With the new year around the corner, investors are looking for stocks that may outperform in 2023. This year has been a volatile one for the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average as the best performer of the three major indexes this year. In fact, the blue-chip Dow is outperforming the S & P 500 by its largest margin in decades . With that in mind, CNBC Pro looked at stocks in the Dow that have the most upside to the average analyst price target, per FactSet. Here are the top 10. Salesforce takes the top spot, with nearly 50% upside to the average analyst price target. The stock is well-loved, with 72% of analysts covering it rating it a buy. The tech company is one of the worst performers on the index in 2022, down nearly 49% year to date. Salesforce cut hundreds of jobs last month and has had some high-profile executive departures recently, including co-CEO Bret Taylor, who will step down at the end of January. “Look, this just is what it is,” Marc Benioff, who will resume the role of sole CEO, told CNBC’s Jim Cramer earlier this month . “People come and people go, but the most important thing is the success of the customers, the greatness of the products and the technology, and also that we operate with our core values.” Disney has also seen a shakeup at the top, with Bob Iger returning to the role of CEO in November after the ousting of Bob Chapek. The entertainment giant has more than 37% upside to the average price target, and 78% of analysts covering the stock give it a buy rating. Wells Fargo is one of those bulls, recently saying the stock could climb as high as $125 per share, which is 44% above Wednesday’s close. Analyst Steven Cahall predicted Disney will spin off ESPN later next year after implementing cost-cutting and balance-sheet initiatives. The stock has shed 44% this year. Tech giant Apple could also see big gains, with the average analyst price target implying upside of 28%. The stock has had a lackluster year, losing 25%, but 62% of analysts covering Apple rate it a buy. Evercore ISI recently named Apple a top pick for 2023. “We see AAPL ramping up various moonshot projects that start to become material – be that AR/VR deployments (H1:23?), advertising business becomes more material and AAPL Pay starts to gain further scale,” analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a note last week. Lastly, Visa takes the No. 4 spot with nearly 21% upside to the average analyst price target. Some 67% of analysts covering the stock rate it a buy. The payments technology company is down just 5% year to date. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
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