MW Wall Street's 12 favorite stocks could soar as much as 54%, analysts say
By Philip van Doorn
These stocks are rated a buy or the equivalent by at least 90% of analysts polled by FactSet
The day-to-day volatility for the S&P 500 settled down on Monday and Tuesday. But two-thirds of stocks in the U.S. large-cap benchmark index have declined this year, with 220 of the 500 stocks down at least 10% and 82 down at least 20%.
With no way to predict how and when President Donald Trump's trading policies will stabilize, stock-market analysts are having difficulty estimating companies' revenue and earnings. But there is still a group of stocks within the S&P 500 for which the analysts have high conviction. They are listed below.
The S&P 500 SPX was down 8.2% for 2025 through Tuesday. Based on daily closing prices, the index had shown a maximum year-to-date decline of 15.3% through April 8. A stock-market correction is typically defined as a decline of at least 10% from a recent high, with a 20% decline known as a bear market. All price changes in this article exclude dividends.
The word "correction" might be annoying to an investor watching a sinking account balance. But the term is appropriate when looking at how forward price-to-earnings ratios have moved. Here is a summary of forward P/E ratios for the 11 sectors of the S&P 500. The list is sorted by this year's price changes, ascending, with the full index at the bottom.
Sector or index 2025 price change Forward P/E Forward P/E at end of 2024 Forward P/E to 5-year average Forward P/E to 10-year average
Consumer Discretionary -17.8% 24.3 29.6 76% 90%
Information Technology -14.5% 23.8 28.8 94% 115%
Communication Services -9.3% 17.5 19.5 91% 92%
Energy -7.4% 13.3 13.7 295% 96%
Industrials -4.1% 21.2 21.7 98% 110%
Materials -3.4% 19.0 18.6 103% 110%
Real Estate -2.3% 17.4 17.6 90% 92%
Financials -2.3% 15.4 16.5 101% 107%
Healthcare 0.0% 16.6 16.9 97% 101%
Utilities 2.6% 17.5 17.3 98% 100%
Consumer Staples 4.7% 22.8 21.5 111% 115%
S&P 500 -8.2% 19.6 21.6 97% 105%
Source: FactSet
You might need to scroll the table or look at it in landscape view to see all of the columns.
These are prices divided by rolling consensus 12-month earnings-per-share estimates, weighted by market capitalization.
The S&P 500's forward P/E is now slightly below its five-year average and slightly above its 10-year average. The energy sector has the lowest P/E. The comparison of this sector's current P/E to its five-year average (of 4.5) reflects the superlow valuation for oil producers during the first half of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out demand for crude oil.
The consumer-discretionary and information-technology sectors have experienced this year's largest declines and greatest P/E multiple contraction. The IT sector now trades below its five-year P/E, but is tied with the consumer staples sector for trading at 115% of its 10-year P/E.
One might argue that technology stocks as a group remain expensive.
Then again, many companies in the sector are still favored by analysts who expect them to continue achieving high rates of growth for revenue and earnings.
In a note to clients on Wednesday, Ned Davis Research Chief U.S. Strategist Ed Clissold wrote that the "meltdown" for stocks in the wake of Trump's tariff announcements on April 2 "did not lower valuations to levels that one would describe as cheap."
Clissold also suggested that investors keep an eye on revisions of earnings estimates and a possible lowering of companies' own guidance for revenue and earnings expectations.
Screening the S&P 500 for analysts' highest-conviction picks
Starting with the S&P 500, we cut the list to 491 companies covered by at least 10 analysts working for brokerage or research firms polled by FactSet. Among the remaining stocks, only 12 are rated a buy or the equivalent by at least 90% of the analysts.
Here they are, ranked by 12-month upside potential for the stocks implied by consensus price targets:
VICI Properties Inc. Ticker Closing price Consensus price target Implied 12-month upside potential 2025 price change Share "buy" ratings Diamondback Energy Inc. FANG $127.14 $196.35 54% -22% 91% Nvidia Corp. NVDA $112.20 $166.57 48% -16% 90% Trimble Inc. TRMB $59.59 $88.38 48% -16% 93% Synopsys Inc. SNPS $425.65 $614.53 44% -12% 91% Amazon.com Inc. AMZN $179.59 $254.40 42% -18% 93% Eli Lilly & Co. LLY $757.18 $1,025.93 35% -2% 90% Equinix Inc. EQIX $787.49 $1,021.36 30% -16% 90% $Bank of America Corp(BAC-N)$. BAC $37.99 $49.17 29% -14% 92% Microsoft Corp. MSFT $385.73 $492.17 28% -8% 92% GE Aerospace GE $185.67 $223.12 20% 11% 91% VICI Properties Inc. VICI $32.05 $36.10 13% 10% 92% UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH $583.59 $641.42 10% 15% 93% Source: FactSet
Click on the tickers for more about each company, including news coverage, stock charts and financials.
