 AI stocks continue to propel the major indices to record highs. But surging valuations are concerning, and investors may want to lock in... ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ |
| | Written by Jordan Chussler 
As the AI trend continues to push the major indices higher, concerns about overextension amid record-high valuations should have some investors considering whether to lock in gains on high-flying stocks. This year, the two top-performing sectors—tech and communication services—have posted gains of roughly 17% and 21%, respectively. Unsurprisingly, both are heavily leveraged to AI and are home to five Magnificent Seven stocks. And while this isn’t an argument for liquidating your AI stocks, shining a light on some of the elevated price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios and questionable financials of these companies can help you decide if now is the appropriate time to scale out of the following stocks. Palantir’s Concerning P/E Ratio Raises Red Flags While a forward P/E of about 200 for Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) isn’t as elevated as its trailing 12-month (TTM) P/E of 531, it’s worrisome. When the market experienced a tech selloff at the beginning of August, Palantir lost 18% before the stock found its footing on Sept. 5. It’s since gained nearly 12% back. Still, those dramatic swings in price are eerily reminiscent of another AI darling: NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA). From the start of 2023, the chipmaker—whose market cap is now the largest of any publicly traded company—has gained nearly 1,120%. And while it has outperformed the market in 2025, its year-to-date (YTD) gain of nearly 29% feels pedestrian after gaining nearly 192% the year prior. Of course, Palantir isn’t NVIDIA. However, a close look at the latter’s historical P/E could provide clues about the former’s path forward. On April 2023, NVDA’s TTM P/E was 148. Today, the semi stock’s forward P/E is a more comforting 40. As shares continued to rise, investors experienced some ups and downs along the way. There was a dip of 19% in late March 2024, followed by a 21% decline early that summer, and another 21% drop later in the season. The journey also included a significant 36% decrease from November to April of this year. Despite these fluctuations, many remained hopeful about the future. Palantir hasn’t had as many sharp pullbacks, but after posting its first full-year profit in 2023, things haven't been easy. The stock lost nearly 17% from December 20, 2024 to January 10, 2025, almost 38% between Feb. 14 and its YTD low on April 4. Palantir’s federal contracts will likely continue sending the stock up and to the right, but investors who don’t have the stomach for what’s likely to be a volatile path forward should consider locking in gains. The company’s debt load has been skyrocketing in recent years, with total liabilities going from $819 million in 2022 to $1.25 billion in 2024, a 52% increase. Zooming in, PLTR’s cash flow—a trustworthy gauge of financial health—fell 105% from positive $1.33 billion in Q4 2024 to negative $64 million in Q2 2025. Those metrics are causing concern on Wall Street. Institutional ownership has slipped to 46%, while outflows of $29 billion over the past 12 months surpassed inflows of $13.6 billion. Palantir’s average price target of $136.61 represents a potential downside of 20% from its current share price. Oracle’s Runaway Debt Raises Investor Concerns Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) may not grab headlines like Palantir. Still, its $820.38 billion market cap is more commanding and reflective of the tech company’s ability to leverage its cloud infrastructure and enterprise software to provide tailored AI services and hardware for large-scale AI applications. Like Palantir, the stock is experiencing a P/E correction, with its TTM multiple of 70.3 now improving to a forward P/E of 45.44. Earlier this month, the stock had an exciting run, soaring 47% from Sept. 4 to Sept. 10 before pulling back more than 11% over the next few days. Volatility is common with tech stocks—especially those heavily involved in AI. Still, there are some underlying concerns for ORCL shareholders worth keeping in mind. Earnings slowed almost 15% between the past two quarters, from $1.22 per share to $1.04 per share. While annual EPS increased from the prior year, there are other red flags. Substantial CapEx led to a sizable negative investing cash flow of—$8.7 billion in Q1 2026. Meanwhile, the company’s net change in cash and equivalents declined $341 million the same quarter as Oracle’s interest expense is sitting around $900 million per quarter. Much of that has to do with total liabilities climbing from $109.3 billion in 2022 to $168.4 billion in 2025, a 54% increase. Institutional ownership is down to 42%, with outflows surpassing inflows over the past 12 months. Analysts’ current price target only represents a potential upside of 1.6% from today’s share price.  Read This Story Online |  |
| Written by Leo Miller 
From a recovering mid-cap name to one of the largest companies in the world, these three tech stocks just loaded up their buyback chests. These moves not only signal confidence from management, but also give these firms substantial ability to lower their outstanding share counts over time. Doing so provides a tailwind to key metrics like earnings per share (EPS), which often correlates with rising share prices.
