Bank of America named a slate of stocks it says are best positioned heading into quarterly reports, with IBM, Spotify, IHG, Grab and Deutsche Bank among the buy-rated names screened by CNBC Pro. The whole exercise is a neat little reminder of who gets to frame the game: the bank, the analysts, the investors, and the earnings calendar that turns human labor into a quarterly scoreboard.
Spotify analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich said she is bullish heading into the streaming company’s earnings report in early August. She wrote, "We are confident that SPOT's 2Q26 results will reflect stable underlying trends across key [key performance indicators], with reported revenue growth accelerating in the quarter primarily driven by moderating [foreign exchange] headwinds." She added that Bank of America came away from Spotify’s recent investor day more confident, but that it now needs to see execution. "The announced AI tier, broader monetization potential and multiple engagement levers highlight the long-term opportunity," she said. Spotify shares are up 5% this month.
Who Gets to Call It Growth
IBM got the same treatment. Analyst Wamsi Mohan raised his target price to $330 per share from $315 ahead of the company’s earnings report later this month. He said software trends are expected to be bolstered by the company’s acquisition of Confluent. "Upside [will be] driven by faster Confluent synergies and stronger growth in software and power & storage infrastructure," he wrote. He also said, "[Reiterate] Buy as IBM is mixing up to higher margin software (incl. M & A), driving strong FCF, & optionality from quantum." IBM shares are up 3.3% this month. Mohan said he expects IBM to raise its fiscal 2026 guide modestly higher on revenues and free cash flow, and he forecast second-quarter revenue, pretax income and margin of $18.0 billion, $3.03 and 50 basis points.
Deutsche Bank analyst Tarik El Mejjad said he is sticking with shares of the German banking giant ahead of earnings later this month. "We expect a softer quarter, with net profit down 2% [year over year] despite 4% revenue growth, as higher costs reflect strategic investments, Private Bank restructuring charges and continued hiring," he wrote in a recent note to clients. He said he expects revenue upside from the company’s investment banking division and said deposit growth remains robust. The firm raised its price target to $39 per share from $38 and called the stock "one of Europe’s most compelling re-rating opportunities." The stock is up 8% this year.
The Machinery Behind the Cheerleading
IHG got praised for what the firm called a "geographically diversified asset-light model" that is "resilient and drives visible profits and cash flow streams." The note said fee growth is driven by net system growth, a mix shift to the higher fee luxury segment and margin expansion. It also said conversions should support continued net system growth, and that IHG has strong cash return to shareholders with its progressive dividend and potential for recurring share buybacks.
Grab was described in similarly polished language. Bank of America said, "We rate Grab Buy & find it well positioned to focus on revenue growth with profitability in mobility & deliveries business. Being a super-app helps Grab cross-utilize and amortize acquisition costs across multiple use cases. Grab's super-app flywheel gives it a moat as ecosystem helps unlock synergies across the business segments." That’s the language of corporate capture in a suit and tie: acquisition costs, synergies, moat, flywheel. The people doing the work never appear in the sentence.
Berkshire Hathaway’s B shares are down 1.8% year-to-date and trail the S&P 500 by 12.4 percentage points. Including dividends, the S&P 500 is up 11.4%, giving it a 13.1 percentage point lead. A strong June erased almost a third of Berkshire’s 17.5 percentage point deficit as of June 1, its biggest losing margin of the year so far. Even with that June bump, Berkshire has had a tough second quarter, with a gain of a bit more than 3% versus the benchmark’s 16% advance, erasing what had been a slim 1.8 percentage point Berkshire lead at the end of March. Last year, Berkshire underperformed the S&P by 5.5 percentage points excluding dividends and by 7.0 percentage points including dividends.
Sun Valley, Where Power Networks Meet
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel and portfolio manager Ted Weschler were listed among attendees at the annual Allen & Co. invitation-only gathering in Sun Valley, Idaho, along with Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman. Greg Abel, President and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, arrived at the annual Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 8, 2026. Ted Weschler, portfolio manager for Berkshire Hathaway Inc., attended the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on July 8, 2026.
Warren Buffett went to Sun Valley for decades but has not attended the last few years. In 1999, at the height of the dotcom craze, he gave a notable speech at the conference warning that while the internet would be transformative, investors were expecting too much and were bound to be disappointed. The warning still hangs there like a ghost in a room full of billionaires and dealmakers, even as the same machinery keeps grinding on, quarter after quarter, with analysts telling capital where to move next.