Apple And Home Depot Among Top Monthly Stocks

Summer is here! (Close enough, anyway.) That means fun in the sun, fewer global restrictions, and an increase in crowds in-store, on the beach, and hopefully (or not, for those who love the work-from-home life), back to the office.

And with the growing optimism in our everyday lives, with any luck, comes a rise in the stock market as a reflection of our positive sentiments. To that end, Q.ai has rounded up some of the top stocks for the month of June to add to your portfolio before they top their prices, volumes, and other investors’ portfolios headed into summer.

And just to make sure we’ve got a well-rounded selection, there’s a little something for everyone in the mix: consumer, tech, growth, and even quality value.

Q.ai runs factor models daily to get the most up-to-date reading on stocks and ETFs. Our deep-learning algorithms use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to provide an in-depth, intelligence-based look at a company – so you don’t have to do the digging yourself.

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Apple, Inc (AAPL)

Apple, Inc
AAPL
 closed down 0.26% to start out the month, ending the first trading day of June at $124.28 to the tune of 67.3 million trades. The tech manufacturer and retailer is trading down 3.8% for the year at forward 24.24 times earnings.

Apple’s slight dip comes as the stock was granted a rare downgrade to “sell” by New Street Research following an analyst’s report that the flagship iPhone – which boasted $48 billion in sales in Q2 alone – is likely to see a significant decline in sales.

But we think they’re wrong. Apple, Inc. is expected to see 1% revenue growth over the next twelve months – despite its massive revenues in the pandemic – and ranked high on our Top Tech list. Not to mention, our AI rated Apple Top Buy for the month of June, with an A in Growth and Low Volatility Momentum, B in Quality Value, and C in Technicals. Currently, Apple is expected to see 12-month revenue growth around 1%.

A few reasons play into this analysis – for one, Apple remains one of the world’s most valuable companies, worth $2 trillion by market cap alone.

Secondly, Apple performed well in the last fiscal year, as is to be expected of a major tech provider during a modern pandemic. The retailer raked in $274.5 billion in revenue, marking 18.5% growth YOY, while operating income grew 34% to $66.29 billion. As a result, per-share earnings shot up 35.6% to $3.28, compared to $2.98 three years ago. Return on equity leaped from 49.4% to 73.7% in the same three-year period.

And with the company’s recent renewed push into self-driving cars, augmented and virtual reality headsets, as well as plans to manufacture their own chips in the next two years, they’re working hard to (not-so) covertly crawl into new market sectors and take over from the inside-out.

Williams-Sonoma, Inc (WSM)

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. ticked up 0.83% on Tuesday, ending the first day of the new month at $170.95 against its 22-day price average of $172.65. The stock traded a total volume of 1.287 million shares intraday. All told, Williams-Sonoma is up 67.3% YTD and trading at 15.5x earnings.

Williams-Sonoma is another pandemic success story as home-furnishing sales rose when customers in lockdown diverted their dollars to nesting and relocation. The home goods company saw revenue rise 7.6% to $$6.78 billion, marking 28.7% growth from $5.67 billion in the three-year-ago period.

Likewise, operating income exploded 160% over the last three years, from $441.6 million to $949.1 million, growing 21% in the last year alone. This saw per-share earnings jump 172.6% in the previous 36 fiscal months, compared to 28.2% last year. Return on equity expanded, too, from 28.3% to 47.2% in the same period.

And the home furnishing company’s good fortunes didn’t end there. Last week, Williams-Sonoma released smashing first quarter results as a thriving housing market continues to boost demand for home goods. Per-share earnings rose by a whopping 296% for the quarter on revenue of $1.75 billion, marking 41.6% growth in the three-month period. Management projected up to mid-teen revenue growth for fiscal 2021.

Our in-house deep learning program sees Williams-Sonoma continuing its good fortunes – at least, where it counts for investors. The company is rated A in Quality Value and B in Technicals, Growth, and Low Volatility Momentum. And amidst a booming housing market, with a solid quarter under its belt – not to mention our AI’s analysis to back it all up – Q.ai considers this Top Consumer stock a Top Buy for June.

Home Depot, Inc (HD)

Home Depot, Inc
HD
traded down to $316.31 on Tuesday, a drop of 0.82% on the back of 3.54 million trades. Though Home Depot has fallen some from its recent all-time high, it remains up 20% YTD. Currently, the home electronics and building supply retailer is trading at 22.77 times earnings.

