Investing.com -- Wedbush has removed Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING), The Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE), and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from its Best Ideas List.
The broker said the decision to drop Wingstop and Cheesecake Factory was tied to an analyst departure. Alphabet, however, was removed due to growing investor uncertainty surrounding the long-term impact of AI on its core business.
While the firm still sees long-term value in Alphabet, it noted that “the volatility in Alphabet shares introduced by the uncertainty relating to the impact of AI on its business model” was the key factor in its removal.
Wedbush added that although it expects Alphabet will eventually demonstrate its resilience to the emergence of AI, the process “will take time and potentially leave the shares at a discount to fair value.”
Alphabet currently trades at less than 16x estimated 2026 earnings, compared to a 24x average for the slower-growing S&P 500.
Following the latest update, Wedbush’s Best Ideas List features 13 stocks rated “Outperform.”
These include large-cap tech names like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), as well as companies such as IBM (NYSE:IBM), Roblox, and Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC).
Analyst Daniel Ives leads coverage for several of these names, including Microsoft, Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA), and Apple.
The performance of Wedbush’s Best Ideas List has outpaced key benchmarks in recent years. Year-to-date, the list is down 0.3%, but that compares favorably to the S&P 500’s 3.8% drop and the NASDAQ’s 7.2% decline.
In 2024, the list returned 23.6% versus 23.3% for the S&P 500, and in 2023, it posted a 27.7% gain compared to the broader market’s 24.2%.