Dropbox (NASDAQ: DBX), Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) have each taken bold steps to assert their financial strength, with major buyback announcements that could reshape investor expectations. Dropbox: $1.5B Buyback Reflects AI Ambitions and Confidence With a market capitalization of around $8.3 billion, Dropbox is in the upper end of the mid-cap range. After going public in 2018, the stock achieved an all-time high market cap of nearly $17 billion that year. Dropbox was arguably once the most recognizable name in the cloud-based file storage and sharing market but increased competition has put significant pressure on shares over time. The stock is up around 28% over the past 52 weeks, however, and the company is working to scale its artificial intelligence (AI) driven platform: Dash. Additionally, Dropbox approved a new $1.5 billion share buyback program on Sept. 9. This is equal to a very large 18% of its market capitalization, giving the company huge buyback capacity. Notably, Dropbox has consistently reduced its outstanding share count since around April 2021, with the figure falling by around 35% over that time. The company’s latest announcement indicates that this will continue. Nutanix: Slows Dilution as Buyback Pool Hits $461M Nutanix is the large-cap tech name of this bunch, with a market capitalization of around $21.2 billion. Shares of NTNX have performed well over the past 52 weeks, gaining more than 31%. Nutanix competes with Broadcom’s (NASDAQ: AVGO) VMware business in the hypervisor market. Recent shifts in VMware’s pricing have played to Nutanix’s advantage. In 2025 alone, Nutanix added more than 2,700 new customers, it's highest number in four years. On Aug. 27, the company announced a $350 million increase to its existing share buyback authorization. With $111 million remaining from the previous announcement, the company’s total buyback capacity now moves up to $461 million. That is equal to a relatively small, but still significant 2.2% of the firm’s market capitalization. However, for Nutanix, buybacks are more about managing dilution than lowering its share count, which has increased significantly over its history. Still, the rate of dilution has decreased, with the company’s share count rising by less than 1% in 2025. With Nutanix’s free cash flow moving in an upward trajectory, its share count could start to move down over the coming years. Salesforce: Adds $20 Billion to Buyback Authorization, Pushing Capacity Above 10% Last up is the mega-cap giant Salesforce, with a market capitalization of around $231 billion. The company has become one of the most valuable tech stocks in the world off the back of its customer relationship management (CRM) software. Additionally, the company has added 6,000 paying customers to its agentic AI offering, Agentforce, in just three quarters. Along with reporting earnings on Sept. 3, Salesforce announced a $20 billion increase to its share repurchase authorization. This brings the company’s total authorization to $50 billion. However, it has spent around $24.3 billion on buybacks over the life of this authorization. Thus, Salesforce’s current buyback capacity is approximately $25.7 billion. That’s equal to a very substantial 11.1% of its market capitalization, which could allow the firm to significantly lower its EPS. Since November 2022, Salesforce has lowered its outstanding share count by approximately 4.7%. Its quarterly buyback spending has also averaged around $2 billion per quarter over that period. This suggests that Salesforce could fully utilize its current capacity over the next 13 quarters, providing a solid EPS tailwind. Salesforce Steals the Show with Significant Buyback Firepower Overall, these three firms are making strong gestures to shareholders, showing their willingness to return capital. Salesforce's announcement stands out. The firm now has big-time buyback capacity to go along with its scaling AI initiatives and its leading enterprise software platform. Read This Story Online |  Louis Navellier is one of Wall Street's most respected money managers — overseeing more than $7 billion and earning a reputation for fact-based analysis, not sensationalism. That's why his latest economic warning is turning so many heads.
