Every once in a while a major Wall Street firm drops a note that actually makes you sit up and pay attention, not just the usual recycled chatter. This week it was Goldman Sachs reminding everyone that certain stocks still have serious fuel left in the tank even after a monster year for the market.
I’ve been around long enough to know that when Goldman puts something on its Conviction List, institutions listen. And right now they’re pointing at five names that range from the obvious (hello, Nvidia) to the less obvious but equally intriguing. Let’s dig in, because some of these setups feel genuinely refreshing.
Why Goldman Sachs Still Loves These Five Names Heading Into 2026
The overarching message? The macro backdrop isn’t as scary as the headlines suggest, consumer spending at the high end remains remarkably resilient, and several secular trends (AI, sports betting, health & wellness) are still in the early innings. Translation: certain pockets of the market can keep working even if the broader indices chop around.
1. Nvidia – Yes, Really, They Still Say Buy
I’ll be honest, when I first saw Nvidia on yet another “buy” list I rolled my eyes. Haven’t we heard this song before? But then I read the actual note and, fair play to Goldman, they make a pretty compelling case that we’re still underestimating the duration of the AI build-out.
“We continue to believe Nvidia has a sustainable model advantage over peers in AI training applications… we see significant upside to Street estimates, and we view valuation as relatively appealing at current levels.”
The key insight here isn’t that Nvidia is cheap, it obviously isn’t on traditional metrics, but that the revenue ramp from Blackwell and future architectures could blow past even the most bullish forecasts currently baked in. In my experience, when the leader in a transformative technology keeps guiding higher quarter after quarter, the multiple tends to hold longer than anyone expects. We saw it with Apple in the iPhone era, we saw it with Microsoft in the cloud era. History doesn’t repeat.
Perhaps the most interesting angle Goldman highlights is the inference side of AI. Training gets all the headlines, but inference workloads are growing even faster and Nvidia’s CUDA moat looks equally wide there. Bottom line, if you thought you missed the Nvidia trade, Goldman is basically saying you didn’t.
2. Wynn Resorts – The Luxury Bet Almost Nobody Is Talking About
Now this one surprised me in the best way.
Casino stocks have had a wild ride since Covid, Macau shutdowns crushed the group, Vegas came roaring back, then Macau slowly recovered while everyone worried about a consumer slowdown that never really materialized at the high end. Wynn shares are already up 46% year-to-date, yet Goldman just added it to the Conviction Buy list with extremely bullish commentary.
“WYNN is exposed to the highest-end customer on the strip… The launch of Wynn Al Marjan Island in the UAE in 1Q27, plus best-in-class Las Vegas assets, leverage to higher-income consumers, a strong 2026 Las Vegas event calendar, and an improving backdrop in Macau should drive transformative upside.”
Goldman analyst Lizzie Dove
Let’s unpack that. First, Wynn has always positioned itself as the luxury play in Vegas, think private jets, $50k per night villas, the kind of clientele that doesn’t flinch at recession talk. Second, the UAE project is massive, essentially bringing the Wynn brand to the Middle East where gaming is brand new and the addressable market is wealthy expats and tourists. Third, the 2026 event calendar in Vegas is shaping up to be historic between F1, Super Bowl, potential NBA expansion, etc.
Add in Macau finally normalizing and you have multiple catalysts stacked on top of each other. I’ve found that when a stock has this many unrelated growth drivers firing simultaneously, the upside surprises tend to be substantial.
- UAE opening 2027 – entirely new revenue continent
- Macau VIP recovery accelerating
- Record Vegas event slate 2026
- Balance sheet repaired, buybacks resuming
If even two or three of those hit, the stock could easily trade into the $150+ zone over the next 18-24 months. Color me intrigued.
3. Dick’s Sporting Goods – Quietly Crushing It
Sporting goods retail sounds boring until you realize Dick’s has been gaining share for years while margins keep marching higher. Goldman’s Kate McShane basically told investors to chill out after the last quarter’s slight guidance miss, the long-term story is intact and arguably getting better.
The core thesis is simple but powerful: Americans are prioritizing health and wellness more than ever, premium athletic brands (Nike, Under Armour, Hoka, On Running) are on fire, and Dick’s has exclusive distribution on many hot products. Sprinkle in the ongoing shift to experiences over goods for younger cohorts and you get a retailer perfectly positioned at the intersection of multiple trends.
“We reiterate our Buy rating on DKS as the company likely continues to benefit from an ongoing trend towards health and wellness, strong brand heat, market share gains, and structurally higher margins well above pre-pandemic levels.
One controversy hanging over the acquisition of Foot Locker, but Goldman’s conversations with investors suggest most view it as accretive longer-term. Personally, I think combining Dick’s premium positioning with Foot Locker’s mall footprint could create a monster omni-channel athlete retailer. Shares are basically flat on the year, feels like the market is sleeping on this one of the cleaner growth-at-a-reasonable-price stories out there.
4. Monster Beverage – Still the King of Energy
Monster has been a compounding machine for two decades, yet management apparently sounded more upbeat than ever in recent investor meetings according to Goldman’s Bonnie Herzog. She bumped her price target to $83 and kept it as a top staples pick.
The bear market for staples, Monster keeps growing volume in the mid-to-high single digits while expanding margins. The international opportunity remains enormous, Reign and other brand extensions are gaining traction, and the core green can isn’t showing any signs of fatigue.
Herzog’s key line that stuck with me: “one of the most attractive volume-driven growth stories in broader Staples.” When a beverage analyst who’s seen every cycle calls your growth outlook “upbeat” despite tough comps, that’s usually worth listening to. Shares up 40% already this year, and Goldman thinks there’s more.
5. Genius Sports – The Sports Betting Infrastructure Play
Last and possibly most under-the-radar is Genius Sports, the data and tech provider behind most legal sports betting platforms. Goldman sees double-digit revenue growth for years with improving margins as the cost structure matures.
With U.S. sports betting still penetrating only ~30-40% of the addressable market and new states potentially coming online, the secular tailwind here is obvious. Genius has exclusive NFL data rights, partnerships with every major league, and is basically the picks-and-shovels play in an industry that keeps expanding.
The stock has been volatile, but if you believe sports betting adoption has years left to run (and I do), then companies with locked-in contracts and network effects tend to compound nicely.
Putting It All Together
Five different industries, five different stories, but one common thread, each company sits at the intersection of resilient consumer behavior and a powerful secular trend. That’s the kind of setup that can produce outperformance even when the broader market gets choppy.
Whether you agree with every name or not and let’s be real, Nvidia at these levels makes plenty of people nervous, the broader message from Goldman feels right: quality growth compounders with multiple catalysts still have room to run. In a market obsessed with the Magnificent Seven, sometimes the best opportunities are hiding in plain sight.
I’ll be keeping all five on my radar heading into year-end. Some feel like classic “buy the dip” candidates the next time we get a 3-5% pullback, others feel like core holdings you just let ride. Either way, when one of the smartest shops on the Street puts out a list like this, it’s worth at least kicking the tires.
Here’s to finding the next leg up, wherever it comes from.
