Every Friday morning I grab my coffee a little earlier than usual, because that’s when the real fireworks start on Wall Street. Something about the end of the week makes analysts hit the send button on their boldest ideas, and today, December 5, 2025, did not disappoint. From monster price target hikes to brand-new initiations in some of the hottest corners of the market, there’s enough fresh conviction out there to make any investor sit up straight.
I’ve been doing this long enough to know that not every “strong buy” moves the needle, but when multiple top-tier firms line up behind the same themes at the same time, you ignore it at your peril. And right now? The loudest themes screaming from trading desks are artificial intelligence infrastructure, the next commodity supercycle, and a surprising comeback in some old-school industries nobody was watching.
The AI Complex Refuses to Cool Off
Let’s start with the gift that keeps on giving: anything even remotely related to training the next generation of artificial intelligence models. If you thought the Nvidia story was getting tired, think again.
Nvidia: Still Early Innings
Bernstein came out swinging this morning, reminding everyone that the data center opportunity remains absolutely enormous. Their exact words? “The datacenter opportunity is enormous, and still early, with material upside still possible.” When a firm with Bernstein’s track record uses that kind of language, I listen.
What’s fascinating to me is how quickly the narrative has shifted from “is this sustainable?” to “how big can this actually get?” The numbers being thrown around for AI training spend over the next five years are so large they almost feel made up, yet every quarter the big cloud providers keep raising their capex guidance. That tells you everything you need to know about demand visibility.
CoreWeave Enters the Chat
The name that’s got everyone talking today though? CoreWeave. Roth MKM just initiated coverage with a buy rating and a $110 price target, calling it positioned to be a top-four market share winner in the AI cloud market.
We are initiating coverage on CRWV with a Buy rating and $110 price target.
Look, I’ve watched a lot of companies try to position themselves as the “picks and shovels” for AI. Most of them have been pure hype. But CoreWeave actually has the GPU clusters, the Microsoft backing, and the revenue trajectory that makes the story credible. When a respected firm steps up on day one of trading with that kind of conviction, it’s worth paying attention.
Broadcom: The Quiet AI Giant
Don’t sleep on Broadcom either. Mizuho has them as a top pick heading into earnings next week, and for good reason. While everyone obsesses over the pure-play GPU names, Broadcom has quietly become indispensable for the networking side of AI data centers. Every time someone builds a new AI cluster, Broadcom sells more chips. Simple as that.
The beauty of their position? They’re not trying to predict how many models OpenAI or Anthropic will train. They just need data center buildouts to continue, which every hyperscaler has already committed to for years. That’s the kind of visibility most companies would kill for.
Alphabet: $400 Price Target Appears
Speaking of indispensable, Pivotal just raised their price target on Alphabet to a Street-high $400. Yes, you read that right. Their thesis boils down to something I’ve been saying for months: Search is the ultimate cash cow, and now it’s becoming the funding mechanism for everything else they’re doing in AI.
The most underappreciated part? Gemini isn’t just another chatbot. It’s becoming the brain behind Search itself, which means Alphabet can potentially take massive costs out of their largest business while simultaneously improving the product. When was the last time a company figured out how to make their core monopoly even more profitable while making it better for users? That’s special.
The Commodity Supercycle Nobody Saw Coming
While everyone has been focused on chips and software, something interesting has been happening in the commodity markets. Several top firms just upgraded names that most growth investors wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole six months ago.
Lithium: The Turn Is Here
UBS upgraded Albemarle to buy this morning, talking about a “new upcycle” starting in 2026. Their view is that years of underinvestment in Western supply, combined with surging energy storage demand, is about to flip lithium markets into deficit.
I’ve been waiting for this call. The lithium price crash was brutal, but it did exactly what brutal commodity crashes always do, it destroyed supply. Meanwhile, demand hasn’t slowed down at all. Grid-scale storage buildout is accelerating, and the EV penetration forecasts keep moving higher. Someone is going to make a lot of money on the way back up, and the Western producers with existing assets look incredibly well positioned.
Rare Earths and Humanoid Robots
Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials, specifically calling out their positioning in the developing humanoid robot supply chain. This one made me do a double-take when I first read it.
Think about it: every humanoid robot is going to need dozens of rare earth magnets for their actuators. And right now, China controls something like 90% of the processing capacity. The U.S. government is desperate to build domestic supply, and MP sits right in the middle of that push. Sometimes the best investments are hiding in the intersection of multiple macro trends nobody has connected yet.
Nuclear Renaissance Takes Shape
Needham initiated Centrus Energy with a buy rating and a $357 target, yes, $357, calling them the strategic anchor of U.S. enrichment security. With data centers about to become the largest source of electricity demand growth in decades, and many tech companies committing to carbon-free power, the math on new nuclear buildout is starting to work in ways it hasn’t in forty years.
The beautiful part? These projects take a decade to build, which means the supply response can’t be quick. Anyone positioned in the fuel cycle today could see pricing power for years.
Surprise Winners in Unsexy Industries
Sometimes the best opportunities are hiding in places nobody is looking. Today’s note sheet had several of these.
Pest Control? Seriously?
Barclays upgraded Rollins to overweight after a non-deal roadshow where management apparently couldn’t have sounded more confident about the next 12-24 months. Pest control might be the ultimate “boring but beautiful” business, recurring revenue, pricing power, and consolidation opportunities everywhere.
Even Eggs Look Attractive
Needham initiated Vital Farms with a buy rating and $45 target. In a world obsessed with the next AI winner, sometimes the best risk/reward is in companies selling actual food that people need every day. When inflation eventually comes roaring back, the producers with strong brands and distribution moats tend to do very well.
Logistics Could Be the Sleeper Trade
Wells Fargo initiated both Ryder System and Hub Group at overweight, with Hub Group specifically called out as the biggest beneficiary of a potential major rail merger. The reshoring trade doesn’t work without trucks and trains, and a lot of this infrastructure is trading like the economy is already in recession. That disconnect feels like opportunity.
The bottom line? Today’s analyst calls painted a picture of an economy that’s far more resilient than the headlines suggest. Technology continues to eat the world, but the physical infrastructure required to support that growth is finally getting the attention it deserves.
Whether it’s GPUs, specialized clouds, networking chips, lithium, rare earths, nuclear fuel, or even pest control, the common thread is simple: real-world demand is accelerating for things that actually matter. And when multiple smart firms line up behind those themes at the same time, history suggests it’s worth listening.
Of course, none of this is investment advice, do your own homework, etc. But as someone who’s been watching these Friday morning note blasts for years, I can tell you this much: when the conviction feels this broad across this many different sectors, something interesting is usually afoot.
The market doesn’t always price these themes correctly on day one. But over time? The firms that got today’s calls right are going to look very smart indeed.