Read: Tomi Kilgore's detailed guide to the information available on the MarketWatch quote page
The next set of data comprises two tables. The first shows the same 12 companies in the same order, this time with their sectors, forward P/E ratios and projected compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for revenue and earnings per share from calendar 2024 through 2026, based on analysts' estimates. The estimates have been adjusted if necessary for companies whose fiscal years don't match the calendar.
VICI Properties Inc. Ticker Sector Forward P/E Two-year estimated revenue CAGR through 2026 Two-year estimated EPS CAGR through 2026 Diamondback Energy Inc. FANG Energy 8.8 16.3% -3.5% Nvidia Corp. NVDA Information Technology 23.7 40.6% 41.1% Trimble Inc. TRMB Information Technology 19.9 0.1% -26.6% Synopsys Inc. SNPS Information Technology 26.9 13.2% 12.3% Amazon.com Inc. AMZN Consumer Discretionary 27.1 9.5% 16.6% Eli Lilly & Co. LLY Healthcare 30.3 26.0% 59.4% Equinix Inc. EQIX Real Estate 57.6 6.4% 31.8% Bank of America Corp. BAC Financials 9.9 5.9% 15.4%
MW Wall Street's 12 favorite stocks could soar as much as 54%, analysts say
By Philip van Doorn
These stocks are rated a buy or the equivalent by at least 90% of analysts polled by FactSet
The day-to-day volatility for the S&P 500 settled down on Monday and Tuesday. But two-thirds of stocks in the U.S. large-cap benchmark index have declined this year, with 220 of the 500 stocks down at least 10% and 82 down at least 20%.
With no way to predict how and when President Donald Trump's trading policies will stabilize, stock-market analysts are having difficulty estimating companies' revenue and earnings. But there is still a group of stocks within the S&P 500 for which the analysts have high conviction. They are listed below.
The S&P 500 SPX was down 8.2% for 2025 through Tuesday. Based on daily closing prices, the index had shown a maximum year-to-date decline of 15.3% through April 8. A stock-market correction is typically defined as a decline of at least 10% from a recent high, with a 20% decline known as a bear market. All price changes in this article exclude dividends.
The word "correction" might be annoying to an investor watching a sinking account balance. But the term is appropriate when looking at how forward price-to-earnings ratios have moved. Here is a summary of forward P/E ratios for the 11 sectors of the S&P 500. The list is sorted by this year's price changes, ascending, with the full index at the bottom.
Sector or index 2025 price change Forward P/E Forward P/E at end of 2024 Forward P/E to 5-year average Forward P/E to 10-year average
Consumer Discretionary -17.8% 24.3 29.6 76% 90%
Information Technology -14.5% 23.8 28.8 94% 115%
Communication Services -9.3% 17.5 19.5 91% 92%
Energy -7.4% 13.3 13.7 295% 96%
Industrials -4.1% 21.2 21.7 98% 110%
Materials -3.4% 19.0 18.6 103% 110%
Real Estate -2.3% 17.4 17.6 90% 92%
Financials -2.3% 15.4 16.5 101% 107%
Healthcare 0.0% 16.6 16.9 97% 101%
Utilities 2.6% 17.5 17.3 98% 100%
Consumer Staples 4.7% 22.8 21.5 111% 115%
S&P 500 -8.2% 19.6 21.6 97% 105%
Source: FactSet
You might need to scroll the table or look at it in landscape view to see all of the columns.
These are prices divided by rolling consensus 12-month earnings-per-share estimates, weighted by market capitalization.
The S&P 500's forward P/E is now slightly below its five-year average and slightly above its 10-year average. The energy sector has the lowest P/E. The comparison of this sector's current P/E to its five-year average (of 4.5) reflects the superlow valuation for oil producers during the first half of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out demand for crude oil.
The consumer-discretionary and information-technology sectors have experienced this year's largest declines and greatest P/E multiple contraction. The IT sector now trades below its five-year P/E, but is tied with the consumer staples sector for trading at 115% of its 10-year P/E.
One might argue that technology stocks as a group remain expensive.
Then again, many companies in the sector are still favored by analysts who expect them to continue achieving high rates of growth for revenue and earnings.
In a note to clients on Wednesday, Ned Davis Research Chief U.S. Strategist Ed Clissold wrote that the "meltdown" for stocks in the wake of Trump's tariff announcements on April 2 "did not lower valuations to levels that one would describe as cheap."
