2023 was a year which was categorised as one of the healthiest rallies in the overall US equity market, as IT stocks, communication services, and consumer discretionary saw strong gains in the year. As at November 2023 end, S&P 500 saw an increase of ~21%, surpassing its average annual return of ~10%. Tech-dominated Nasdaq index saw an increase of over ~35% for 2023, because of the artificial intelligence wave which led to the double-digit gains in most of the technology stocks. This is compared to the bear run in 2022 which resulted in S&P 500 declining by ~19% as NASDAQ was pressured and declined by more than ~30%. Despite Wall Street touching fresh highs, there are still top stocks with significant upside potential as per Wall Street analysts which investors should consider.
The US stock market saw best month of 2023 in November, as in this month, it broke 3-month streak of declines in 3Q. S&P 500 saw a decline of ~3.7%, and NASDAQ fell ~3%. These declines were seen because there were expectations that the US Fed will continue to increase interest rates. As a result of these expectations, experts believed that higher interest rates might lead to a recession. As the concerns related to the higher interest rates subsided, NASDAQ saw an increase of ~10% in November, while S&P 500 went up by ~9%. These gains were the best monthly gains markets have seen since the month of October 2022. One critical factor supporting such strong run was the shift of focus from higher interest rates. Therefore, now analysts have released a list of the top stocks with significant upside potential.
High-growth cyclical, IT, telecom and consumer discretionary stocks were the top-performing ones as the inflationary concerns subsided significantly.
With this in mind, let us now have a look at Top stocks with significant upside potential as per Wall Street analysts.
1. ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.
The company has been categorised as the comprehensive logistics service enterprise which has express delivery as its core business. It integrates cross-border, express, commercial, and other ecological sectors.
It announced its unaudited financial results for 3Q ended September 30, 2023, in which its parcel volume went up by ~18.1% year over year and it expanded market share to ~22.4%. Adjusted net income of the company saw an increase of 25.0% year-over-year to touch RMB2,340.7 million. Net cash generated from operating activities of the company came in at RMB2,938.1 million.
Revenues of the company were RMB9,075.9 million (US$1,244.0 million), exhibiting a rise of 1.5% from RMB8,944.9 million in the same period of the previous year. Its gross profit was RMB2,706.4 million (US$370.9 million), up by 10.7% from RMB2,444.4 million in similar period of the previous year.
As the company faced strong price competition, it was focused on improving quality of services and it adhered to its commitment to profitable growth. The company’s digitization and lean management initiatives supported its cost productivities in transit and sortation. EBITDA of the company came in at RMB3,449.5 million (US$472.8 million) as compared to RMB3,031.8 million in the similar period of the last year.
It has reiterated that parcel volume for 2023 should be in the range of 29.27 billion – 30.24 billion. This exhibits 20% – 24% increase year-over-year.
2. Trip.com Group Limited
The company has been categorised as a largest online travel agent in China.
It has released its results for 3Q23, in which its domestic and international businesses showed strong recovery. Domestic hotel bookings of the company went up by more than ~90% year-over-year and increased by over ~70% in comparison to pre-COVID level for similar period in 2019.
Total net revenue of the company for 3Q went up by ~99% year over year and its net income was RMB4.6 billion (US$637 million), improving significantly from RMB245 million for the similar period in 2022. Throughout 3Q23, both domestic and international travel saw significant rebound. This was seen because of strong summer travel demands. The company’s focus remains on expanding global presence and cultivating AI-related initiatives. Collectively, these should lay foundations for continued growth.
With coming of summer peak season and healthy demand related to travel, its business saw significant recovery, leading to increased volume of travel bookings. As of September 30, 2023, the company had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investment, and held to maturity time deposit and financial products of RMB79.0 billion.
3. Cenovus Energy Inc
The company is an integrated oil company, which is focused on creating value through development of its oil sands assets.
It has released its financial results for 3Q23, in which it saw $2.7 billion of cash from operating activities, $3.4 billion of adjusted funds flow and $2.4 billion of free funds flow. The company delivered $1.2 billion to its shareholders, which consists of $600 million for partial payment of common share warrants obligation and the $361 million in the form of share buybacks. However, $264 million relates to the common share dividends.
The company reduced its long-term debt, which includes the current portion, by US$1.0 billion, to $7.2 billion. Its net debt came in at $6.0 billion by the quarter end.
Total revenues of the company came in at ~14.6 billion in 3Q, exhibiting a rise from $12.2 billion in 2Q23. Upstream revenues ~$7.6 billion, up from $6.6 billion in previous quarter and downstream revenues came at ~$9.7 billion as compared to $7.4 billion in 2Q23.
Conclusion
While Wall Street analysts have released top stocks with significant upside potential, they have also informed the investors to maintain the cautious approach. Overall, the stock market growth was supported by the large-cap stocks such as NVIDIA Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Meta Platforms, Inc., etc.
Analysts at Bank of America and BlackRock expect that S&P 500 should see a significant growth in 2024 yet again. Several stock market experts and strategists have remained conservative. However, they still expect that overall market should inch up in 2024, even though it remains below of its previous peak.
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