Analysts say these stocks could see big upside over the next twelve months.
The S&P 500 hit a new record high on Monday, and then again on Wednesday this week, thanks in part to stocks like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM).
But even as the index reaches all-time highs, many investors are wondering which stocks will be leading the next leg higher.
According to analysts’ price targets there are ten big-name stocks that could help lead the market even higher: Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Disney (NYSE: DIS), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), and UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH).
Of the top 50 companies in the S&P 500, these ten stocks have the most upside ahead over the next twelve months according to analysts.
Despite their recent underperformance, three of the four FANG stocks—Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL, GOOG)—made the list, and analysts expect all to rally within the next year.
Of the three FANG names, analysts say Netflix has the most upside ahead at 30.34%, while Facebook and Amazon have 24.14% and 23.35% expected upside, respectively, over the next twelve months.
Analysts say PayPal has the most upside ahead of the rest of the list at 22.85%, followed by Salesforce at 20.59%.
PayPal shares popped last week after showed that it had faster-than-expected growth in payments volume in its third quarter as well as higher-than-expected earnings than analysts had estimated.
The digital payments company also said that its Venmo app saw its total payment volume increase 64% year-over-year to $27 billion in Q3.
Nomura Instinet analyst Bill Carcache wrote in a note to clients that PayPal had successfully “obliterated the bear thesis… with [total payments volume] growth, revenue growth, operating margins, and core [earnings per share] all surprising positively,” and said Venmo had finally “monetized users.”
‘What stood out most to us was that the operating margin rose 207 [basis points year-over-year] and 25 [basis points quarter-over-quarter] to 23.4%,” SIG analyst James Friedman wrote in a note to clients, while also pointing out that Q3 represented the biggest quarter of margin expansion for PayPal since its IPO.
Salesforce doesn’t report until November 27. But Jeffries analyst Brent Thill recently issued a Buy rating for the stock with a $171 – nearly 10% higher than the current price.
“We believe the CRM story embodies the best characteristics of the software sectors,” Thill wrote in a note to clients. “We believe the company’s growth profile… is under-appreciated by the market.”