Clissold also suggested that investors keep an eye on revisions of earnings estimates and a possible lowering of companies' own guidance for revenue and earnings expectations.
Screening the S&P 500 for analysts' highest-conviction picks
Starting with the S&P 500, we cut the list to 491 companies covered by at least 10 analysts working for brokerage or research firms polled by FactSet. Among the remaining stocks, only 12 are rated a buy or the equivalent by at least 90% of the analysts.
Here they are, ranked by 12-month upside potential for the stocks implied by consensus price targets:
VICI Properties Inc. Ticker Closing price Consensus price target Implied 12-month upside potential 2025 price change Share "buy" ratings
Diamondback Energy Inc. FANG $127.14 $196.35 54% -22% 91%
Nvidia Corp. NVDA $112.20 $166.57 48% -16% 90%
Trimble Inc. TRMB $59.59 $88.38 48% -16% 93%
Synopsys Inc. SNPS $425.65 $614.53 44% -12% 91%
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN $179.59 $254.40 42% -18% 93%
Eli Lilly & Co. LLY $757.18 $1,025.93 35% -2% 90%
Equinix Inc. EQIX $787.49 $1,021.36 30% -16% 90%
Bank of America Corp. BAC $37.99 $49.17 29% -14% 92%
Microsoft Corp. MSFT $385.73 $492.17 28% -8% 92%
GE Aerospace GE $185.67 $223.12 20% 11% 91%
VICI Properties Inc. VICI $32.05 $36.10 13% 10% 92%
UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH $583.59 $641.42 10% 15% 93%
Source: FactSet
Click on the tickers for more about each company, including news coverage, stock charts and financials.
Read: Tomi Kilgore's detailed guide to the information available on the MarketWatch quote page
The next set of data comprises two tables. The first shows the same 12 companies in the same order, this time with their sectors, forward P/E ratios and projected compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for revenue and earnings per share from calendar 2024 through 2026, based on analysts' estimates. The estimates have been adjusted if necessary for companies whose fiscal years don't match the calendar.
VICI Properties Inc. Ticker Sector Forward P/E Two-year estimated revenue CAGR through 2026 Two-year estimated EPS CAGR through 2026 Diamondback Energy Inc. FANG Energy 8.8 16.3% -3.5% Nvidia Corp. NVDA Information Technology 23.7 40.6% 41.1% Trimble Inc. TRMB Information Technology 19.9 0.1% -26.6% Synopsys Inc. SNPS Information Technology 26.9 13.2% 12.3% Amazon.com Inc. AMZN Consumer Discretionary 27.1 9.5% 16.6% Eli Lilly & Co. LLY Healthcare 30.3 26.0% 59.4% Equinix Inc. EQIX Real Estate 57.6 6.4% 31.8% Bank of America Corp. BAC Financials 9.9 5.9% 15.4%
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
April 16, 2025 10:29 ET (14:29 GMT)
MW Wall Street's 12 favorite stocks could soar as -2-
Microsoft Corp. MSFT Information Technology 26.5 13.5% 14.5%
GE Aerospace GE Industrials 32.5 6.2% 3.6%
VICI Properties Inc. VICI Real Estate 11.5 2.5% 5.1%
UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH Healthcare 18.9 10.4% 47.1%
Sources: FactSet and Bank of America's 2024 annual report
For Trimble $(TRMB)$, the projected EPS CAGR through 2026 is -26.6% because the company's GAAP net income spiked during 2024 as it divested business units.
For comparison, here are revenue and EPS CAGR estimates for the sectors, which are now in alphabetical order with the full S&P 500 at the bottom:
Sector Forward P/E Two-year estimated revenue CAGR through 2026 Two-year estimated EPS CAGR through 2026
Communication Services 17.5 6.0% 13.0%
Consumer Discretionary 24.3 5.6% 11.6%
Consumer Staples 22.8 3.4% 4.9%
Energy 13.3 0.9% 6.8%
Financials 15.4 6.5% 11.8%
Healthcare 16.6 7.0% 14.6%
Industrials 21.2 5.4% 13.9%
Information Technology 23.8 11.6% 18.3%
Materials 19.0 2.7% 11.7%
Real Estate 17.4 5.5% 4.7%
Utilities 17.5 3.9% 8.0%
S&P 500 19.6 5.9% 12.9%
Source: FactSet
Don't miss: Seven stock picks from a global fund manager as markets 'enforce discipline' on Trump
-Philip van Doorn
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April 16, 2025 10:29 ET (14:29 GMT)
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