Investing

YOUR GUIDE TO NAVIGATING YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE

 Last year, the IRS received 294,138 complaints of reported identity theft, the second most in its history — and the agency’s criminal investigation agents identified more than $5.5 billion in tax fraud. 
 If you receive an email, text or call from an unknown company offering to assess your potential tax savings or get you a bigger refund, be wary.
The IRS says it will “never initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text, or social media regarding a bill or tax refund.” 

Karl Tapales | Moment | Getty Images

As the April 15 federal tax deadline draws near, most taxpayers have less than two weeks to submit their 2023 individual tax return or file an extension — but for scammers, that’s still ample time to try to steal filers’ personal and financial information. 
Last year, the IRS received 294,138 complaints of reported identity theft, the second most in its history. The agency’s criminal investigation agents identified more than $5.5 billion in tax fraud. 

As of its March 22 report, the IRS has processed 79.2 million federal returns — almost half of the 167 million individual tax returns it expects to be filed this season, according to IRS spokesman Eric Smith. 

As part of its National Financial Literacy Month efforts, CNBC will be featuring stories throughout the month dedicated to helping people manage, grow and protect their money so they can truly live ambitiously.

Taxpayers who have yet to submit their return or tax payment need to take precautions, fraud experts say. 
“File electronically or go directly into the post office to mail out your tax returns or a tax payment,” said Jennifer Hessing, fraud analytics director at Wells Fargo. “External mailboxes can be targets for theft as scammers look to steal personal information or checks being sent out for tax payments.”
Here are three common tax scams and ways to avoid them: 

Beware of unsolicited emails, texts, phone calls

If you receive an email, text, or call from an unknown person or company offering to assess your potential tax savings or get you a bigger refund, be wary.

The pitch could go like this: “We would love to get that [refund] to you as easily and as quickly as possible. All you need to do is provide us with some information, and we’ll make that happen,” said Steve Earls, head of consumer data security at IDShield. “If you’re like, ‘I don’t trust you, do you have a phone number I could call?’ They even have fake call centers. It’s all the same kind of conglomerate.”  
Calls, emails or text messages from scammers posing as legitimate tax or financial organizations may also ask you for valuable personal and financial information that can lead to identity theft. 

Third-party offers to set up your IRS account

Other schemes may help you set up an online account at IRS.gov to fill out and process your return more quickly. You may be asked for your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and a photo ID to set up the online account.
Then the fraudster can sell that information or use it themselves to file fraudulent tax returns, open credit card accounts or get loans.  

‘Ghost tax preparers’

A “ghost tax preparer” may prepare your return but fail to sign the document or provide their address or tax ID number. They may assume you’ll sign a return without verifying this information and have then already captured your personal and financial information. 
One of the easiest ways to spot a scam is when a taxpayer hires someone to prepare a return and information on the paid preparer section of the return is missing or says “self-prepared,” said Los Angeles-based certified public accountant Miklos Ringbauer.
“That should be the very first and utmost red flag for a client when they are looking at the return to review,” he said. “A taxpayer should never file a return and just sign without reviewing their returns.”

Tips to avoid tax scams

The IRS will usually contact you through regular mail, not by phone. The agency says it will “never initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text, or social media regarding a bill or tax refund.” 

Only use the approved authentication process available on IRS.gov. 

Reporting tax scams
If you believe you are a victim of a tax scam, immediately report it to government officials. 

The IRS advises reporting all unsolicited emails claiming to be from the IRS or an IRS-related entity to phishing@irs.gov. 

If you’re a victim of identity theft, the Federal Trade Commission offers a step-by-step guide on what to do at identifytheft.gov.

CNBC’s Stephanie Dhue contributed reporting.
SIGN UP: Money 101 is an eight-week learning course to financial freedom, delivered weekly to your inbox.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Singapore, Denmark and U.S. are the best places in the world to conduct business, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit business environment ranking.
EIU’s ranking is measured based off indicators such as inflation, cost of living, economic growth, and fiscal policies. 
Some notable “big improvers” that scored well in the index were countries like Greece, Qatar and India.

