7 Top-Rated Stocks for Your December Buy List

The month is flying by. We’re halfway through the last month of 2023, the holidays are around the corner. And you’re saying you haven’t made out your December buy list for top-rated stocks?

No worries. We’ve got you covered.

December is actually a great time find top-rated stocks. Historically, the market shows a 1.3% gain in December, which is the third-best average monthly performance.

The end of the year also sees what’s known as a “Santa Claus rally,” a time of bullishness on the market where investors are happier and more optimistic.

Whatever the reason, many investors are in the buying mood. That’s why tools like the Portfolio Grader are so helpful in assisting investors in identifying the best stocks based on metrics like earnings growth, revenue, analyst sentiment and momentum.

These top-rated stocks seem to be ideal choices for December. All are poised to continue recent rallies and profit as you roll into 2024.

SoFi Technologies (SOFI)

SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI) is an innovative fintech that functions as an online bank and has a variety of finance products, including student loan refinancing, mortgages, credit cards and personal loan products.

The stock has been depressed for a long time because of the Covid-19 pandemic. While much of the country has been open for a while, federal student loan repayments remained frozen until just recently this fall. Payments restarted in October.

As long as the federal government kept the repayment moratorium in place, SoFi’s bottom line was taking a beating. But now it’s poised to rebound, making it among the top-rated stocks out there.

And SoFi’s customer base is growing rapidly, up to nearly 7% at the end of the third quarter, a gain of 47% from a year ago.

Revenue is already on the way back up, reaching $531 million in the third quarter, a gain of 27% from a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was $98 million, a far cry from the first quarter of 2022 when it was only $9 million.

SOFI stock is up 72% this year and gets a “B” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)

The parent company of the ubiquitous search engine Google, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) had a solid 2023, jumping more than 50% and raising its market capitalization to $1.6 trillion. But I think that 2024 could be just as good, or even better for this perrenial member of any top-rated stocks list.

Alphabet is making some smart moves in the world of generative artificial intelligence. While it arguably trailed some competitors over the last 12 months, Alphabet is working hard to make up lost ground. Its Bard AI chatbot platform, which definitely underwhelmed when it launched in early 2023, is regaining its footing.

Reuters is reporting that Alphabet believes Bard is on a path to be used by 2 billion.

Alphabet is also profiting from a rebound in digital advertising. Advertising revenue in the third quarter reached $59.6 billion, up from $54.4 billion a year ago. That’s a huge percentage of Alphabet’s overall revenue, which was $76.6 billion for the quarter.

I see Alphabet’s advancements in AI, its continued incorporation of Bard into its Google platform and the continued growth of advertising to mean strong numbers for GOOG in the fourth quarter and into 2024. The stock has a “B” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Toyota (TM)

Japanese automaker Toyota (NYSE:TM) is an outstanding automotive stock that exposes investors to the car-loving Japanese market, vigorous growth in the U.S. and increasing exposure to electric vehicles.

Toyota will also give you access to the fascinating electric vertical take-off and landing market. Toyota has a partnership with Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY), a California company that is working on developing an air taxi service.

But more than anything, I love Toyota for what it’s doing with hybrid and electric vehicles. Its EV sales are up 38.4% to 304,000 in October. That’s most Toyota’s sales increase. Total automotive sales for the company were up 7%, so EVs are really driving the company right now.

Toyota recorded revenue of $145.4 billion for the fiscal second quarter of 2024, up 24% from a year ago. And there appears to be more where that comes from.

TM stock is up 35% this year and gets an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Archer Aviation (ACHR)

Sure, Toyota will get you some exposure to the eVTOL market. But if you’re really excited about the idea of flying vehicles and want to invest, then Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR) is your play.

Archer is a California-based eVTOL company that’s working on creating an electric aerial ridesharing service. Archer envisions a world where someone can hail a flying taxi in New York City and be dropped off at the international airport in Newark in just 10 minutes.

The company seeks to reach the mass market by 2028, with plans to deploy 6,000 aircraft by 2030.

Last month Archer signed a $500 million agreement with Air Chateau International to purchase Archer’s Midnight eVTOL aircraft. The Midnight line has been in testing for four years, and Archer hopes to get Federal Aviation Administration approval to put it into use by 2025.

Archer is a fascinating stock that’s up more than 230% this year. It gets a “B” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

C3.ai (AI)

It’s really no surprise that C3.ai (NYSE:AI) is one of the fastest-growing stocks in 2023. The ticker is “AI” and this is the year of artificial intelligence. You probably have some investors who know nothing about what C3.ai does, but see it as a window in the the AI space.

Consequently, C3.ai stock is up nearly 150% this year.

Fortunately for investors, it appears to be a solid bet. The company, which makes enterprise AI software to help build and scale AI-powered applications, makes over 40 applications for a dozen industries, including energy and financial services.

It has joint selling agreements with the biggest cloud computing companies in the world, including Alphabet. And while its currently losing money, that’s only because C3.ai is spending heavily on research and development to grow out and scale its offerings.

Earnings for the fiscal second quarter of 2024 included revenue of $73.2 million, up 17% from a year ago. The company has more than $760 million in revenue in hand, so liquidity is not a problem.

Oppenheimer analysts upgraded the stock to “outperform” and hailed the company’s growth and margin expansion. AI stock has a “B” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Netflix (NFLX)

When you talk about streaming services, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is surely one of the first names that escapes your lips. At least, it should be.

While the streaming services has become super-competitive in the last few years, Netflix is an original, making it one of the top-rated stocks. It’s been around since the days of video store rentals.

The stock had a great 2023 after the company took the long-overdue step of monetizing its customers who were sharing accounts outside their households. Its program to charge those customers $8 per month led to an increase of 8.8 million paid net additions in the third quarter and helped Netflix increase its revenue by 8% from a year ago.

Netflix also is making headlines for transparency. This week is released its first-ever comprehensive report on viewership was released, which details what titles people are watching. Netflix says it will release subsequent reports twice a year to measure hours viewed for each title with more than 50,000 hours viewed in a six-month period.

Streaming services agreed as part of their recent negotiations with the Writers Guild of America to be more transparent about viewership. These reports will be another tool investors can use to evaluate Netflix and other streaming companies.

NFLX stock is up 57% in 2023 and gets a “B” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Coinbase Global (COIN)

Regardless of how you feel about cryptocurrencies, it’s hard to ignore Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) these days. The stock is up nearly 300% in 2023, including a 50% gain in the last month.

The price is driven by some rebounding in the cryptocurrency market and investor anticipation that bitcoin exchange-traded funds could be approved by federal regulators.

Coinbase is one of the top ways for retail investors to buy cryptos, the platform has more than 230 tradable cryptocurrencies on the Coinbase platform. Users trade $76 billion in digital assets each quarter.

Coinbase recorded a net loss through the third quarter but believes it will post positive adjusted EBITDA for the full year. Its third-quarter revenue of $623 million was up 8% from a year ago. And while it had a net loss of $2 million for the quarter, that’s much better than the $545 million loss it posted in Q2 of 2022.

COIN stock gets an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

On the date of publication, neither Louis Navellier nor the InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article held (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.