University of Kwazulu-Natal

4 Stocks To Boost Your Portfolio As Retail Sales Grow Powered By Ai

Bonisiwe Shabane
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4 stocks to boost your portfolio as retail sales grow powered by ai

Retail sales grew at a slower pace than expected in September. However, the retail sector has put up a brave show over the past several months amid inflationary and price pressures. The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates twice since September and is expected to go for another rate cut in December, which bodes well for the retail sector. Also, the ongoing holiday season is expected to boost sales. Given this situation, it would be ideal to invest in retail stocks with a strong online presence. We have selected four stocks, namely, Amazon.com, Inc.

AMZN, Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. BOOT, Tapestry TPR and Ross Stores ROSS, for investors. These stocks have seen positive earnings estimate revisions in the past 60 days, carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), and are set for solid returns. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Retail sales totaled $733.3 billion in September, increasing 0.2% sequentially and 4.3% year over year, the Commerce Department reported last week. Although retail sales fell short of analysts’ expectations of a rise of 0.4%, the sector has shown steady growth in 2025.

Total retail sales from July through September rose 4.5% year over year. Written by Aniruddha Ganguly for Zacks-> An updated edition of the Oct. 9, 2025, article. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries by allowing machines to process massive volumes of data, uncover patterns and make intelligent decisions. The fast adoption of generative AI, agentic AI, and multimodal learning — accelerated by powerful hardware such as GPUs and TPUs — is driving breakthroughs across healthcare, finance, robotics, cybersecurity and e-commerce.

AI now underpins capabilities ranging from chatbots and medical diagnostics to fraud detection and autonomous systems, enhancing organizational agility while significantly improving operational efficiency.Per Gartner, global AI spending is expected to hit $1.48 trillion... Per IDC, global spending on AI infrastructure is expected to reach $758 billion by 2029. U.S. tech giants, including Microsoft MSFT, Adobe, Alphabet GOOGL and Meta Platforms META, have been at the forefront of bringing remarkable advances to AI technology, well supported by powerful AI chips from NVIDIA NVDA, Analog... The deals between OpenAI and AMD, as well as OpenAI and NVIDIA, reflect growing demand for AI chips. Alphabet’s Tensor Processing Units are also gaining traction.

Per NVIDIA, spending on AI infrastructure by cloud service providers and hyperscalers is expected to hit $600 billion in 2026, an increase of more than $200 billion estimated at the beginning of 2025.AI models... Microsoft-backed OpenAI introduced GPT-5 in August, which offers multi-modal understanding across text, images, audio and more. Anthropic’s latest Claude Opus 4.5 targets enterprise workflows and advanced agentic use cases. Expanding its generative AI footprint, Alphabet introduced Nano Banana Pro, which is built on Gemini 3 Pro. Alphabet is infusing AI into its search business in order to attract more users, while Meta Platforms’ focus on integrating AI into its platforms is driving user engagement. Both initiatives are driving ad revenue growth.

We believe that the rapid deployment of AI technology and huge spending on its development efforts offer significant growth opportunities for investors. Our Artificial Intelligence Screen is an invaluable source for identifying AI stocks with massive growth prospects.Explore 36 cutting-edge investment themes with Zacks Thematic Investing Screens and uncover your next big opportunity. NVIDIA is benefiting from the strong demand for AI and high-performance accelerated computing. The growing demand for generative AI and LLMs using graphics processing units (GPUs) based on NVIDIA’s Hopper and Blackwell architectures is aiding data center revenues. The Blackwell Ultra and upcoming Vera Rubin platforms are expected to strengthen NVIDIA’s leadership as the AI chip race intensifies. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company’s recent partnership with OpenAI, which involves the construction of massive AI data centers powered by NVIDIA systems, is expected to boost long-term demand for its GPUs.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.NVIDIA is rapidly gaining traction in enterprise AI, expanding its market beyond cloud providers. NVIDIA CUDA is helping hyperscalers to shift search, recommendations and content understanding from classical machine learning to generative AI. The company’s foray into the autonomous vehicles and other automotive electronics space is a positive. NVDA, currently, is on a firmer footing in the autonomous vehicle market. NVIDIA is working with more than 320 automakers, tier-one suppliers, automotive research institutions, HD mapping companies and start-ups to develop and deploy AI systems for self-driving vehicles.Micron Technology is benefiting from surging demand for... The pricing benefits are likely to be driven by rising AI server demand, causing a scarcity in the availability of cutting-edge DRAM supplies.