Singapore topped the list on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s business environment ranking.
franckreporter | E+ | Getty Images

Singapore, Denmark and U.S. are the best places in the world to conduct business, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit business environment ranking.
“Singapore will remain the best geography in the world to do business, as it has for the past 16 years,” EIU’s Country Forecast Manager and Europe analyst, Prianthi Roy, told CNBC.

Factors driving the Southeast Asian nation’s place as a premier business destination is its political stability and the government’s focus on helping domestic private-sector companies upgrade technologically, she said.
The EIU’s ranking assesses the attractiveness of doing business across 82 countries and territories, and is measured based on indicators such as inflation, cost of living, economic growth, and fiscal policies. 
The gauge also offers insights to which economies are better placed for growth than others, and an “effective way to identify where an uptick in investment spending may soon be coming,” said EIU’s analysts.

Top 10 economies

Behind Singapore are Denmark and the U.S., which took the second and third spots respectively.
Denmark, with its “solid macroeconomic fundamentals” and high quality transport and digital infrastructure lends itself as one of the world’s most attractive business locations, Roy said.

Market opportunities will remain favorable in the U.S., especially with few restrictions to foreign trade and investment in the U.S., she added.

“Singapore, Denmark and the U.S. are projected to have the best business environments over the next five years,” the report showed.
Germany and Switzerland placed fourth and fifth, while Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Finland make up the rest of the top 10 best places in the world to do business.
“These are all advanced economies and long-standing strong performers in our index, so tend to be safe bets for investments,” the report stated, but cautioned that both headline and per-capita GDP growth rates are likely to remain stable and relatively slow.

Countries making the biggest improvements

Some notable “big improvers” that scored well in the index were countries like Greece, Qatar and India.
Greece saw the biggest improvement in business climate in the EIU’s index due to the reforms brought about by a pro-business government, the report showed.
Free market reforms promised by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, aimed at boosting private enterprise and attract foreign investment, propelled the country’s sharp improvement in rankings to the second most improved business environment.
“India is the only single-country market that offers a potential scale comparable to that of China,” the report said, adding that the country’s young demographic profile bodes well for its labor force and future demand. India ranked third on the list of most improved business environments. More

Social Security beneficiaries who have to pay back excess benefits to the agency may have less money withheld from their monthly checks, as new policies take effect.
Affected beneficiaries may also qualify to have those repayments waived.

Mstudioimages | E+ | Getty Images

Social Security beneficiaries who owe money to the Social Security Administration may see much lower default withholding rates from their monthly checks, thanks to new policies that are going into effect.
As of March 25, the Social Security Administration will no longer collect 100% of a total monthly Social Security benefit payment to recoup the money a beneficiary owes due to overpayment of benefits.

Instead, the agency will collect either 10% of a beneficiary’s total monthly benefit or $10 — whichever is greater.
But there may be a short period where beneficiaries are still affected by the old policy, the agency announced Friday.
If that happens, affected beneficiaries should call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 to lower their withholding rate, the agency said.
More from Personal Finance:Many Americans believe pensions are key to achieving the American DreamMillionaires may have hit their 2024 Social Security payroll tax limit78% of near-retirees failed or barely passed a basic Social Security quiz
The new rules apply to overpayments, which are triggered when the amount of benefits due is miscalculated and checks are sent for higher sums than what beneficiaries are owed.

When that happens, the Social Security Administration is required by law to seek repayment of the excess money paid to beneficiaries. But it might not be clear that an overpayment has happened for years, sometimes resulting in overpayment notices for tens of thousands of dollars.
In recent years, the problem with overpayments has become worse, said David Camp, CEO at the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives.
“There were always far too many overpayments,” Camp said, as the agency has struggled over the years with limited or outdated resources. “Although in the last few years, it’s been a steady, though shockingly high, sum total of overpaid individuals.”
Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, beneficiaries who face strict limits on their income and assets are particularly vulnerable to overpayment issues, Camp said.
The Social Security Administration said it is working to curb the burden to affected beneficiaries.
“We are no longer going to have that clawback cruelty of intercepting 100% of a payment if people do not respond to our notice,” Commissioner Martin O’Malley said during recent testimony before the Senate.

