When Goldman Sachs releases a list of stocks that it finds too appealing to ignore, there’s something to be aware of. Not because Goldman is always correct—it isn’t—and anyone who claims that Wall Street research is a trustworthy source of information hasn’t been watching markets long enough.
However, Goldman’s Conviction List has a certain institutional weight that transfers funds in ways that individual calls from smaller businesses just don’t. The names on the firm’s most recent list of picks warranted a closer examination than usual in February 2026, when the market as a whole was going through a period of significant volatility.
Goldman Sachs — Key Information & Stock Picks
| Firm | Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. |
| Founded | 1869 (157 years ago), New York City |
| Ticker | NYSE: GS |
| Stock Pick #1 | Nvidia (NVDA) — AI infrastructure growth; health care sector AI buildout flagged as new catalyst |
| Stock Pick #2 | Teva Pharmaceuticals — value opportunity; strong pipeline cited |
| Stock Pick #3 | Philip Morris International — resilient earnings, income-oriented investors |
| Stock Pick #4 | S&P Global — data and financial analytics; long-term structural growth |
| Stock Pick #5 | Apollo Global Management — alternative assets; growing institutional demand |
| Crypto Sector Pick | Robinhood Markets (HOOD) — crypto-linked; $1.5B share repurchase approved March 2026 |
| GS Own Stock Outlook | Barron’s: GS could reach $1,170 by early 2027 (+46% from March 2026 levels) |
| Conviction List | Curated stocks the firm’s research team believes are highly likely to outperform the market |
| Official Reference | goldmansachs.com |
The five stocks that Goldman highlighted are purposefully diverse: Nvidia, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Philip Morris International, S&P Global, and Apollo Global Management. On its own, that variety is noteworthy. A chip designer seated next to a financial data company, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, a tobacco company, and an alternative asset manager indicates that Goldman isn’t placing a wager on just one industry to lead the recovery. It’s spreading conviction throughout industries in a way that suggests the company recognizes potential in areas that are currently being disregarded or unjustly included in the overall market decline.
The least introduction is required for Nvidia. The Santa Clara chipmaker has emerged as something of a cultural icon for the AI investment cycle, the kind of stock that is discussed informally at a level typically associated with Apple during the heyday of the iPhone. In this context, Goldman’s case for Nvidia focuses on a catalyst that hasn’t yet fully registered in the market’s thinking: health care.
The company is speculating that the development of AI infrastructure in the healthcare sector will significantly increase demand for Nvidia, which investors haven’t yet fully factored in. That’s an intriguing framing—a second wave of adoption from a sector with its own massive computing needs and a history of slow but durable capital investment cycles, rather than the data center narrative that most people are already familiar with.
In their own unique ways, Teva and Philip Morris are tales of value in industries that the market has either disregarded or viewed with open suspicion. The massive Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva has been undergoing a difficult reorganization for a number of years after being overwhelmed by debt and settlements from lawsuits involving generic opioids.
For investors who had faith in the underlying business, watching that process take place has been slow and sometimes frustrating. Teva’s inclusion indicates that Goldman believes the company’s difficult phase is mostly over and that its pipeline and cash flow trajectory are starting to warrant a new assessment. However, Goldman doesn’t seem to see this as a reason to overlook a company with steady earnings, increasing exposure to smoke-free products, and a dividend that has held through several economic cycles. Philip Morris, on the other hand, is in a category that many institutional investors still won’t touch for ESG reasons.
The idea that alternative capital and financial infrastructure are better positioned than the current state of the market indicates is represented by both S&P Global and Apollo. With its ratings, indices, and analytics integrated into the decision-making processes of organizations that oversee trillions of dollars, S&P Global has subtly emerged as one of the world’s most significant data companies.
It’s not an ostentatious business. The lower Manhattan offices don’t make news. However, most software companies would be envious of the underlying business’s durability and pricing power. Apollo, on the other hand, has benefited from the long-term rise in institutional demand for alternative assets and private credit, a structural change that hasn’t stopped despite fluctuations in the equity markets.
The sixth noteworthy name is Robinhood Markets, which is marginally outside the initial February list but provides crucial background. James Yaro, a Goldman analyst, noticed it in late March when stocks associated with cryptocurrencies began to find a floor following months of declines. Since going public in 2021 and joining the S&P 500 in September of last year, Robinhood has changed significantly from the zero-commission brokerage that made it well-known among young retail traders.
Yaro pointed out that the platform is less directly exposed to raw crypto price swings than it might seem because it is now focusing on more sophisticated users, branching out into banking services, and developing features for active cryptocurrency traders. On March 24, the company’s board approved a $1.5 billion share repurchase program, which is not what a management team would do if they were extremely concerned about the near future.
Looking at Goldman’s selections collectively, it seems as though the company is essentially placing a wager on normalization—that is, that the stocks most negatively impacted by sector rotation, rate fears, and general risk aversion have already absorbed the majority of the negative news and are currently sitting at valuations that don’t require a particularly heroic scenario to justify.
Whether this specific moment represents a lasting bottom or merely a pause in a longer decline is still up for debate. Even Goldman’s conviction lists carry risk, and the market has a long history of humbling confident calls at inconvenient times. However, Goldman has the research infrastructure and client access to form more informed opinions than most.
What these five names have in common is something that should be taken seriously: each of them has a legitimate explanation for why the current price is incorrect, and each of them has a profitable business operating beneath the stock ticker. That combination is less common than it might seem in a market that is currently characterized more by anxiety than analysis.
