JPMorgan’s best stock ideas heading into October
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JPMorgan has issued an updated list of its analysts' favorite investment ideas for October. The overall market is coming off a mixed month. In September, the S & P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average finished lower, losing 0.5% and 4.3%, respectively. However, the Nasdaq Composite fared much better, rising 1.9% over the same period. The last day of September also marked the end of the third quarter. The Dow fell 3% during the three-month period, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq and broad-market index each advanced by at least 2%. To kick off October, JPMorgan released a list of its overweight-rated stocks that are aligned with one of several investment strategies: growth, income, value or short plays. The bank added five names to the list including American Express , Thermo Fisher Scientific and Liberty Energy . Here are the five of the stocks JPMorgan is recommending in October. American Express is one of the value plays that has joined the list. Shares of the credit card company are down 18% year to date as investors have raised concerns about the resiliency of consumer spending and fluctuating credit rates during a period of heightened macroeconomic uncertainty. AXP YTD mountain Shares of American Express are down nearly 19% year to date. However, American Express still has a strong value proposition, per analyst Richard Shane. "AXP remains a core holding for investors looking for industry leading high returns and disciplined return of capital (dividend plus repurchases 3% of shares year after year)," Shane wrote in a note to clients. As for growth plays, one stock that fits the bill is Liberty Energy, according to JPMorgan. Shares of the energy company have jumped 52% over the past year. However, the stock still has even more room to run due to the ongoing artificial intelligence boom, per analyst Arun Jayaram. LBRT 1Y mountain Liberty Energy is up about 47% over the past year. "We are seeing a reinforced structurally tight behind-the-meter power backdrop tied to data center load growth, with a power deficit expected to persist into 2030, which supports a multi-year demand runway for distributed generation providers," Jayaram said in a note to clients. Thermo Fisher Scientific is another growth play JPMorgan analysts like. The life sciences company has seen its shares advance more than 25% over the past three months, fueled by its strong financial outlook and recently announced early disease detection partnership with Mayo Clinic. TMO 3M mountain Thermo Fisher is up nearly 29% over the past three months. The stock is likely to gain more ground due to widening adoption of AI and the U.S.' biopharma reshoring plan, analyst Casey Woodring added.