While the new repayment threshold applies to new overpayments, beneficiaries who currently have an overpayment withholding rate greater than 10% can contact the Social Security Administration to have that lowered, the agency said.
All affected beneficiaries should call the agency about the 10% repayment rate, Camp said, but they need to approach the process with patience. The Social Security Administration does not have enough staff to answer a high volume of calls, so beneficiaries should expect a hold time, Camp said, as well as processing time.
The Social Security Administration is also implementing other new policies to address overpayments, including shifting the burden of proof away from Social Security claimants when determining who is at fault for the error.
The maximum time for repayment plans is being extended to 60 months, up from 36 months. It will also be easier for beneficiaries to request a waiver so they don’t have to pay back the sums.
“The great majority of claimants never request a waiver, although many of them could qualify,” Camp said.
That’s particularly true for beneficiaries who are struggling to meet their basic needs or who are at risk of being evicted because they are repaying Social Security, he said.
“Claimants ought to know that they can also ask for not having to pay it back at all if it wasn’t their fault and they can’t afford to repay,” Camp said.
To request a waiver, a beneficiary must fill out a form.
Since O’Malley was sworn in as commissioner in December, he has taken some “very aggressive steps” toward addressing the overpayment issues that vex beneficiaries, said Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
“They’re so reasonable, it makes you wonder why no one did it before,” said Richtman, referring especially to the end of the policy of withholding all of a beneficiary’s monthly payments until the entire overpaid sum is repaid.
“That’s a huge burden on most beneficiaries who live on Social Security or the majority of their income is Social Security,” Richtman said. More

The Powerball jackpot officially hit $1 billion on Monday, the game’s fifth-largest grand prize.
There are two payout options for the lucky winner: a lump sum of $483.8 million or an annuity worth $1 billion. Both are pretax estimates.
The next Powerball drawing is Monday at 10:59 p.m. ET.

Scott Olson | Getty

Between Uncle Sam and the winner’s home state, that headline number could be cut in half by the time it reaches their hands.

Landon Buzzerd
Associate wealth advisor at Grant Street Asset Management

Eight states don’t tax lottery winnings. They are: California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
The next Powerball drawing is Monday at 10:59 p.m. ET, and the chances of hitting the jackpot are roughly 1 in 292 million.

Lump sum distribution could be ‘a mistake’

“Virtually everybody who wins the lottery picks the lump-sum distribution,” Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based lawyer who has represented several lottery winners, previously told CNBC. “And I think that’s a mistake.”
Without a team of experts, or “infrastructure,” such as a financial planner, tax advisor and attorney, a big winner could easily mismanage the lump sum windfall, he said.
“Any sizable lotto win will often lead to a huge change in lifestyle,” said Houston-based CFP Crystal McKeon, chief compliance officer at TSA Wealth Management. “People buy mansions, boats, planes, invest in bad business deals or give money away because they think they have more than enough.” 
The 29-year annuity could offer guardrails, which may be appropriate for certain winners, experts say. Of course, the opportunity cost for the annuity is less money to invest upfront.

The latest Powerball jackpot comes less than one week after a single ticket purchased in New Jersey won Mega Millions’ fifth-largest grand prize of $1.128 billion.
That grand prize is back down to $36 million and the chances of winning are roughly 1 in 302 million. More

Roughly two dozen colleges and universities have “no-loan” policies, which means they will meet 100% of an undergraduate’s need for financial aid with grants rather than student loans, according to The Princeton Review.
Now more students from middle-class families will be able to graduate debt-free after some schools further expand their financial aid programs, experts say.