Home Depot is another pandemic success story, thanks in large part to its ability to indirectly compete with major online retailers like Amazon
AMZN
. Whereas Amazon provides flexibility – and the ability to shop from home – Home Depot supplies big, bulky products that are difficult to ship, as well as “need it now” items (such as plumbing supplies) that you just can’t wait for.

As such, Home Depot became the de facto king of DIY pandemic projects alongside rival Lowe’s
LOW
. Home Depot saw revenue rise 7% to $132.1 billion in the last fiscal year – 30.6% growth over $108.2 billion three years ago – with operating income up 8.3% to $20.6 billion in the same period. Per-share earnings jumped almost 15% to $11.94, as well, while ROE skyrocketed to over 14,061%.

And that’s not all. Home Depot’s most recent earnings report suggests that the retailer may continue its rapid growth as consumers splurge on their homes well over a year into the pandemic. Thanks to a hot housing market, spurred on by consumer relocations and pandemic recovery efforts, Home Depot raked in $37.5 billion in revenue against $34.96 billion expected, with per-share earnings up to $3.86 against $3.08 expected.

Our AI agrees with the company’s management that “Fiscal 2021 is off to a strong start,” and believes that this unprecedented success story has a way to climb yet. As such, this Top Consumer stock is rated Top Buy for the month of June, with A’s in Low Volatility Momentum and Quality Value and D’s in Technical and Growth.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Advanced Micro Devices
AMD
 slid up 0.9% on Tuesday, starting out June at $80.81 per share with 43.43 million trades on the books. The semiconductor manufacturer is down 12.45% YTD, though currently trading at 37.36 times earnings.

Advanced Micro Devices is trending broadly this week thanks to an all-around positive Computex 2021 presentation, in which the semiconductor giant noted that it’s making several pushes into new territory. For instance, AMD’s gaming architecture – including chips and an all-new laptop – is expected to enter the market this year, while AMD’s partnership with Tesla
TSLA
will see it enter the mobile gaming and video market as it powers Tesla’s upcoming infotainment system. 

AMD is also slated to acquire Xilinx
XLNX
sometime in 2021. This fellow semiconductor manufacturer is best known for its aerospace and defense offerings, as well as a post-production programmable chip popular in many data centers. AMD will acquire Xilinx in all-stock transaction valued at $35 billion, significantly expanding AMD’s potential and allowing it to continue to outpace rival Intel. The acquisition will bring two juxtaposed industry leaders with complementary product portfolios together to deliver high-performance processors for a wider variety of cloud, edge, and end devices.

These plans are likely to capitalize on AMD’s remarkable three-year growth, which saw the company’s revenue jump 76.4% to $9.76 billion from $6.475. Operating income far and wide outpaced this growth at 314%, bringing the company from $451 million to almost $1.37 billion, with per-share earnings skyrocketing 644% to $2.06.

All told, AMD is well positioned for future growth thanks to its new product offerings, partnerships, and a long-awaited acquisition. Our AI rates this Top Growth stock as Attractive for June, with A in Growth, C in Low Volatility Momentum and Quality Value, and F in Technicals.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
traded down 0.9% Tuesday, ending the first day of June at $247.40 on volume of 23.2 million trades. Currently, the stock is up 14% YTD, and is trading forward at 30.8 times earnings.

It’s no surprised that this global leader in the information technology sector was leader in the pandemic, as Microsoft’s Office Suite, office tech, and rapid innovation kept pace with the pandemic economy’s need for socially distanced, work-from-home solutions.

The pandemic saw Microsoft scoop up 11.85% revenue growth, raking in $143 billion during the pandemic compared to $110.4 billion three years ago. Operating income leaped 83% over the last three years and 21.3% in the last 12 months, rising from $35 billion to almost $53 billion. At the same time, per-share earnings ballooned 244.5% to $5.76 against $2.13 three years ago.

But Microsoft isn’t through growing. The tech giant is expected to unveil a new version of Windows software on 24 June, while its new Edge browser – which runs on the same framework as Google Chrome – will replace the iconic, if memeable, Internet Explorer. The new software contains design changes, as well as easier community connections and additional creator and developer abilities in the Windows app store – a sure sign that Microsoft is adapting some pandemic strategies into future products. The updated software is expected to be available for broad use this fall.

Thanks to these new offerings, Microsoft is expected to see revenue growth around 8.6% over the next twelve months. Our AI rates this Top Quality Value stock as a Top Buy for June, with A’s in Low Volatility Momentum and Quality Value, B in Growth, and D in Technicals.

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