Wall Street analysts have unveiled a series of top picks they believe investors need to own in the second half of 2023.
These stocks are primed to win in a bumpy macro environment and have solid growth momentum through the end of the year, according to the analysts.
CNBC Pro has combed through top Wall Street research to find the winning stocks for the second half of the year.
The Boston Beer Company, Inc. $SAM+0.1%
According to Roth MKM analyst Bill Kirk, what used to be "an area of caution is now an area of growth."
In its recent stock assessment, the company said there are signs of a turnaround in two key areas: first, there are signs of stabilization for Boston Beer's Truly brand of hard seltzer. Second, gross margins appear to be improving.
"We now believe that Seltzer and Truly will benefit from Bud Light's share losses over the summer and the gross margin improvement from the production shift will be reflected in Q2," Kirk said.
The analyst noted that Boston Beer has a long track record of success in many aspects of the alcoholic beverage business. Still, he urged investors to take it easy.
"With success comes big volatile swings in business and share price," Kirk said.
The stock is down more than 6% in 2023.
"While we wrote in Q1 that 'the timing of upside surprises remains unclear,' we now believe the timing is summer 2023," the analyst said.
ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW-0.2%
Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin expects big second-half results from the workflow software solutions company.
"We remain positive on companies with a more defensible position in the current environment, benefiting from vendor consolidation and platform positioning," he said.
Turrin said ServiceNow is leveraging its "platform advantages" towards "better performance in the second half".
In addition, artificial intelligence will certainly impact ServiceNow - most likely in a positive way - but it's too early to know for sure, he added.
"ServiceNow has continued to demonstrate its ability to consolidate spend, expand across customers, and layer additional features and monetize them," Turrin wrote.
Looking into the second half of the year, the company said these trends should allow for more growth.
Shares are up nearly 45% since the beginning of the year.
ServiceNow
NOWFirst Solar, Inc. $FSLR+3.5%
There's no shortage of positive catalysts "in the pipeline" at the start of the second half, according to Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Lee.
This will set the stage for positive revisions to estimates and for the stock to rise, the firm said.
In a recent note to clients, Lee listed three things investors should watch in the coming months.
First, he said, "In particular, our financial work suggests that more active discussions around expanding manufacturing capacity (likely in the Southeastern U.S.) could be the next major catalyst on the path to Q2.... results."
Second, Lee said he expects the "bookings situation" to improve when the company reports second-quarter results in late July.
Finally, the company has an analyst day scheduled for Sept. 7.
Goldman Sachs said it will give First Solar an opportunity to focus on topics such as new technologies, updates on its long-term business model and multi-year earnings per share framework.
Overall, Lee said First Solar has one of the "most attractive risk-reward setups" in the firm's coverage.
The stock is up nearly 27% in 2023.
I know First Solar, not a bad stock. I'm not invested in it at the moment, but I'm looking at it.
I don't know the companies in detail, but by the indicators they don't look good at all. I guess I'd better go against the analysts again. 😁