Amid arguably the worst year to apply for financial aid, some colleges are implementing new strategies to entice students wary of the high cost.   
Vanderbilt University announced it is expanding Opportunity Vanderbilt to include full-tuition scholarships to students of families with an annual income of $150,000 or less. Meanwhile, Dartmouth also said it is nearly doubling its current income threshold for a “zero parent contribution” for parents with an annual income of $125,000, up from $65,000.

“As costs continue to escalate we think it’s so important there is access,” said Doug Christiansen, Vanderbilt’s dean of admissions and financial aid.
More from Personal Finance:FAFSA fiasco may cause drop in college enrollment, experts sayHarvard is back on top as the ultimate ‘dream’ schoolThis could be the best year to lobby for more college financial aid
In a year plagued by problems with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, students who were already struggling under the weight of the tab now face additional barriers, Christiansen said, which could ultimately hurt college enrollment.
“I am concerned on a national level that we will have a portion that think they can’t afford it,” he said. “Students who may be in a lower-income situation are throwing their hands up and saying, ‘I just can’t go.'”

Dartmouth College
Cheryl Senter/Bloomberg | Getty Images

“College affordability is a serious issue for these families,” Lee Coffin, Dartmouth’s vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid, said in a statement.

“Increasing the threshold for expected parent contributions for a greater number of families is a strong, important commitment to addressing the college affordability concerns for middle-income families,” Coffin said.
Dartmouth’s expansion of financial aid awards for undergraduates, which goes in effect in the next academic year, was funded by a $150 million donation from the late Glenn Britt, marking the largest gift dedicated entirely to scholarships in the school’s history.

Colleges with ‘no loan’ policies

Roughly two dozen schools already have “no-loan” policies, which means they are eliminating student loans altogether from their financial aid packages, according to data from The Princeton Review.
Among the schools on The Princeton Review’s “The Best 389 Colleges” list, 23 promise to meet 100% of their undergraduates’ financial need with grants rather than education debt.

‘No loan’ doesn’t always mean debt-free

Of course, even without loans, students may still be on the hook for the expected family contribution, as well as other costs, including books and fees. There could also be a work-study requirement, depending on the school.
Even if a school has a no-loan policy, that also does not prevent a student or family from borrowing money to help cover their contribution, according to Jerry Inglet, a family legacy advisor at Wilmington Trust in Buffalo, New York.
“No loan is a misnomer at best,” he said.

Have a more affordable backup

When picking colleges, Inglet advises students and families to also consider a “financial safety school” in the application process, which could offer more merit-based aid and bring the total cost down.
“I would have a wide net of possibilities that include a number of schools that are both academic and financial safety schools,” he said.
To determine which schools may be the more affordable options, the U.S. Department of Education’s college scorecard and each school’s net price calculator can help.
Also, have a conversation about your family’s financial capacity at the outset so students have realistic expectations of which schools are within reach, Inglet said.
“Set the guardrails early,” he added.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

YOUR GUIDE TO NAVIGATING YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE

Many Americans dislike the term budgeting.
The concept often leads to a sense of deprivation, comparable to the notion of dieting, experts said.
There are some easy ways to reframe the budgeting exercise more positively.

Lock Stock | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Americans hate to budget.
However, reframing the concept can yield more positive results, experts said.

They “cringe” at the word budgeting, said Winnie Sun, co-founder of Sun Group Wealth Partners, based in Irvine, California.
“It’s sort of like telling someone they need to diet and eat healthy,” said Sun, a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council. “It’s a very overwhelming concept for the average consumer.”
About 68% of consumers say a budget would help them reach their personal and family goals, yet 40% say they have never had a budget, according to a poll by the CFP Board, which oversees the certified financial planner designation, published in 2019.
Sun estimates more than 60% of her clients “feel as if they’re literally going to suffer” if Sun mentions budgeting.

As part of its National Financial Literacy Month efforts, CNBC will be featuring stories throughout the month dedicated to helping people manage, grow and protect their money so they can truly live ambitiously.

Conversations around budgeting are generally distilled into two camps: spending on needs (i.e., essential items) and wants (nonessential items).  

