Goldman Sachs says there’s a slew of stocks the firm likes that are well positioned in an uncertain macro environment. CNBC Pro combed through the firm’s research to find companies with upside as worries linger. They include: Carnival, Microsoft, Accenture, Vertex and e.l.f. Beauty. Accenture Analyst James Schneider is standing by shares of one of the first companies to get hit hard by President Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Accenture admitted on its recent earnings call that DOGE issues are plaguing the business consultancy company, but Schneider says investors should by the dip anyway. “We are focused on the industry backdrop and Accenture’s performance — and on this front, we view increased revenue guidance as a significant positive,” he wrote. The firm says it admired the company’s demand transparency, however, the stock remains too compelling to ignore at current levels, they said. “We maintain our Buy rating on the stock as we see significant secular tailwinds for Accenture when cyclical headwinds subside, and we view the current entry point for the stock as attractive,” he said. The stock is down about 13% this year. Microsoft The tech giant is extremely well positioned for artificial intelligence, analyst Kash Rangan wrote recently, following a series of investor meetings with the company. In the note to clients, Rangan raised the firm’s capex estimates “reflecting our confidence in broader AI adoption and Microsoft’s willingness to invest aggressively ahead of long-term opportunities,” he said. The firm also says its cloud computing product Azure continues to perform well. “In Azure more broadly, Microsoft continues to view best-of-breed security as a differentiator and essential to their cloud strategy, particularly as customers are moving increasingly mission-critical workloads to the cloud,” he wrote. Meanwhile, Rangan reiterated his $500 per share price target on the stock and says investors should buy any weakness. The stock is down 10% this year. “We see MSFT continuing to demonstrate a prudent AI investment strategy, with an eye towards long term returns,” he went on to say. Carnival “Navigating the choppy macro smoothly,” analyst Lizzie Dove said following Carnival’s recent earnings report. The “relative resilience was on full display following a double digit % EBITDA beat in 1Q and no change to 2Q-3Q’s net yield outlook,” she wrote. Dove says Carnival brands like Princess and Costa are also seeing “positive momentum.” Year over year bookings continued higher with robust growth in Europe, she added. “CCL [is] well positioned within Leisure,” Dove said succinctly. Shares are down 20% this year. Carnival, buy rating “Navigating the choppy macro smoothly. … .Following several weeks of macro uncertainty & choppy travel datapoints, CCL relative resilience was on full display following a double digit % EBITDA beat in 1Q & no change to 2Q-3Q’s net yield outlook. … .CCL well positioned within Leisure. … .Firstly, several CCL brands that have been a turnaround story in the last few years have continued to see continued positive momentum.” Microsoft, buy rating “Reflecting our confidence in broader AI adoption & MSFT’s willingness to invest aggressively ahead of long-term opportunities, we raise our FY26 CapEx estimates to +21% yoy. … .We see MSFT continuing to demonstrate a prudent AI investment strategy, with an eye towards long term returns. … .In Azure more broadly, MSFT continues to view best-of-breed security as a differentiator and essential to their cloud strategy, particularly as customers are moving increasingly mission-critical workloads to the cloud.” Accenture, buy rating “We are focused on the industry backdrop and Accenture’s performance – and on this front, we view increased revenue guidance as a significant positive. We maintain our Buy rating on the stock as we see significant secular tailwinds for Accenture when cyclical headwinds subside, and we view the current entry point for the stock as attractive.” e.l.f. Beauty, buy rating “We hosted investor meetings with ELF’s CEO Tarang Amin in Boston on March 3. Following the NDR, we remain bullish on ELF’s long-term growth trajectory, as we believe ELF’s growth drivers are wholly intact despite a choppier start to the calendar year fueled more so by macro factors and exogenous events than anything structural in beauty or with ELF specifically.” Vertex, buy rating “We attended VERX’s first Investor Day as a public company in Philadelphia on 3/19. … .we continue to view VERX as a rare revenue acceleration and margin expansion story in an uncertain macro that justifies premium value in the market.” Get Your Ticket to Pro LIVE Join us at the New York Stock Exchange! Uncertain markets? 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