When it comes to stock price predictions for 2025, it’s important for investors to understand that even the “experts” can make very dumb decisions. Consider one of the most infamous calls in Wall Street history, when in 2008 Goldman Sachs strategist Abby Joseph Cohen stuck to her 1,675 target for the S&P 500 across the first part of the year even as the global financial crisis took shape.
For the record, the S&P 500 finished the year around 900 — nearly 50% below that target.
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There’s no single metric that is a universal indicator of success in the stock market. That said, the price targets set by leading investment firms are still worth considering for 2025. Stock price predictions, much like earnings reports or valuation metrics, are useful data points that should be considered in any investment decision.
The following stocks are all among the most popular investments right now, with more than 90 million shares traded each day. They are also some of the most interesting companies to watch, given their consensus stock price predictions and the potential for big moves in the New Year:
Stock | Average Analyst Price Target | Implied Change* |
BigBear.ai Holdings Inc. (ticker: BBAI) | $2.62 | -12.1% |
Lucid Group Inc. (LCID) | $2.82 | 16.0% |
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) | $171.78 | 23.3% |
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) | $39.57 | -45.4% |
Plug Power Inc. (PLUG) | $2.73 | 9.2% |
Rigetti Computing Inc. (RGTI) | $3.50 | -52.6% |
SoundHound AI Inc. (SOUN) | $8.07 | -40.4% |
Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI) | $40.32 | 5.3% |
Tesla Inc. (TSLA) | $249.76 | -41.2% |
*From Dec. 11 closing price.
BigBear.ai Holdings Inc. (BBAI)
Market cap: $650 million 2025 price prediction: $2.62 Dec. 11 closing price: $2.98
The smallest stock on this list, artificial intelligence player BigBear.ai is also the company that carries the biggest risks. That’s not just because it’s relatively small, and bigger and more established players could easily shoulder it out of current deals providing AI solutions to national security, supply chain management and digital identity firms. Nor is it because BigBear operates in the red, which is common for small tech firms like this one. It’s because those two factors, coupled with a current price that is almost 50% higher than the consensus target, make BigBear.ai a stock that is hard to trust. Stock price predictions are often incorrect, and it’s worth noting that BBAI stock hit another all-time high in December and remains up 140% or so since Jan. 1. Still, investors looking to invest in red-hot AI companies may want to tread lightly in BBAI.
Lucid Group Inc. (LCID)
Market cap: $7.5 billion 2025 price prediction: $2.82 Dec. 11 closing price: $2.43
A U.S.-based electric vehicle company that claims to produce the fastest-charging car on the market, Lucid Group is a tiny player that is pacing only about 10,000 total vehicle deliveries across all of 2024. Time will tell if this company can capitalize on the potentially lucrative EV market, and shares have been quite volatile as this company tries to innovate and improve. Current LCID stock price targets are at $2.82 a share on average, right around where shares currently trade, but the range is wide — from a low of $1.25 to a high of $4.18. This disparity may mean there is the potential for some big moves in the year ahead.
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
Market cap: $3.4 trillion 2025 price prediction: $171.78 Dec. 11 closing price: $139.31
Nvidia is one of the highest-flying tech stocks out there, with shares that have surged more than 2,000% in the last five years. That’s because it’s at the center of several high-tech megatrends, including self-driving cars, AI, cryptocurrency mining and other growth-oriented areas of the 21st-century economy. It’s only natural, then, that NVDA has seen massive growth. But it’s also natural for investors to wonder whether the stock has overheated after this run. Right now, the consensus NVDA price prediction is $171.78, hinting at continued upside. Furthermore, the most recent target of $175 a share from Cantor Fitzgerald was issued in late November.
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Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR)
Market cap: $166 billion 2025 price prediction: $39.57 Dec. 11 closing price: $72.51
Born out of a data analytics platform created in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Palantir offers a “big data” platform that has been widely used by the U.S. government and the private sector as a problem-solving tool for the modern age. As a result, Palantir is one of the trendiest names when it comes to artificial intelligence, as it uses AI to provide actionable recommendations based on client databases. With a great growth story and this AI megatrend behind it, the stock has soared more than 300% in 2024. Unfortunately, there’s a risk that the run may not last after a spate of downgrades in November and consensus price targets showing an expected 40% drop from current levels.