This framework is meant to help weigh one’s financial priorities, thereby keeping spending in check, wrote Sarah Newcomb, a behavioral economist at Morningstar.
But the exercise can turn budgeting into a feeling of deprivation — and people rebel as a result.
The classic financial advice of slashing spending on wants such as entertainment, social connection, dating and education, for example, is at odds with “the natural process of human motivation,” Newcomb wrote.
“Yes, the numbers must work, but your life must work, too,” she wrote. “Otherwise, you’ll internally resist your budget, and we all know how that can play out.”

How you should reframe budgeting

Financial experts recommend reframing the budgeting concept as a positive rather than a negative.
For example, households can think of it as “raising funds” instead of cutting spending, Sun said.
They can also establish financial goals. For example, what do they want to do with their extra funds? That may be paying down debt, saving for the long term or growing a pot of money for shorter-term goals such as a vacation, Sun said.
“We let the goals lead the act of budgeting,” she said.
“For me, a budget is not about restricting myself,” Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, a personal finance expert known as the Money Coach, said during a Q&A with JPMorgan Chase and Essence. “It’s about choosing how I allocate my resources and how I spend my money.”

Similarly, Newcomb recommends identifying new strategies that can meet one’s needs and simultaneously save money.
Newcomb gives the real-life example of a husband and wife who argued about how much money he spends on his boat each year. His needs are about self-actualization: He enjoys the wind in his hair and the sun on his face. She seeks safety and security, which are also important to her quality of life.
Here, the husband found a new strategy: offering sailing lessons to teens at his yacht club, which helped offset the cost of his boat and allowed his wife to funnel that additional income into savings.
There are other easy ways households can find extra money without sacrificing much, Sun said.

For example, households with more than one streaming service can opt to use one service for six months then change to another for the next six months, decreasing their streaming budget by 50%, she said.
Households with an ample emergency fund intact can consider shopping for auto and other insurance policies with a higher deductible than their current policy, likely lowering monthly premiums, Sun said. In the event of an insurance claim, the emergency fund can meet the deductible, she said.
They can also commit to doing curbside pickup when shopping for groceries, for example. Shoppers make purchases more mindfully and avoid in-store impulse buying, Sun said. She finds clients generally save 20% to 25% or more on their groceries this way.
Any additional cash flow can immediately be used to pay down debt, or go into long-term savings or toward a short-term goal, she said.
Ultimately, if there is a money issue, she challenges clients to decrease their spending by 5% to 10% during the month. After each week of success, she encourages them to celebrate by making memories instead of debt: perhaps by doing something with friends, or hanging out at a park, beach or someone’s backyard.
“You have to have a joy to replace that negative,” she said.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

YOUR GUIDE TO NAVIGATING YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE

Spending too much can throw your financial plan out of whack and put your ability to reach big goals at risk.
Here’s how to gauge whether your spending is just right.

Images By Tang Ming Tung | Digitalvision | Getty Images

When it comes to money mistakes, financial advisors see them all.
One key theme, overspending, tends to crop up, whether it be on homes, a college education or even fine jewelry.

For one pair of clients, realizing how much they had spent in the past 18 months on jewelry — $1.4 million — was a shock, said Barry Glassman, a certified financial planner and founder and president of Glassman Wealth Services in Vienna, Virginia.
The following year, after meeting with Glassman, they pared those outlays down to about $8,800, which went mostly to jewelry repairs.
“When people see where their money is going, their behavior changes,” said Glassman, who is a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.
The ultra-high-net worth clients’ spending is out of reach for most consumers. But the temptation to overspend can affect everyone, no matter their income.

As part of its National Financial Literacy Month efforts, CNBC will be featuring stories throughout the month dedicated to helping people manage, grow and protect their money so they can truly live ambitiously.

“At the extreme, this is why most lottery winners go bankrupt,” Glassman said.

