Four investment pros shared their favorite stock picks on CNBC's Halftime Report Final Trades segment, and the selections covered quite a bit of ground.
Streaming Momentum
Joshua Brown, co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, said he liked what he was seeing in Netflix Inc. (NFLX) stock on Tuesday. The shares climbed 3.5% to close at $114.09, and Brown appears to be betting on continued momentum.
The streaming company announced late in October that it's moving forward with a 10-for-1 forward stock split. The move aims to reset the market price into a range that makes it easier for employees to participate in the company's stock option program. When a stock trades at higher prices, options can become less accessible for rank-and-file employees, so splits like this are designed to maintain that incentive structure.
Betting on the AI Leader
Malcolm Ethridge, managing partner at Capital Area Planning Group, went with NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) ahead of its quarterly earnings report. The chip giant was set to release third-quarter results after the closing bell, with analysts expecting earnings of $1.25 per share on revenue of $54.84 billion.
Nvidia shares fell 2.8% to close at $181.36 during Tuesday's session, but that didn't deter Ethridge from his pick. The anticipation around Nvidia's earnings has become something of a quarterly ritual in the AI era, with investors scrutinizing every data point about demand for its chips.
Defense Gets the Nod
Jim Lebenthal, partner at Cerity Partners, made his case for Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT), calling the F-35 fighter jet "simply the best jet in the air right now." That's not just marketing talk, apparently.
Lockheed Martin posted third-quarter results on October 21 that beat Wall Street's expectations and prompted the company to raise its full-year outlook. Sales jumped 9% year over year to $18.609 billion, topping the $18.556 billion estimate. The results reflected sustained demand across the company's defense and aerospace programs. Shares rose 0.8% to settle at $474.72 on Tuesday.
Materials Play
Jenny Van Leeuwen Harrington, chief executive officer of Gilman Hill Asset Management, named Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) as her final trade pick. The copper mining company gained 2.6% to settle at $40.00.
Freeport-McMoRan shares rallied Tuesday after the company announced plans to restore large-scale production from PT Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg operations in Central Papua, Indonesia. Getting a major mining operation back to full capacity is exactly the kind of news that moves commodity stocks, especially with copper demand remaining robust.