Here are RBC's favorite stocks as the second quarter gets underway

Published Tue, Apr 9 20246:53 AM EDT

RBC Capital Markets has refreshed its top stock picks for the second quarter, adding a few new names that could be poised to rise. The S & P 500 has stumbled to begin the second quarter — off nearly 1% in the period thus far — but the broad market index is still roughly 9% higher in 2024. "The story we see in the data is that the strong move observed in the S & P 500 year-to-date has been deserved and a rational case can be made for additional upside, but some of our work suggests that gains may be tougher to come by from here," wrote Graeme Pearson, co-head of global research at RBC. To that end, RBC made updates for the second quarter to its list of top 30 global ideas, which includes "high-conviction, long-term" stock picks. Here is a look at some of the stocks that RBC has highlighted as top picks for 2024. Fintech firm PayPal is a new addition to the RBC list for 2024. Shares have added 8% in 2024, while RBC rated it outperform with a $74 per share price target. The firm's forecast implies nearly 12% upside from Monday's close. PYPL YTD mountain PayPal stock has gained more than 8% so far in 2024. Analyst Daniel R. Perlin says PayPal can emerge as a true leader in the e-commerce payments sector as the company further monetizes payment products including Venmo. "In the near-term, PYPL needs to demonstrate its ability to drive better margins in unbranded transactions via moving to smaller merchants and expanding international," Perlin said. "As proof-points to the success of this strategy emerge, we believe the stock could begin to re-rate higher." GFL Environmental is also a new addition to the RBC list, and the waste management stock has climbed 2.5% in 2024. RBC's $46 per share price target calls for about 30% upside. GFL YTD mountain GFL Environmental stock. While GFL has added more than 260 companies through mergers and acquisitions over the company's history, analyst Sabahat Khan said the firm is still relatively small — with roughly 5% market share — compared to sector peers and can grow further. "As the smallest of the Majors, we believe GFL has the longest runway of needle-moving acquisition," Khan said. A holdover from RBC's previous list includes Mastercard . Shares of the payment technology company have gained about 12% in 2024. RBC's $499 price target forecasts 4% upside moving forward. MA YTD mountain Mastercard stock. "We believe MA is a core long-term holding and an 'indexed' way to play payments and benefit from three global secular mega-trends including: (1) global consumption; (2) global digitization of payments; and (3) global innovation, which is creating new payment flows," Perlin noted.