Stocks to buy before earnings.Caspar Benson/Getty Images
The stock market is up nearly 20% so far this year, officially ending last year’s bear market.
Few on Wall Street expected the surge — except Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick, and market veteran Ed Yardeni.
Here’s what the three strategists expect the stock market to do in the second half of the year.
The stock market’s year-to-date rally of nearly 20% surprised just about everyone on Wall Street — except Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick, and market veteran Ed Yardeni.
All three strategists saw something most others did not, mainly that easing inflation and the avoidance of a recession would help power stocks out of the 2022 bear market and towards new 52-week highs.
Wall Street is starting to catch on, with many strategists raising their year-end S&P 500 price targets. So far this year, a dozen have boosted their price targets, but they’re still too low, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In January, when the S&P 500 was around 3,900, the average 2023 year-end target was just 4,050. Fast forward to today, and the average has risen to 4,245, representing downside of 7% from current levels.
But Lee, Detrick, and Yardeni don’t see it that way, and they’re getting even more bullish than their peers. Here’s what they expect in the second half of the year.
1. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee
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In early July, Lee raised his S&P 500 target to 4,825 from 4,750, implying a full-year rally of about 26%.
“The rise in stock prices over the past 9 months is the start of a new bull market. This new bull market will be driven by AI advancements and the Fed’s successful efforts in curbing inflation,” he said, adding that valuations are “hardly demanding” when you exclude the mega-cap tech stocks.
“We believe P/E should expand as companies are viewed as resilient and we are at the start of a new EPS cycle,” Lee added. “AI could be the start of a supercycle. And Nvidia first-quarter results were the ‘aha’ moment. The timing makes sense. AI also solves the inflation problem. By the…
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