The most popular stocks for investors heading into the second half of 2025 include Amazon , Nvidia and Newmont . The first half of the year was characterized by high volatility, as President Donald Trump's escalating trade war cast a shadow over the market. Although stocks have since recovered from the lows of the year in April, the Dow Jones Industrial Average remains underwater year to date. In the same time period, the S & P 500 has gained 1.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite has inched up 0.7%. But with trade negotiations ongoing, Wall Street is cautiously optimistic entering the second half of the year that deals can be reached. Earlier this month, the U.S. and China called a truce in the ongoing dispute. A smattering of sell-side shops have recently hiked their S & P 500 forecasts, including Deutsche Bank , RBC , Barclays , JPMorgan and Citigroup . CNBC Pro asked five investors for their top five stock picks heading into the second half of 2025. The most popular stock among these professionals was Nvidia, with three investors highlighting the chipmaker. Two investors also singled out Amazon and Newmont as potential winners. Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets Investor Jay Woods selected three technology names within his top five stock picks: Nvidia, Amazon and Cisco . Shares of Nvidia have risen 5% year to date, but Woods said that there's still more room to go. "It got through the tariffs, and now price action is telling us that it wants to go higher. Once this stock breaks 150 and closes above there, I think it's poised to have a great second half run," he said. "Maybe not a historic run by Nvidia's standards, but a run of, say, 25% to 30% to get this stock towards 200 by year end." Woods added that Amazon looks set up both from a technical and fundamental standpoint to rally into year end, with Amazon Web Services poised to boost its revenue streams. Cisco, on the other hand, is a "long-forgotten stock" that could rise on both increasing cybersecurity and artificial intelligence demand. Woods singled out generator manufacturer Generac as a "beaten-down" stock for investors looking for long-term growth. The company looks increasingly attractive in the second half of 2025 due to the arrival of hurricane season, which is from June 1 through Nov. 30. Coinbase is another name that could have further to go, Woods said. "The stock is breaking out now technically. It has the administration behind it," he said. "The crypto space has now been legitimized and has legs to stand on." Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management Echoing Woods, Jed Ellerbroek cited Nvidia as a potential second-half winner due to the upcoming release of its Blackwell Ultra chip, which is expected to meet with "exceptionally high demand." Likewise, the portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management highlighted Amazon for its strong cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services; more effective advertisements; and potential benefits from infusing AI tools into its e-commerce website. Aerospace manufacturer TransDigm Group is another pick. Ellebroek said the company has benefited from strong demand in all three of its major end markets: airplane production, replacement and maintenance, and defense. Meanwhile, ServiceNow looks attractive as it continues to acquire AI-centric companies and build AI functionality into its products, he said. Finally, Ellerbroek underscored life sciences and bioprocessing company Danaher as a favorite. "The bioprocessing end market is finally improving after two tough years," he said. "We've seen revenues go from contracting to growing, and we think that growth is going to accelerate as this year progresses." Jay Hatfield, founder and CEO at Infrastructure Capital Advisors Investor Jay Hatfield was the third to highlight Amazon as a second-half winner. While the company certainly has an AI tailwind, investors also seem to be underappreciating the extent of its potential cost cutting, according to Hatfield. The founder and CEO of InfraCap also brought up financial stocks Goldman Sachs and KKR , which he expects to rally on a stronger mergers and acquisitions market in the latter half of the year. Semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom is a "reasonably priced" stock that could continue riding the AI wave from here, he said. Hatfield anticipates shares will rise as orders from its clients, the major hyperscalers and cloud providers, ramp up. Hatfield's final pick was Cheniere Energy . He expects upcoming trade deals to create higher demand for U.S. natural gas. David Miller, co-founder and CIO at Catalyst Funds Instead of singling out Amazon like the aforementioned three investors, David Miller highlighted Meta as his preferred AI play. "While a lot of people are very concerned about where the spend is going and whether AI can really be monetized, Meta is one of those companies that's already doing it," the co-founder and CIO at Catalyst Funds told CNBC. "We think they have a great revenue engine. It's incredibly efficient." Ridesharing stock Uber could provide another good opportunity for investors, Miller said, due to its strong ad business, rising bookings growth and robust margin expansion and free cash flow. Meanwhile, brokerage stocks Raymond James and LPL Financial could offer discounts since both names are trading at a cheaper valuation than the overall index, but providing investors with materially stronger revenue growth and earnings, he said. Finally, Miller selected gold miner Newmont as a potential winner as the price of the precious metal continues to rally. Central bank gold buying has driven up its value as it's traditionally considered a safe-haven asset. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Like Miller, CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall also likes Newmont due to his bullish outlook on gold prices. Stovall said more investors have flocked to gold amid heightened global geopolitical risks. Rising tensions are also contributing to an increased need for military deterrence, Stovall said, pointing to aerospace and defense stock RTX as an attractive pick. He also singled out energy stock Baker Hughes for its robust balance sheet and strong prospects in the liquid natural gas market. The strategist said he likes Chipotle Mexican Grill for its undervalued growth prospects. He said he sees the company as more resilient than its peers and expects it has "more compelling opportunities to improve restaurant-level margins." His final top stock pick was streaming platform Netflix , which he said could receive a boost from ad-supported plans, growing advertising revenue potential and its expansion into gaming and live sports. "The company's ability to curate local content and personalize user experience globally sets it apart from competitors," he told CNBC. "Netflix's subscriber base is less sensitive to an economic downturn for household entertainment versus significantly higher ticket prices for live concerts and sporting events."
