On Feb. 6, the Dow Index achieved a milestone, crossing the technically crucial 50,000 level for the first time in its history. The 30-stock index reached 50,169.65 before finishing at 50,115.67. On Feb. 9, the blue-chip index further extended its gains closing at a new high of 50,135.87 after touching an all-time record-high of 50,219.40.
Dow’s momentum is likely to continue as an extremely high valuation of the technology sector, compelled market participants to shift from technology to other cyclical sectors. Dow is more inclined toward cyclical stocks.
At this stage, we recommend buying five blue-chip stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank. These are: Apple Inc. AAPL, NVIDIA Corp. NVDA, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, Salesforce Inc. CRM and Walmart Inc. WMT. Each of our picks carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Apple Inc.
Apple is benefiting from strong growth in iPhone and Services revenues. AAPL continues to gain momentum in emerging markets. India and Greater China reported strong fiscal first-quarter 2026 growth driven by iPhone. The company now has more than 1 billion paid subscribers across its Services portfolio and 2.5 billion active devices.
The expanding capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) are noteworthy. AAPL expects the March quarter’s net sales to grow between 13% and 16% on a year-over-year basis despite constrained iPhone supply. Services are expected to grow at the fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 rate.
Apple’s prospects ride on the success of Apple Intelligence. Since the launch of Apple Intelligence, AAPL has introduced dozens of features, including writing tools and cleanup and made it available in 15 languages. Visual intelligence is helping users learn and do more with the content on their iPhone screen, making it faster to search, take action and answer questions across their apps.
The collaboration with Google to develop the next generation of Apple foundation models bodes well for iPhone’s prospects. The addition of Apple Intelligence drove the iPhone active installed base to an all-time high in the first quarter of fiscal 2026.
Apple has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 10.6% and 12.5%, respectively, for the current year (ending September 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 0.2% over the last seven days. AAPL has a current dividend yield of 0.37%.
NVIDIA Corp.
NVIDIA — the undisputed global leader of generative AI-powered graphical processing units (GPUs) — is benefiting from the strong growth of AI and high-performance accelerated computing. The growing demand for generative AI and large language models using GPUs based on NVDA’s Hopper and Blackwell architectures is aiding data center revenues.
The continued ramp-up of Ada RTX GPU workstations in the ProViz end market, following the normalization of channel inventory, is acting as a tailwind. Collaborations with more than 320 automakers and tier-one suppliers are likely to advance its presence in the autonomous vehicle space. We expect NVDA’s revenues to witness a CAGR of 40.7% through fiscal 2026-2028.
NVIDIA has decided to announce its roadmap for Rubin Next, to be introduced in 2027, and Feynman AI chips to be launched in 2028. NVDA is supported by an extremely bullish demand scenario. The company expects between $3 trillion and $4 trillion in AI infrastructure spending by the end of the decade.
NVIDIA has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 46.8% and 57%, respectively, for the current year (ending January 2027). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 1.1% over the last 30 days. NVDA has a current dividend yield of 0.02%.
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The Goldman Sachs Group has benefited from solid revenue growth in the Global Banking & Markets and Asset & Wealth Management divisions. GS is refocusing on the core strengths of investment banking and trading businesses through restructuring and scaling back its consumer banking footprint.
The expansion of GS in the private equity credit market is expected to diversify its revenue base. Further, a solid liquidity profile will support its capital distribution activities. In November 2025, Goldman Sachs entered into an agreement with ING Bank Slaski to divest its Polish asset management firm, TFI.
The deal is targeted for completion in the first half of 2026. In 2024, GS completed the sale of GreenSky, its home improvement lending platform, to a consortium of investors. In the third quarter of 2025, GS transitioned the General Motors credit card program.
Goldman Sachs has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 8.6% and 10.3%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 2.3% over the last 30 days. GS has a current dividend yield of 1.72%.
Salesforce Inc.
Salesforce is benefiting from a robust demand environment as customers are undergoing a major digital transformation. Its sustained focus on aligning products with customer needs is driving the top line. Continued deal wins in the international market are another growth driver for CRM.
The buyout of Slack has positioned it as a leader in enterprise team collaboration and improved its competitive standing compared to Microsoft Teams. CRM’s strategy of continuous expansion of generative AI offerings will help it tap the growing opportunities in the space.
Salesforce is continuously expanding its generative AI offerings. Generative AI is a type of AI technology that can produce various types of content, including text, imagery, audio and synthetic data. It is driven by a large language model, which means it uses a lot of data to understand and generate conversations. CRM forayed into the generative AI space with the launch of Einstein GPT in March 2023.
In June 2023, CRM further elevated the set of its generative AI tools with the launch of the AI Cloud service. With this, the company claims to offer one-stop AI-powered solutions for enterprises looking to enhance productivity. Along with the launch of AI Cloud, CRM also raised its venture capital fund for generative AI to $500 million from $250 million announced in March 2023.
Salesforce has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 10.9% and 10.5%, respectively, for the current year (ending January 2027). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 0.2% over the last 60 days. CRM has a current dividend yield of 0.87%.
Walmart Inc.
Walmart’s performance reflects strong execution across its omnichannel model, with robust store-led fulfillment, solid e-commerce growth and sustained market share gains. WMT has benefited from robust comparable sales, broad-based traffic growth and rapidly expanding higher-margin businesses such as advertising and membership, which represent a meaningful share of operating income.
Faster delivery speeds, improved inventory availability and marketplace expansion continue to support WMT’s e-commerce growth. WMT’s omnichannel strategy continues to underpin its growth, allowing the company to capture demand seamlessly across physical and digital channels. Management has raised its fiscal 2026 view, which underscores confidence in sustaining growth.
Walmart has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 4.5% and 11.7%, respectively, for the current year (ending January 2027). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 0.3% over the last 90 days. WMT has a current dividend yield of 0.72%.
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The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Salesforce Inc. (CRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Walmart Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
