Today’s Stock picks are Meta Platforms (META), which closed on September 15, 2026 at $670.24, and Alphabet (GOOG) which closed at $341.43.
Nothing I say in this article is Investment Advice. For Investment Advice, contact a Registered Investment Advisor or Certified Financial Planner.
META PLATFORMS (Symbol META) $670.24. If you look at META’S 3 year chart, you can see it’s made a 2½ year Consolidation Triangle.
It began moving up, and out of that Triangle, and crossed above the upper trendline, a very bullish sign. If you look at the zoom chart to the right, you can see it crossed above its 50-Day moving average of about 593 in the first week of September, and its 200-Day Moving Average last week, on increased volume, two classic Buy Signals. At the top of the zoom chart you can see it also had a Bullish MACD crossover around the 27th of August. We gave the stock a Buy Rating on September 8 th at 616.77 in our Market Letter. We think the stock is still a bargain at this price. On August 27, Rosenblatt gave it a Buy Rating, with a 886 price target. On the same day, Truist also gave it a buy rating, but with a 763 Price Target. Finviz.com shows current earnings of $26.55 per share, and a fairly low PE Ratio of only 23.23. BUT, they show next year’s earnings estimates increasing to $33.87, with a forward PE Ratio of only 18.21…TOO LOW for a Quality Glamour stock like this.
ALPHABET (Symbol GOOG) $341.43. The chart shows GOOG making a consolidation Triangle. Rosenblatt gave it a Buy Rating on August 20th.
It crossed above its 50-Day Moving Average of 344.31 on Monday, but crossed back below it on Tuesday. We expect it to cross back above it shortly, and begin to move up and out of the Triangle Consolidation pattern in the next week or so, and break above the top trendline of that pattern. Per Finviz.com it has 5.53 billion shares outstanding and 45.27 million shares are short, which makes for a small short float of only .88%. Insiders own 52%. The current earnings are $19.91 per share and a very low PE Ratio of only 16.85. Next year’s earnings are estimated at $15.11 per share and a 12 month forward PE Ratio of 22.21, still a relatively low number. The Dividend Yield is only 0.24%. Insider Selling is relatively low.
We like the stock, but think META is the bigger bargain of the two.
This article is not investment advice and it is not in any way to be construed as investment advice. For Investment Advice consult a Registered Investment Advisor or a Certified Financial Planner. Joe Cotton’s website is www.cottonstocks.net.
Returning as a columnist for the NKyTribune, Cotton is publisher of the market newsletter, Cotton’s Technically Speaking. He is a graduate of Xavier University, a former bank manager and credit analyst, and a former Fidelity Investments registered investment representative. Contact him at cottonstocks@hotmail.com