The year is nearing its halfway mark, and global stocks have been doing much better than they had in volatile 2022. The S & P 500 is up over 7% in the year to date, and the MSCI World index is up around 8% in the same period. Most notably, Japan’s Nikkei index on Monday hit its highest level since Nov. 24, 2021, according to CNBC analysis. Many stocks have soared and beaten the overall market, but there’s still more room for investor bullishness. CNBC Pro screened for stocks that are beating the market nearly halfway into the year — and that analysts love. These are the criteria used: Up more than 10% so far in 2023 and beating the market At least half of analysts rate the stock a buy Consensus price targets offering upside of at least 20% First Citizens BancShares stood out for being among the top year-to-date performers (67%), with analysts giving it a high average potential upside (64%) and among the highest buy ratings in the list (83%). It made waves during the regional banking crisis earlier this year, as it was announced it would buy over Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits and loans. It acquired roughly $107 billion worth of SVB’s assets at a discount out of receivership. The bank booked a preliminary gain of $9.82 billion after taxes on the acquisitions. That gave the bank a massive jump in profits, at least for one quarter. Only one stock had a 100% buy rating: Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Company , a nuclear electric power generation firm. U.S. semiconductor firm Onsemi also made the screen, with analysts giving it 28% potential upside and a nearly 60% buy rating. BofA named it as its top pick in a May 12 note, saying it’s a leader in the shift to electrified cars. “ON stock has been the top performer among auto/industrial peers,” said the bank, noting that it’s year-to-date performance has beaten that of its peers. “We see ON as a top-3 global/top US vendor of smart power and sensing chips for EVs, charging/storage infra, autonomous vehicles and factory automation,” BofA analysts wrote. Italian bank UniCredit had the highest potential upside in the list, at 85%, on top of a decent 88% buy rating. Among other global stocks, Japanese trading firm Mitsui also made the list. It came into investor focus last month for being one of the five Japanese trading houses that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway raised stakes in. Finally, Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk also appeared on the screen. Citi this month named it among its top biotech and pharmaceutical picks. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
