also high hopes that the Fed will go for another 25 basis point rate cut this week after cutting rates by 75 basis points since September.

NVIDIA Corp.

NVIDIA remains a major player in the semiconductor industry and has been one of the prominent success stories of 2023. As a leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs), the value of NVDA stock tends to rise in a booming crypto market. This is primarily due to the critical role that GPUs play in data centers, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency mining or production.

NVIDIA’s expected earnings growth for next year is 40.8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current year earnings has improved by 4.6% over the past 60 days. Currently, NVIDIA has a Zacks Rank #2.

Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. takes a significant step towards modernizing the cross-border movement of money. In a move aimed at increasing the efficiency of global transactions, V is extending its stablecoin settlement capabilities to the high-performance Solana blockchain. This expansion of V includes collaboration with prominent merchant acquirers Worldpay and Nuvei, marking a decisive development in the world of digital payments.

Visa Inc.’s expected earnings growth for next year is 12.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current year earnings has improved by 1.3% over the last 60 days. V currently has a Zacks Rank #3.

Robinhood markets

Robinhood Markets, Inc. operates a financial services platform in the United States. Its platform allows users to invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds, options, gold and cryptocurrencies. HOOD buys and sells Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies using its Robinhood Crypto platform.

Robinhood Markets’ expected earnings growth for next year is 22.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current year earnings has improved by 5.3% over the past 60 days. Robinhood Markets currently has a Zacks Rank #3.

Shopify Inc.

Shopify Inc. is an e-commerce company that offers a platform for merchants to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. In addition, SHOP has established integration with CoinPayments, a processor for cryptocurrency payments.

Shopify’s expected earnings growth for next year is 18.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings has improved by 11.6% over the past 60 days. SHOP currently has a Zacks Rank #2.

Block, Inc.

Block, Inc. is an online digital and mobile payment platform for consumers and merchants and is the parent company of Square and Cash App. The users of Cash App can buy, sell, send and receive Bitcoin. In addition, SQ’s decentralized tbd platform allows developers to build decentralized finance applications that run on programmable blockchains. SQ is also one of the largest Bitcoin investors.

Block’s expected earnings growth for next year is 25.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current year earnings has improved by 2% over the last 60 days. NVIDIA currently has a Zacks Rank #3.

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Past results are no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. No recommendations or advice are given as to whether an investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that investments in the securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions may not reflect those of the company as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or securities asset management. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. For information on the performance figures shown in this press release, visit /performance.

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