“They feel like they’ve made it, they feel wealthy,” he said. “But they don’t realize the difference between wealth and income.”
Not all discretionary spending is negative, particularly if it is intentional and aligns with your goals, notes Preston Cherry, a CFP, founder and president of Concurrent Financial Planning in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“There shouldn’t be social shame in spending to fund your well-being, present or future,” said Cherry, who is also a CNBC FA Council member.
But Glassman, Cherry and other experts on the council say there are certain risks that can damage your bottom line and put your ability to achieve other goals at risk.

Big-ticket purchases can lead to setbacks

Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

When it comes to splurges on big-ticket items, Louis Barajas, a CFP, enrolled agent and CEO of International Private Wealth Advisors in Irvine, California, said he likes to visually show clients how their spending may interfere with their financial independence.
“This is a work on mindset over budget,” said Barajas, a CNBC FA Council member.
One big-ticket purchase, buying a home, can set people back if they take on too much house or too big of a mortgage, notes CNBC FA Council member Cathy Curtis, a CFP and the founder and CEO of Curtis Financial Planning, an Oakland, California-based fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm for women.
One family Curtis worked with missed out on a few houses by bidding too low. To correct that, they took their realtor’s advice to bid high on the next house they found. Curtis’ spreadsheets and advice on how much they could afford “went right out the window,” she said.
The family’s house payment, combined with property taxes and insurance, put them at risk for a cash crunch. They reached a low point when the husband lost his job, which prompted the wife to spend down her inheritance.

Taking such risks on real estate can be a gamble. While homebuyers may grow into their payments with salary increases, that doesn’t always work out, Curtis said. The silver lining is that most real estate tends to appreciate over time, and therefore can be a good investment, she said.
When shopping for a home, it is better to treat it as a business decision rather than a personal one, Curtis advised.
“Buying a house can be a very emotional experience,” Curtis said. “I advise clients to keep their emotions in check and know that there will always be another house that is a better fit.”
Another big-ticket purchase, a college education, may also require keeping emotions in check, particularly if a child’s dream school will break the bank.
“Your kids can always borrow money for their college degree, but you can’t borrow for your retirement,” said CNBC FA Council member Ted Jenkin, a CFP and the CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial, a financial advisory and wealth management firm based in Atlanta.
Jenkin said he tells clients to prioritize their retirement savings first, and to cut college savings if they are behind on that goal.

Small habits can add up over time

Caia Image | Collection Mix: Subjects | Getty Images

Smaller purchases can have a sneaky way of adding up over time.
When Glassman has his clients do an analysis of their spending, many find they are shocked how their dining-out habits add up. The same may apply to other categories, such as gifts or travel, he said.
“From there, 99% of the time, behavior changes,” Glassman said, prompted by the realization that small adjustments, such as eating in one time per month or per week, can make a big difference.
Assessing just how much is reasonable to spend is a lifelong endeavor, and often a tricky one in retirement.
Some retirees may spend too much when they first retire, and be tempted to provide other family members with financial support, notes CNBC FA Council member Ivory Johnson, a CFP and the founder of Delancey Wealth Management in Washington, D.C. 
“I have had to tell clients to put their family on a budget because I understand the impact it’ll have on their retirement,” Johnson said.

Not everyone is susceptible to overspending.
For those who are instead prone to saving, drawing from their nest egg can feel uncomfortable once they reach retirement.
“It is challenging to shift from the good saving and investing habits that lead to a secure retirement to spending down assets,” said CNBC FA Council member Blair duQuesnay, a chartered financial analyst and CFP, who is also an investment advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management.
For investors who can afford to spend more, that can be a missed opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor, through gifts to family, travel or donations to causes important to them, she said.
Working with a financial advisor can help individuals assess whether their spending is too much, too little or just right. You can also do a gut check on your own by gauging your mindfulness with your money, Cherry suggests.
“Intentional spending within a plan that invests in your wellbeing is perfectly OK,” Cherry said. More

Lululemon logo is seen on the building in Santa Monica, United States on November 12, 2023.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

The U.S. stock market witnessed a strong run in the first quarter of 2024, but uncertainty looms as investors await interest rate cuts and anticipate the upcoming U.S. elections.
Wall Street analysts are ignoring the short-term noise and remain focused on companies that have strong fundamentals and can generate attractive returns in the long run.

