5 Stocks to Buy in September Before Wall Street Catches On

Key Points

• The AI trend continues to drive market strength heading into a historically bullish fourth quarter, with healthy economic indicators supporting long-term optimism.
• NVIDIA, MongoDB, and Snowflake each posted strong quarterly results that analysts say support further stock price gains as AI infrastructure demand grows.
• Okta and AeroVironment are also positioned for upside, with Okta's margin-driven breakout and AeroVironment's BlueHalo integration underpinning bullish analyst sentiment.

September is typically a volatile month for stocks, with the major indices likely to move sideways within their established ranges as market participants gear up for a year-end rally. Historically speaking, Q4 is the most bullish month of the year, and there are reasons to think this year will be particularly strong.

The AI tailwind is still blowing, driving systemic strength from top-tier tech hardware through building materials and equipment, and the fundamental economic indicators are healthy. The takeaway for investors is that when near-term hurdles and headwinds cloud market judgment and trigger sell-offs, it could be a good time to buy, as the long-term outlook remains robust.

NVIDIA's Setup Points to 300%+ Upside as Growth Fears Fade

NVIDIA’s NASDAQ: NVDA stock price has struggled with traction since May, moving sideways within a trading range that can’t last forever. The struggle centers on growth, sustainability, and balance sheet risk, which has largely been allayed. Q2 and Q3 results were blowouts, affirming the growth outlook the market has yet to price in, and GPU securitization changes the story.

Institutional investors view GPUs as capital-generating equipment with long-lived potential and reliable cash flow. Their capital derisks the outlook, providing a funding pathway that has only begun to unlock, but more importantly, their opinion validates the AI and data center industry. It isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

NVIDIA trades at a discount to its historical norm today, and for pennies on the dollar over the long term. The 10-year outlook suggests this stock is trading at approximately 6x its future earnings, setting the stage for a 300% to 500% price increase over time, depending on whether the market gives back the premium.

Near-term, analyst trends suggest a move toward the high end of price targets, with consensus forecasting about 45% upside and the high end at $500, more than 100% upside.

MongoDB's Atlas Platform Makes It an AI Infrastructure Must-Own

MongoDB NASDAQ: MDB is AI-critical because its Atlas platform enables enterprises of all sizes to deploy and automate data-driven operations.

The company’s database offers AI advantages and utilities, but the Atlas platform unlocks that power and puts it at developers' fingertips. Key takeaways include its native vector search tools, which reduce the need for multiple vendors, and its multi-cloud capabilities, which are essential for today’s businesses and AI labs. Catalysts include the Q2 release and guidance, which highlighted accelerating adoption and profitability, as well as the analyst response it triggered. Analysts are lifting price targets and ratings, driving this stock toward a major breakout.

Analyst consensus assumes fair value near the top of the current trading range, but the trend matters more. It points to a stock price above $500, representing a 25% gain from late August trading levels, and it will likely trend higher as the year progresses.

Snowflake Melts Up as Q2 Silences the SaaS-pocalypse Doubters

Snowflake’s NYSE: SNOW stock is melting up because Q2 results confirmed that the SaaS-pocalypse fears were overblown—and Snowflake is a critical cog in the AI data ecosystem.

The deal with Amazon's NASDAQ: AMZN AWS is a prime example, showing that major hyperscalers see value in Snowflake's platform despite having competing services. Key differentiators include the complete separation of compute and storage (enabling enterprises to scale each as needed), seamless data sharing, and plug-and-play operability.

Analysts are focused on growth and profitability, which are sustaining levels above prior forecasts. They also underpin the stock price rally, with estimates rising sharply over the summer.

The consensus offers only modest upside, but the high-end price targets add about 20% and are likely to move even higher as the year progresses.

Okta's Pivot to Agentic AI Security Powers a Margin-Driven Breakout

Okta NASDAQ: OKTA is critical to cybersecurity for its ID-securing capabilities, and the company is now focusing on agentic AI. Agentic AI increases risk for businesses that adopt it, and Okta provides a centralized platform to control that risk.

Features include unified permissions across models, tracking dark AI use, and tracking autonomous devices.

While revenue growth matters for Okta, margins matter more. AI is driving significant margin improvement, and that is reflected in the stock price action.

Okta’s stock price broke out of a trading range this summer. The move indicates a shift in dynamics, with sellers moving to the sidelines, opening a path to higher prices. Analysts see only modest upside at the consensus, but again, the trend is what matters, and it points to $180, or nearly 40% upside.

AeroVironment's BlueHalo Transformation Is Hiding in Plain Sight

AeroVironment NASDAQ: AVAV is among the most misunderstood stocks at a time when the market is misunderstanding many things.

While its business looks bad in the rearview mirror, the company has moved past lost contracts, built a massive, growing backlog and advanced the integration of key acquisitions. The primary is BlueHalo. It transformed the company from a simple drone supplier to a defense prime contractor capable of designing and delivering complete systems.

Now, the company just needs to keep executing its strategy, and it is well-positioned to do so.

The analysts' response to AVAV’s latest results was mixed, including some downgrades and price target reductions. However, reaffirmed ratings and price targets, along with new coverage, offset them, leaving the otherwise bullish sentiment intact.

As it stands, MarketBeat tracks 24 analysts with current ratings; the data shows an 83% Buy-side bias, only one Sell rating, and about 80% upside at the consensus. This stock just needs a catalyst to trigger a reversal, and catalysts are ahead.

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