Analyst stock picks as of October 18, 2026, highlight three different growth cases: improving profitability at UnitedHealth, adoption of Meta Platforms’ Muse AI agent and expanding custom-chip demand at Marvell Technology. Analysts at Morgan Stanley, Guggenheim and Stifel maintained buy ratings, but their arguments rest on different milestones, ranging from reported earnings to long-term revenue targets.
Key Takeaways
- UnitedHealth’s higher earnings guidance strengthened Morgan Stanley’s confidence in its turnaround.
- Guggenheim sees Muse adoption as a priority for Meta ahead of near-term monetization.
- Marvell’s custom-chip growth targets depend on demand, product mix and sufficient supplier capacity.
Table of Contents
- Analyst stock picks: UnitedHealth’s turnaround
- Meta’s Muse adoption comes before monetization
- Marvell’s custom-chip ambitions require capacity
- Conclusion
Analyst stock picks: UnitedHealth’s turnaround
UnitedHealth’s third-quarter 2026 results announcement, released October 13, raised full-year adjusted earnings guidance to at least $20.50 per share. The company reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $4.69 per share on revenue of $112.7 billion.
Morgan Stanley analyst Erin Wright maintained a buy rating after the results, citing stronger performance at UnitedHealthcare and Optum Health. She viewed the higher outlook as evidence of improving execution, particularly because it incorporated additional investment planned for the fourth quarter.
Wright raised her 2026 earnings-per-share estimate to $20.65 from $19.82 and her 2027 estimate to $23.24 from $22.54. Those are analyst forecasts, separate from UnitedHealth’s declared guidance. She also highlighted management’s view that the $22.63 consensus earnings estimate for 2027 was too conservative.
The operating results provide context for that confidence: quarterly operating earnings rose to $6.6 billion from $4.3 billion a year earlier even as revenue declined slightly. The medical care ratio fell to 88.4% from 89.9%, although the quarter also benefited from $610 million of favorable reserve development related to 2026 dates of service.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| UnitedHealth — Morgan Stanley | Erin Wright maintained a buy rating and a $529 price target. |
| Meta Platforms — Guggenheim | Michael Morris maintained a buy rating and raised his price target to $850 from $700. |
| Marvell Technology — Stifel | Tore Svanberg maintained a buy rating and a $370 price target. |
Meta’s Muse adoption comes before monetization
Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris maintained a buy rating on Meta and increased his price target ahead of third-quarter results scheduled for October 21, 2026. His assessment centers on whether Muse can build sustained usage across Meta’s extensive user base.
Citing Apptopia data, Morris said Muse reached 1.3 million daily active users after five weeks, compared with 300,000 in its first week. Despite that increase, adoption remained below 0.05% of Meta’s 3.6 billion daily active users, leaving the product at an early stage of distribution.
Morris expects management to prioritize usage over immediate revenue. His longer-term thesis is that businesses will pay to reach consumers through their agents, broadly following Meta’s advertising model rather than relying primarily on consumer payments. He pointed to checkout integrations with Shopify and PayPal as consistent with that approach.
The risk is that competition could force Meta into a prolonged period of heavy investment. Morris nevertheless cited its experience scaling WhatsApp and developing Reels as reasons for confidence. His monetization view remains an analyst expectation, not a reported financial contribution from Muse.
Marvell’s custom-chip ambitions require capacity
Stifel analyst Tore Svanberg reiterated a buy rating on Marvell after meeting senior management following its October Investor Day. The company raised its estimate of its total addressable market to $400 billion by 2030, citing AI-led demand.
Marvell also increased its fiscal 2029 Custom revenue target from more than $10 billion to over $12 billion, mainly reflecting strength in its XPU Attach business. Its fiscal 2031 Custom revenue target is $30 billion. These are management targets, not completed sales.
Management expects a broadly balanced fiscal 2031 revenue mix between XPU and XPU Attach, while allowing that faster growth in either category could shift the split to 60/40 or 40/60. XPU accounted for most of the nearly $1.5 billion in Custom revenue in fiscal 2026.
Capacity is an important execution question behind those ambitions. Management told Svanberg it had shared its five-year goals with suppliers before Investor Day and received commitments to support them. Svanberg views those commitments as an advantage when customers select partners for large infrastructure projects, though they do not guarantee that the revenue targets will be achieved.
Conclusion
The three buy ratings reflect distinct investment arguments rather than a single growth trend. The next scheduled event is Meta’s October 21, 2026, earnings release, when investors are due to receive an update on its business and AI strategy.
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