CNBC Strategists Back UnitedHealth, Ardagh Metal, and Nvidia Amid Strong Earnings and Innovation
Market strategists on CNBC's 'Halftime Report Final Trades' segment presented their top picks, covering healthcare, packaging, technology, and broad market exposure. UnitedHealth Group was named as a recommendation by Stephen Weiss of Short Hills Capital Partners, supported by the company's second-quarter results that surpassed analyst expectations.
UnitedHealth reported adjusted earnings per share of $6.38, exceeding the estimate of $4.86, with revenue rising to $112.03 billion from $111.62 billion a year earlier, also surpassing Wall Street's expectation. The company's upward revision to full-year 2026 earnings guidance prompted an increased stock price target by JP Morgan analyst Lisa Gill to $516.
Ardagh Metal Packaging was highlighted by Jenny Van Leeuwen Harrington, CEO of Gilman Hill Asset Management, LLC, due to its 8.5% yield and a recent analyst action: Wells Fargo analyst Gabe Hajde raised the price target from $4 to $5 while maintaining an Equal-Weight rating.
Liz Young Thomas, SoFi head of investment strategy, selected the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF as her final trade, offering broad market exposure with an equal-weighted approach to S&P 500 constituents. Joseph M. Terranova, senior managing director for Virtus Investment Partners, recommended NVIDIA Corporation, coinciding with news of its expanded NVIDIA Agent Toolkit featuring new Omniverse libraries designed to help AI agents prepare 3D content for physical AI simulations.