Published research is leaning heavily bullish on US equities right now, with the AI investment cycle doing most of the work.
One camp of analysts has lifted its 12-month S&P 500 target to 7,900, pointing to 25.6% forward earnings growth since December and a projected 28% earnings lift for AI-focused names into 2027. A separate published view puts the Nasdaq 100 at 30,000 by year-end, citing Apple monetising its installed base through AI services and framing Microsoft as the most undervalued large-cap in tech. Other researchers stay overweight US stocks on resilient wages, a Fed on hold, and household spending buffers — though they suggest trimming semiconductors for defensive internet names.
Disagreement is mostly about timing and breadth. A contrarian thread flags that only 52% of S&P 500 names sit above their 50-day average and sees near-term vulnerability as earnings season quiets. Another conditional view warns of a 7–10% Nasdaq 100 pullback if a reversal signal fires. At the long horizon, some recently-published work argues AI itself could compress software valuations.