Stocks To Watch in February—And What to Watch For

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Stocks rose in January, boosted by encouraging inflation data, optimism about President Donald Trump’s pro-business agenda, and the announcement of a major AI infrastructure investment.

But the month wasn’t without its road bumps. The Trump administration roiled markets on the last day of the month with his plan to move forward with tariffs against China, Canada, and Mexico, three of America’s largest trading partners. Plus, tech investors were caught off guard by the release of a surprisingly efficient Chinese AI model that raised questions about the competitiveness of American models and the wisdom of Silicon Valley’s massive spending.

Below, we look at a few stocks that could see notable price movements this month.

Nvidia (NVDA) stock plummeted in the last week of January when Wall Street caught wind of Chinese start-up DeepSeek and the surprisingly efficient AI model it says cost about $6 million to develop. DeepSeek says it trained its model on Nvidia H800 chips, which were designed to comply with export restrictions and deliver inferior results to the more advanced chips available to U.S. companies.

The model’s success has prompted many to question whether more powerful chips were used and, if not, whether export restrictions need to be tightened to prevent China from developing AI that matches American capabilities. The leaders of a Congressional committee tasked with assessing U.S.-China relations on Thursday urged President Trump’s national security advisor to tighten restrictions further. Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang reportedly traveled to the White House on Friday, presumably to discuss DeepSeek.

Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty Images Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote address at the CES consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 6, 2025. — Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote address at the CES consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 6, 2025.

In addition, Nvidia is scheduled to report earnings for the three months ending January 31 after markets close on February 26. On the earnings call, analysts are likely to question Huang on DeepSeek’s implications for Nvidia and whether its sales outlook has changed.

After gaining 170% in 2024, Nvidia shares fell 11% in January.

Palantir (PLTR) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and full-year earnings after the bell on Monday, February 3, and investors will be hoping the results justify its high valuation.

The software company has been one of the biggest winners of the AI craze on Wall Street. Shares have risen about 400% in the past 12 months, and on Friday they ticked up 1.6% to close at an all-time high. The stock’s P/E ratio of more than 400x is one of the highest in the S&P 500.

The consensus among analysts followed by Visible Alpha is that Palantir will report adjusted earnings of 11 cents per share, up from 8 cents a year ago. Full-year profit is expected to total 38 cents a share compared with 25 cents last year. Revenue is expected to have grown 27% to about $775 million in the fourth quarter.

Palantir’s results could land like software peer ServiceNow’s (NOW), which last week came in slightly short of revenue estimates, causing its stock to plummet double-digits. Eleven of 13 Palantir analysts have assigned the stock a “hold” or “sell” rating. Their average target price of $50.33 is nearly 40% below Friday’s record close.

Market software company AppLovin (APP) is scheduled to report quarterly earnings after the closing bell on February 12.

AppLovin has been the best-performing stock in the Russell 1000 over the past year, rising more than 700% in the twelve months up to Friday. Shares soared nearly 50% the day after its most recent earnings report in November.

Investors owe their dizzying returns to surging demand for AppLovin’s AI-powered advertising tools. The company’s ad revenue grew 66% in the third quarter while its profit tripled.

Most analysts remain bullish. Nine of the 11 AppLovin analysts tracked by Visible Alpha have assigned the stock a “buy” rating; the other two rate it a “hold.” Their average price target of $381.60 is 3% above Friday’s closing price.

Allstate (ALL) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings after markets close on Wednesday, February 5, and then host its earnings call with analysts the following morning.

Allstate is one of the largest property insurers in California, and its guidance could reflect the severity of the damage caused by wildfires in Los Angeles last month. Real estate services provider CoStar Group estimates the fires caused more than $30 billion of property damage, making it the costliest fire in California’s history.

Analysts will likely ask executives about the estimated cost and what the fires mean for the future of its business in California and other disaster-prone areas.

Despite the risk of hefty disaster-related losses, Wall Street is generally optimistic about Allstate’s stock. Ten of 11 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha rate it a “buy.” The lone outlier recommends selling. The average price target of $231 is 20% above Friday’s closing price.

Oil stocks, including ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), could be volatile in February as President Trump pursues two core campaign promises.

Trump promised to “unleash American energy” by slashing government regulations and encouraging U.S. oil producers to “drill, baby, drill.” While addressing the World Economic Forum last month, Trump effectively called on Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower global oil prices by increasing production. OPEC+ will meet on February 3 to set production levels, and with oil prices hovering near their lowest level since 2021, OPEC is unlikely to heed Trump’s call.

The Trump administration’s tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports could also rattle oil markets this month. While the White House is imposing 10% tariffs on energy imports from Canada, as opposed to 25% for other goods, the policy stands to raise costs for American refiners and, ultimately, consumers. In 2023, Canadian crude accounted for 50% of American oil imports and Mexico accounted for 11%. Canada and Mexico have both vowed to retaliate with tariffs of their own.

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