Here are some of Mizuho's top picks for August
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Mizuho added retail giant Walmart and health lifestyle company Life Time Group Holdings to its list of top picks for August. The stock market started August off strong, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P 500 hitting record highs thanks to strong earnings and optimism over a potential deal that would open the Strait of Hormuz. The Mizuho Top Picks List is a collection of the most favored stocks from its U.S. analysts. The list is refreshed monthly as each analyst selects their top picks from a 12-month outlook. Life Time Group Holdings and Walmart were new additions, while Chewy and MGM Resorts International were removed. Here are eight companies on the list: Costco Analyst David Bellinger pushed back against concerns about slowing membership growth at Costco , as new locations cannibalize members from old stores, customers upgrade their memberships, and renewal rates remain high. "We still field concerns around membership growth slowing, as part of some underlying change within the model." Bellinger wrote. "We push back with: 1) A proprietary store-level analysis indicating roughly half of recent U.S. warehouse openings are "fill-ins," siphoning demand from high-volume locations and therefore temporarily weighing on membership growth; 2) Trade-up activity is accelerating with Q1 premium member adds 2-3x that of total membership; 3) Domestic renewal rates remain exceptionally high at > 90% and above the 10-year running average." Robinhood Another stock selected was Robinhood . While the retail trading app is down nearly 18% this year, analyst Dan Dolev is optimistic on the stock's position for profitable growth. "HOOD has captured the zeitgeist of a generation through its high-quality platform, engaged user base, rapid product velocity, high operating leverage, and focus on profitable growth," Dolev wrote. "Management has proven its ability to drive profitable growth while adding incremental products, services, and geographies — a key differentiator vs incumbent platforms." Oracle Analyst Siti Panigrahi sees huge potential for Oracle while shares have fallen 26% this year. As investors question Oracle's spending on artificial intelligence, Panigrahi believes the Austin-based tech company is poised to benefit from AI in the long term. "Oracle's end-to-end AI stack across database, infrastructure, and applications positions it as a key long-term beneficiary of AI adoption," he said. "We expect top-line growth fueled by AI to drive 34% operating income CAGR through FY30, a major step up from the 3% CAGR delivered between FY2010 and FY2020."