In his new report, Louis reveals how recent policies are accelerating a massive economic shift. While headlines point to strong numbers, everyday Americans feel the squeeze as prices climb and industries are reshaped. According to Louis, this transformation could determine who falls behind — and who builds lasting wealth. Read Louis Navellier's urgent report here |
| Written by Chris Markoch 
Stocks are rallying on the expectation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in September. That should be positive for corporate earnings. However, those expecting volatility to quiet down may be disappointed. First, lower interest rates may push inflation higher. At the very least, an accommodative Fed policy is likely to keep interest rates above the Fed’s target rate of 2%. Geopolitical events appear to be ratcheting up. Both of those factors explain why central banks continue to buy gold, and many speculative investors are also buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. That’s why dividend stocks may look attractive. Many dividend payers have defensive qualities, which means the company has stable revenue and earnings no matter what’s happening in the economy. Coca-Cola: Buffett’s Dividend Favorite Keeps Delivering One of the best qualities of a high-quality dividend stock is its ability to deliver income and growth for shareholders regardless of what’s happening in the broader economy. In 2025, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is up 6.37% in 2025. That’s about 50% lower than the 13% gain in the S&P 500, but it doesn’t consider Coca-Cola's 3.03% dividend yield. At a time when many consumer staples stocks are struggling, Coca-Cola continues to grow revenue and earnings. That growth highlights the steps the company has taken to diversify its portfolio beyond soft drinks and into categories like sports drinks, teas, and enhanced water beverages. Lower interest rates should allow the company to maintain, if not increase, its full-year guidance, according to analysts. The consensus price target for KO stock is above its 76.93, which is above the stock’s 52-week average. Plus, on Sept. 11, Peter Grom of UBS Group gave KO stock an $80 price target. That was down from $84, but still nearly 5% above the consensus price. Johnson & Johnson: A Leaner, Stronger Dividend King For much of the last five years, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was embroiled in lawsuits focused on its talc powder and ovarian cancer. That weighed on investors' sentiment even after the company spun off its consumer products division into Kenvue. But the remaining company is leaner, more efficient company that is focused on pharmaceuticals and medical technology (MedTech). The pharmaceutical pipeline is hyper-focused on areas like oncology and immunotherapy, while the MedTech business is putting the company’s cash to work via strategic acquisitions. As investors began rotating out of the tech sector, JNJ has been a beneficiary, pushing it up about 22% in 2025. Plus, at around 16x forward earnings, JNJ stock is trading at a discount to its historical averages. That growth comes on top of the company’s dividend that has a 2.93% yield. Like Coca-Cola, JNJ is a dividend king that has increased its dividend for 64 consecutive years. Prologis: A REIT Positioned for Growth and Stability Many investors are hoping that lower interest rates will unlock a frozen housing market. That will likely take at least 25 to 50 more basis points, but investors who want to front-run the recovery may want to consider Prologis Inc. (NYSE: PLD). Prologis is the world’s largest industrial real estate investment trust (REIT), specializing in logistics and warehouse properties. That means occupancy rates should be stable as consumer sentiment improves. However, Prologis is also pivoting into forward-looking sectors like sustainable energy and storage, data center development, and helping businesses with their operations essentials. While REITs can be interest-rate sensitive, Prologis’ long-term leases and strong tenant demand give it predictable cash flows. Plus, REITs are known for their reliable dividends. The stock comes with a 3.54% dividend yield, which is higher than many equities and growth potential tied to logistics demand. Also, PLD stock trades for around 19x earnings, which puts it at a discount to its historical averages. Read This Story Online |  |
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