Plug Power Inc. (PLUG)
Market cap: $2.2 billion 2025 price prediction: $2.73 Dec. 11 closing price: $2.50
Plug Power is an innovative developer of hydrogen fuel cell technology for use in telecommunications, transportation and utility applications. PLUG stock was all the rage a few years ago thanks to its disruptive potential, but that potential hasn’t exactly been realized: The company is deeply unprofitable as it invests in R&D. More importantly, it has cratered from an all-time high above $60 a share to current levels under $3 a share. That said, there may now be some value for bargain-hunting investors in PLUG stock, as the average price target is slightly above current levels. What’s more, the firm is predicting brisk revenue growth in 2025 — and small analyst shop HC Wainright & Co. put an ambitious target of $5 per share on Plug Power in November with a “buy” rating. The future is clearly uncertain for this company, but this is a volatile small-cap stock to watch in the New Year.
Rigetti Computing Inc. (RGTI)
Market cap: $1.9 billion 2025 price prediction: $3.50 Dec. 11 closing price: $7.38
Rigetti Computing is an under-the-radar small-cap stock that builds quantum computers and related processors. It also provides cloud data support, algorithm development and other enterprise-level services. Quantum computing — that is, high-tech applications that use principles of quantum mechanics to solve complex problems faster and sometimes simultaneously when compared with slow, single-task traditional computing — may have taken a back seat to other trends lately. That said, it’s still a potentially transformational technology, and investors are watching RGTI closely as a first-mover in the category. Stock price predictions for RGTI are admittedly a bit of a shot in the dark, but the consensus is significantly below current pricing. That said, major analysts have been reiterating “buy” ratings across late 2024, so Rigetti may still be worth holding if you’re an aggressive trader.
SoundHound AI Inc. (SOUN)
Market cap: $5.1 billion 2025 price prediction: $8.07 Dec. 11 closing price: $13.55
Keeping with the theme of AI stocks that are popular with investors, SoundHound is voice-enabled software that serves businesses across a host of industries ranging from entertainment to customer service to deliver high-quality “conversational experiences.” The stock has been on a tear in 2024 and is up more than 500% in the last year. But it remains unprofitable, and investors are starting to get skeptical about the current valuation for SOUN stock. Stock price predictions for 2025 feature an average target that is down about 40% from current levels thanks to cooling enthusiasm, including a downgrade from analysts at both Barclays and Ladenburg Thalmann in November.
Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI)
Market cap: $22 billion 2025 price prediction: $40.32 Dec. 11 closing price: $38.29
Super Micro Computer is undoubtedly a fast-growing tech stock with a lot going for it. Established back in 1993 and currently one of the largest producers of high-performance servers and data storage infrastructure, it has a profitable niche and loyal customers. That’s particularly true in the age of cloud computing and big data applications, where processing power is in demand more than ever. But despite a revenue growth rate of almost 70% for the current fiscal year, shares are down more than 50% from their 2024 highs back in March, as investors start to worry the stock has overheated after shares surged more than 10X from just a few years ago. The average stock price predictions for 2025 are around the present valuation of SMCI shares, and JPMorgan and Barclays analysts both downgraded the stock in September to “neutral” ratings. That makes it very hard to tell whether this closely watched tech stock will bounce back, continue its march lower or simply tread water in the New Year.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA)
Market cap: $1.4 trillion 2025 price prediction: $249.76 Dec. 11 closing price: $424.77
Disappointing earnings numbers across part of 2024, along with the divisive behavior of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, caused many on Wall Street to sour on this one-time darling of Wall Street early in the year. With the re-election of Donald Trump in November, however, the situation could change in favor of this EV leader. There’s so much uncertainty here, considering both the political predictions in Washington and the market predictions on Wall Street can and will be wrong in the New Year. But for what it’s worth, the consensus TSLA stock price predictions for 2025 point to a significant rollback in shares from where they are after a post-election bounce. Even the bulls aren’t particularly bullish, with Morgan Stanley’s recent rating of “overweight” in early December including a price target of $400 a share that is basically right where TSLA currently trades.
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9 Controversial Stock Price Predictions for 2025 originally appeared on usnews.com