Argus has published its latest Portfolio Selector, which features its popular Focus List. Each month, Director of Research Jim Kelleher, CFA, surveys the team of Argus Research industry analysts for their timeliest recommendations out of the company's fundamental universe of approximately 500 stocks. The Focus List typically includes 30 stocks: turnover is high, as Jim typically adds three or four new stocks per month. Below are the latest additions, all of which are rated BUY at Argus.

The Portfolio Selector features the Argus Focus List, a group of 30 "best idea" stocks generated and regularly updated by Argus' analysts and investment policy committee. It also includes the director of research’s monthly investment strategy column, stock recommendations and sector picks, economic forecasts, and an asset allocation model. This month, the Focus List additions are NVIDIA Corp (NVDA); Applied Materials Inc (AMAT); Maplebear Inc (CART); Lyft Inc (LYFT) and the Focus List deletions are Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO); Expedia Group Inc (EXPE); Meta Platforms Inc (META); Marvell Technology Inc (MRVL).

Sustainable Impact Investing is gaining traction not only with Argus Research clients but also with the global investment community. As assets have flowed in over the past 40 years, Sustainable Investing has evolved. The discipline, originally known as Socially Responsible Investing, first focused on excluding companies that conducted business in South Africa, or participated in industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. In time, the list of industries to avoid increased to include soft drinks, fast food, and oil and gas, among numerous others. Performance of initial strategies lagged, and the approach has been modified. Now, instead of merely identifying industries to avoid, the discipline promotes "sustainable" business practices across all industries that can have an "impact" on global issues such as climate, hunger, poverty, disease, shelter, and workers' rights. Given the strategy's focus on leading management practices, we expect the growth curve for Sustainable Investing to again slope upward in the years ahead.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will provide its second estimate of 1Q Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this morning. Based on last month's advance estimate, U.S. output rose in the first quarter at an annualized rate of 2.0%. When we review this morning's release, our focus will be on looking forward, not back. Based on the advance data, the most-important result is likely to be that private investment grew 8.7% and contributed about 1.5 points to growth (approximately three quarters of the total). Almost all of that came from categories related to artificial intelligence. Investment in computers, software, and research & development added about 1.3 points to GDP growth. The equipment category grew about 17%, with computer gear up 67%. The intellectual property category grew 13%, with software up 23%. Note that this is investment, not consumption. Unlike a dozen donuts that are devoured in the office, a good investment can make the economy and its workers more productive. Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote in his 1990 book (The Age of Diminished Expectations) that "Productivity isn't everything, but, in the long run, it is almost everything." Krugman added, "A country's ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker." That is what is so important and encouraging about the level of private investment -- and it may still have significant room to run. Even with the massive proliferation of information technology over the last quarter century, equipment, and intellectual property products, at 11.3% of 1Q GDP, have not yet surpassed their 11.6% share of GDP in the second quarter of 2000. But it appears that they will. On May 21, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's GDP Nowcast provided an estimate for a 2Q26 GDP increase of 4.3% with equipment up 9.4% and intellectual property up 6.4%. Longer term, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress recently estimated that AI infrastructure spending is on track to reach $3-$4 trillion annually by the end of this decade.