This will support Micron’s margin expansion and profitability.This Zacks Rank #1 company is capitalizing on the AI boom with its HBM3E solutions, which are increasingly being adopted by major hyperscalers and enterprise customers. Micron is poised to be the key beneficiary of surging AI-related infrastructure spending, as companies continue to build out GPU clusters and AI data centers that require advanced memory solutions. AI PCs are an important part of Micron’s growth plan. MU’s new LPCAMM2 memory is made for AI-ready laptops and workstations that need to handle heavy workloads, such as AI tasks, simulations, and multitasking.An expanding partner base that includes the likes of NVIDIA, AMD... Deepening relationship with major cloud and enterprise customers ensures stable revenue streams and reduces the risk of pricing volatility. Analog Devices is benefiting from secular growth drivers in automation, AI infrastructure, and automotive electrification.

This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company is riding on its strong market position in high-performance analog, especially in the industrial, communications infrastructure and consumer markets. ADI is benefiting from a diversified portfolio and a resilient business model. The company believes that the industrial segment will remain one of its fastest-growing markets in fiscal 2026. Automation demand is rebounding, with increased adoption of software-defined connectivity solutions that enable decentralized intelligence in manufacturing. Additionally, AI-driven demand for automatic test equipment is fueling a surge in Analog Devices’ signal chain and power content. Accelerating AI investments bodes well for Analog Devices’ communications segment.

Robust demand for ADI’s solutions across both wireline/data center and wireless markets is a key catalyst. Analog Devices is also targeting robotics and humanoid markets as a multi-year growth driver for its industrial automation business. From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all. Crypto slides deepen to start December. Despite rising headwinds, is it time to buy the dip in BITB, FBTC, BTC or IBIT due to growing acceptance?

Click for the easiest, most affordable way to get the 'Best of Our Best. Click for the easiest, most affordable way to get the 'Best of Our Best. This omnichannel retail company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 71.2% over the last 60 days. This omnichannel retail company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 71.2% over the last 60 days. The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is transforming entire industries at an unprecedented pace. While analysts project that the global AI market will grow to over $2 trillion by 2030, we're still in the early stages of this technological transformation.

From automating warehouse operations to revolutionizing healthcare diagnostics, AI is creating unprecedented opportunities for investors willing to look beyond the obvious chip stocks. Here are seven AI stocks positioned to deliver explosive growth as this technology reshapes the business world. Datadog (DDOG 0.06%) provides the critical observability tools that keep modern digital infrastructure running, and the AI boom is sharply accelerating demand. In Q1 2025, revenue jumped 25% year over year to $762 million, while adoption of the comany's large language model monitoring tools doubled in just six months. As AI workloads scale across industries, real-time infrastructure visibility becomes non-negotiable -- positioning Datadog as the backbone of the AI-powered enterprise stack. Despite the company's strong fundamentals, its shares are down more than 14% year to date (as of June 17, 2025), offering investors a rare entry point into a premier AI infrastructure play.

Palantir Technologies (PLTR +2.57%) has grown from a secretive defense contractor into a leading force in AI-powered analytics. In Q1 2025, revenue climbed 39% year over year to $884 million, driven by a 71% surge in U.S. commercial sales to $255 million and a 45% gain in government revenue to $373 million. Nvidia was one of the first companies to monetize the AI revolution, but it will not be the last. As AI innovation reshapes business processes, there is ample room for AI software, service and hardware providers to generate meaningful value and wealth — for customers and investors. Identifying which stocks will rise to prominence is the AI investor's big challenge.

Below are six strong contenders that are worth a deeper dive. Based on market opportunity, projected results and competitive positioning, one or more of these six AI stocks may be the future star of your growth portfolio: A review of each company follows. For more investing ideas, see best stocks for 2025. Upstart Holdings operates an AI-powered lending marketplace that overhauls the traditional credit-scoring model. The company’s streamlined, all-digital loan applications identify more creditworthy borrowers, improves access to affordable debt and lowers costs for lenders.

According to Upstart data, its technology approves 43% more applicants at 33% lower APRs. Searching for the ultimate guide to top ai stocks? You just landed on the right page if you want to uncover the leading strategies and insights for selecting high-potential AI companies. Along the way, you’ll discover how Intellectia AI can transform your approach to the markets and keep you ahead of the curve. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by market noise or struggled to pinpoint the best AI plays, you’re not alone. I’ve spent years analyzing everything from emerging machine-learning startups to established tech giants, and I’ve seen firsthand how proper data-driven guidance can unlock extraordinary returns.

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