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Looking for some good stocks outside of AI? Bank of America suggested a few to clients
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6 months agoon
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There are plenty of under-appreciated companies in the stock market that investors should notice, according to Bank of America. Hyperscaler tech companies and other high-flying stocks tied to artificial intelligence have been powering the U.S. equity market to record highs this year. The AI trade has gotten choppy in recent weeks, however, as pockets of the market have begun to question the elevated valuations in AI-related stocks, the eventual payoff of hyperscalers’ lofty capex spending as well as the downsides of a market so heavily concentrated in tech . The top five companies in the S & P 500 , which are all tech giants, account for roughly 30% of the entire broad-market index. To find opportunities outside the AI trade, Bank of America searched for buy-rated S & P 500 stocks across its coverage universe that are not included in AI, power or infrastructure-related ETFs. Of these, the firm then sorted for names that are trading below the market multiple of 26x and are at least 10% below their 52-week highs. That search resulted in more than 80 names that BofA analysts ultimately whittled down to 16 stock picks for clients. Some names have indirect exposure to AI but are not trading like the stocks directly exposed to it, the firm said. “The market has been so focused on owning companies benefitting from AI investment – from semiconductors to power plants to hyperscalers to certain capital goods names – that the conversation may be missing other opportunities,” Thomas Thornton, Bank of America’s head of global research product marketing, wrote in a Tuesday note to clients. “We thought it would be useful to highlight companies that aren’t generally considered direct AI beneficiaries but which our analysts find to be compelling.” Take a look below for a few of the stocks the firm is recommending: Bank of America highlighted packaging company Amcor as a company with undervalued upside potential. Analyst George Staphos, who covers Amcor stock, has a buy rating “supported by several strategic initiatives and potential improvements following the recent acquisition of Berry Global, and an attractive valuation,” the note reads. Staphos said he sees room ahead for multiple expansion as the stock’s fundamentals improve, given that Amcor shares are trading at a 2026 price-to-earnings ratio below the group average, according to his estimates. Shares of Amcor are down nearly 10% year to date. To be sure, the stock has risen more than 7% this month after Amcor on Wednesday exceeded first-quarter earnings estimates, according to FactSet, driven by strong demand for its containers. Freeport-McMoRan , another stock that made BofA’s screen, is trading 19% below its 52-week high. BofA analyst Lawson Winder recently upgraded the stock to buy after shares sold off on news of an incident at the company’s Grasberg Block Cave mine in Indonesia. Now, the firm is encouraged that Grasberg, which accounts for 50% of the company’s reserves, will restart later this year. Winder is also bullish on the potential upside ahead for copper prices given supply challenges and demand growth. Freeport-McMoRan stock is up roughly 8% year to date. Other stocks outside AI that BofA favors include AT & T , Walt Disney and insurance giant Progressive . Shares of Progressive are notably 26% off their 52-week high, putting the beaten-down stock at a discount for investors. BofA is bullish on Progressive’s continued growth in policy count, even though it expects a slower rate than in the past. Estimate revisions on the stock are also some of the strongest in the market, the firm pointed out. “We point out that no U.S. listed large cap company has seen steeper positive EPS revisions than Progressive over the past two years and he estimates that consensus EPS forecasts, whether for 4Q25 or for 2027, remain significantly too low,” the note reads.
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