Bearing that in mind, here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Micron Technology
This week’s first stock pick is memory chipmaker Micron Technology (MU), which impressed investors with its strong quarterly performance. The company also offered solid guidance, thanks to demand stemming from the artificial intelligence boom.
Following the beat-and-raise quarter, Needham analyst Quinn Bolton reiterated a buy rating on MU stock and increased the price target to $120 from $100. The analyst stated that the company’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) trends are significantly boosting revenue estimates.  
Bolton noted that Micron’s HBM3E memory solution generated revenue in the fiscal second quarter and has already sold out for calendar year 2024.
He highlighted management’s commentary about generating several hundred million dollars of revenue from HBM3E in fiscal 2024 and driving fiscal 2025 revenue to record highs. Additionally, the analyst expects Micron’s gross margins to increase through fiscal 2024 and into fiscal 2025, driven by favorable pricing and product mix.

Bolton expects the company to gain from the rebound in the memory cycle in 2024 and stated, “Long-term, we view MU as a key beneficiary of strong data center demand (AI/ML), automotive semi content, graphics and industrial automation.”
Bolton ranks No. 17 among more than 8,700 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 66% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 30.7%. (See Micron Technical Analysis on TipRanks)
Lululemon
Next up is athletic apparel maker Lululemon (LULU). The company recently reported better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. However, shares fell as investors were disappointed with the company’s guidance, which reflected soft sales in the U.S. due to the impact of macro pressures on consumer spending.
Following the print, Guggenheim analyst Robert Drbul slightly lowered his fiscal 2024 earnings per share estimates to reflect the macro backdrop in the U.S. and higher marketing investments. The analyst also reduced the price target for LULU stock to $525 from $550 but reiterated a buy rating on the stock, calling it his firm’s “favorite growth story in 2024.”
Despite a slower start to the first quarter in the U.S., Drbul noted that management continues to be optimistic about the potential to grow LULU’s domestic business this year and gain market share.
The analyst also highlighted the continued robust momentum in LULU’s international business in the fourth quarter. He is optimistic about Lululemon achieving its goal of quadrupling its international revenue by the end of fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal year 2021 levels. He thinks this would drive higher overall revenue and operating margins, justifying the stock’s premium multiple.  
“We remain BUY rated as we believe LULU stands to benefit from favorable secular tailwinds (health, wellness, casualization, and fitness, including at-home),” said Drbul.   
Drbul ranks No. 574 among more than 8,700 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 58% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 8%. (See Lululemon Stock Buybacks on TipRanks) 
Broadcom
This week’s list includes another tech giant: semiconductor company Broadcom (AVGO). The company is widely viewed as one of the key beneficiaries of the generative AI wave. At a recent investor meeting, the company discussed its innovations, which will help to achieve its target of generating $10 billion in AI chip sales in 2024.
Following the event, Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland reiterated a buy rating on AVGO stock with a price target of $1,650. Among the key takeaways from the event, the analyst highlighted how the company is poised to meet its annual AI sales target, backed by its solid portfolio across AI accelerators and networking products.
In contrast to industry expectations that the InfiniBand networking communication standard would dominate the market, Rolland noted, Broadcom’s management continues to be confident about Ethernet over InfiniBand. The company is optimistic about the ability of its Ethernet products to compete in AI applications.
Rolland also highlighted how Broadcom’s customized chips drive cost efficiencies in consumer AI applications. The company works with its customers to co-design the architecture of their AI accelerators, which helps enhance performance efficiencies and hardware optimization.
Commenting on Broadcom’s strategic acquisitions, including Symantec and VMware, Rolland said, “Broadcom is one of the best integrators in the business, continuing to prove that economies of scale are a viable driver of earnings power for those that can execute in the semiconductor industry.”
Rolland holds the 15th position among more than 8,700 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 69% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 25.7%. (See Broadcom Stock Charts on TipRanks)  More