Top 10 Stocks We're Watching This Week — Election Week Edition

The watchlist is weekly. Every Sunday, ten names for the week ahead, each with a horizon label, and every pick goes onto the members' Watchlist page where it stays tracked from its entry price until we formally close the call. Nothing gets memory-holed. This week's ten are all fresh against the last two cohorts.

This is election week, and it is loaded.

Tuesday, November 3, Americans vote in the 2026 midterms. All 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats are on the ballot. Prediction markets lean toward a Democratic sweep, which Wall Street is pricing as a headwind for defense and energy and a tailwind for renewables and regulation-heavy sectors. But the polls are tight, and the last two election cycles punished anyone who traded the consensus. The outcome shapes two years of tax, defense, and crypto legislation, and the market will not wait until January to reprice it.

Around that, the earnings calendar is relentless. Apple reports Monday after the close, the biggest single-stock event of the week. AMD follows Tuesday evening with the AI-chip print that sets the tone for the entire semiconductor complex. Palantir also reports Monday, riding a $618 million Maven contract expansion and 85 percent revenue growth. Diamondback Energy prints Monday and Devon Energy Thursday, both Permian producers reporting into $117 Brent and $104 WTI. Uber reports Wednesday morning, Qualcomm Wednesday evening, and Arista Networks Tuesday after the close.

Then Friday: the October nonfarm payrolls report. Consensus expects roughly 55,000 jobs added, a sharp deceleration from September's 182,000, with unemployment holding at 4.2 percent. A hot number strengthens the case for the Fed's expected December hike; a cold one gives the doves something to work with. The 10-year Treasury closed the week at 4.93 percent, down from 5.29 percent at the end of September. Gold settled at $3,884, off 6.6 percent for October on pre-election profit-taking.

Seven of this week's ten report earnings within the next five sessions. The eighth is the defense play that reprices on Tuesday night's results. All ten are fresh against the last two cohorts. All prices are Friday, October 30 closes, pulled live this weekend. Here are the ten.

1. $AAPL — Apple

Friday close: $344.63 | 52-week range: $243.42 - $351.73 | Horizon: Event-driven, then long-term

Monday after the close, Apple delivers the quarter the whole market watches. The stock sits 2 percent below its 52-week high and carries a $5 trillion valuation, the largest company reporting this week. Analysts expect earnings of $1.99 per share on $113 billion in revenue. Management guided for 9 to 11 percent sales growth and a 47.5 percent gross margin at the midpoint.

The bull case is straightforward: iPhone 18 demand, expanding Services revenue, and the early ramp of Apple Intelligence are all expected to support a clean beat. The risk is on the margin side. Outgoing CEO Tim Cook warned of a "100-year flood on memory pricing" that is squeezing component costs, and the company expects a lower gross margin and a deceleration in iPhone sales growth. The stock has run 41 percent in the past year, so anything short of a clean beat and intact guidance could trigger a sell-the-news move.

Watch for: Gross margin trajectory and Services growth. A margin squeeze wider than guided hits the whole consumer-tech tape; a beat on both fronts confirms the premium and probably sets the tone for Tuesday's session heading into the election.

2. $AMD — Advanced Micro Devices

Friday close: $504.80 | 52-week range: $188.22 - $658.52 | Horizon: Event-driven, then long-term

Tuesday after the close, AMD reports the AI-chip quarter the semiconductor complex has been waiting for. The stock dropped 11.8 percent in the final week of October after Intel's weak guidance spooked the group, which means it goes into the print 23 percent below its high and carrying more skepticism than the fundamentals have warranted all year.

Last quarter, data center revenue more than doubled, rising 107 percent to $6.7 billion, and total revenue was up 50 percent year over year at $11.5 billion. Analysts expect $13.08 billion in revenue and $1.95 earnings per share for Q3, both substantial jumps. The catalyst stack is heavy: EPYC server CPU share gains, Instinct AI accelerator deployments at hyperscalers, and the MI450 and Helios chips on the near-term roadmap.

Watch for: Data center segment revenue and forward guidance. A number north of $7.5 billion in data center with intact full-year guidance would unwind the Intel-sympathy selloff fast. A soft guide, or any hint that the Meta-style spending caution is slowing GPU orders, sends the whole AI semiconductor complex lower heading into Wednesday.

3. $PLTR — Palantir Technologies

Friday close: $184.11 | 52-week range: $106.37 - $212.94 | Horizon: Short-to-medium

Palantir reports Monday, hours before Apple, and the setup is binary. Revenue is expected at $2.18 billion, representing 85 percent year-over-year growth. The U.S. Army expanded its Maven Smart System AI contract by $618 million in August. NATO finalized a sole-source deal for the same platform. The U.S. commercial business grew 149 percent last quarter to $764 million. Options traders are pricing an 11.65 percent move in either direction.

The election adds another layer. Palantir's government revenue depends on defense and intelligence budgets. A Democratic sweep with spending-cut rhetoric could weigh on the forward multiple, which is already stretched at roughly 80 times forward earnings. A Republican hold or split result that preserves defense spending removes the overhang. Either way, nine consecutive earnings beats have set a high bar for Monday.

Watch for: U.S. government revenue growth and the forward booking rate. A tenth straight beat with raised guidance and no defense-budget hedging on the call is the catalyst for a run toward the high. A miss, or cautious language about post-election appropriations, gives shorts something to work with in a name where the valuation leaves no room for doubt.