U.S. stocks wrapped up Wednesday on a downbeat note, with the Dow Jones shedding more than 300 points. The S&P 500 declined for its fourth consecutive session, though it still managed to lock in gains for 2025 overall.
Despite the recent slide, it was quite the year for stocks. The S&P 500 jumped 16.39% for the full year, marking its third straight year of double-digit gains. The Nasdaq Composite did even better with a 20.36% surge, while the Dow added 12.97%.
Here's the thing about Wall Street analysts: they're constantly churning out new stock picks and ratings, but not all of them have track records worth paying attention to. Even for a single company, you might see analyst ratings and price targets all over the map. So how's an investor supposed to know which opinions actually matter?
Finding Analysts Who Actually Get It Right
That's where analyst accuracy ratings become useful. Instead of treating all analyst opinions as equally valid, you can focus on the analysts who've consistently made the right calls. Recent data analysis has shown that high-quality analyst insights can actually be used as trading indicators to beat the market.
So let's look at what the most accurate analysts on Wall Street are recommending right now. These five analysts have accuracy rates ranging from 86% to 88%, meaning they've been right about their stock calls the vast majority of the time.
The Top Five Picks
Ruben Roy, Stifel (88% Accuracy)
Roy maintained his Buy rating on NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) with a $250 price target on December 29. That implies about 34% upside from current levels, the highest expected gain among these five picks. On December 24, Nvidia announced a non-exclusive licensing agreement with AI chip startup Groq, which was founded in 2016.
William Stein, Truist Securities (87% Accuracy)
Stein kept his Hold rating on TE Connectivity plc (TEL) and nudged his price target up slightly from $239 to $240 on December 19. This one's more conservative, with about 5% upside expected. On December 17, TE Connectivity announced a regular quarterly cash dividend of 71 cents per ordinary share.
Matt Bryson, Wedbush (86% Accuracy)
Bryson downgraded Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (TSEM) from Outperform to Neutral on December 31, though he still set a price target of $125, implying around 7% upside. The downgrade suggests some caution despite the positive price target. On November 12, Tower Semiconductor unveiled a new foundry path for co-packaged optics.
Michael Ciarmoli, Truist Securities (86% Accuracy)
Ciarmoli maintained his Buy rating on HEICO Corporation (HEI) and raised his price target from $366 to $391 on December 23, seeing about 21% potential gain. On December 18, Heico posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, which likely reinforced his bullish stance.
Aaron Rakers, Wells Fargo (86% Accuracy)
Rakers kept his Overweight rating on Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) and bumped his price target from $300 to $335 on December 18, expecting roughly 17% upside. On December 17, Micron reported first-quarter revenue of $13.64 billion, beating analyst estimates of $12.83 billion.
Why This Matters
The key takeaway here isn't just the individual stock picks. It's that these analysts have proven track records of accuracy. When someone's been right 86% to 88% of the time, their opinion carries more weight than the average Wall Street commentator. The ratings span different sectors and different levels of conviction, from Hold ratings with modest upside to Buy ratings with significant expected gains.
Of course, even the best analysts aren't perfect. An 88% accuracy rate still means they're wrong about one in eight calls. But those are pretty good odds when you're trying to navigate a market where opinions and predictions fly at you from every direction.