While 2023 has been far better than last year, many investors looking at monthly statements for the last couple of months may not be all that thrilled with their results so far. There is a simple reason why. If you do not own mega-cap technology, you are probably up for the year, but not big. In fact, while the S&P 500 is up about 8% year to date, just 10 stocks (again dominated by big tech) made up a stunning 95% of the return for 2023.
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One of Wall Street’s most respected lists of stocks is the Goldman Sachs Conviction List. These are the firm’s top picks for high net worth and institutional investors spread across 10 sectors. We screened the list looking for the companies that had the largest upside to the Goldman Sachs assigned target prices. We found three that growth investors may want to add to portfolios.

It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Bunge

This top mid-cap stock has rallied nicely off the 2022 lows but still offers investors an outstanding entry point. Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG) operates as an agribusiness and food company worldwide. It operates in the following segments.

The Agribusiness segment purchases, stores, transports, processes and sells agricultural commodities and commodity products, including oilseeds (primarily soybeans, rapeseed, canola and sunflower seeds) and grains (primarily wheat and corn) and vegetable oils and protein meals. It provides its products for animal feed manufacturers, livestock producers, wheat and corn millers and other oilseed processors, as well as third-party edible oil processing companies, as well as for industrial and biodiesel production.

Its Edible Oil Products segment provides packaged and bulk oils and fats, including cooking oils, shortenings, margarines, mayonnaise and others for baked goods companies, snack food producers, confectioners, restaurant chains, foodservice operators, infant nutrition companies and other food manufacturers, as well as grocery chains, wholesalers, distributors and other retailers.

The Milling Products segment offers wheat flours and bakery mixes, corn milling products (including dry-milled cornmeals and flours, wet-milled masa and flours, and flaking and brewer’s grits, as well as soy-fortified cornmeal, corn-soy blends, and other products), whole grain and fiber ingredients and milled rice products.

The Sugar and Bioenergy segment produces sugar and ethanol, and it generates electricity from burning sugarcane bagasse. The Fertilizer segment offers nitrogen, phosphate and potassium fertilizers, as well as single super phosphate, ammonia, ammonium thiosulfate, monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, triple superphosphate, urea, urea-ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate and potassium chloride.

Investors receive a 2.80% dividend. Goldman Sachs has a $161 price target for Bunge stock, and the consensus target is just $125.10. As the shares were last seen on Wednesday trading at $89.59, hitting the Goldman Sachs target would be a 78% gain.

While somewhat off the radar for many, this is another huge opportunity for growth stock buyers. Equitable Holdings Inc. (NYSE: EQH) operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through four segments:
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• Individual Retirement: Offers a suite of variable annuity products, primarily to affluent and high net worth individuals.
• Group Retirement: Provides tax-deferred investment and retirement services or products to plans sponsored by educational entities, municipalities and not-for-profit entities, as well as small and medium-sized businesses.
• Investment Management and Research: Offers diversified investment management, research and related solutions to various clients through institutional.
• Protection Solutions: Provides life insurance products, such as variable universal life and indexed universal life insurance, and employee benefits to small and medium-sized businesses.

Investors receive a 3.50% dividend. The Goldman Sachs target price is $43, while the consensus target is $35.31. Equitable Holdings stock closed on Wednesday at $22.82, so hitting the Goldman Sachs target would be a 90% gain.

Frontier Communications

This is the perfect stock idea for more aggressive growth investors. Frontier Communications Parent Inc. (NASDAQ: FYBR) provides communication and technology services in the United States. It offers data and internet, voice, video and other services. The company was formerly known as Frontier Communications and changed its name in April 2021.

Frontier is meeting the demand for high-speed broadband connectivity with a superior 100% fiber product that does what cable cannot. Frontier outpaced its cable competitors in nearly every market last year, with record numbers in broadband customer growth, demonstrating that consumers want the blazing-fast, symmetrical speeds that it has to offer.

Frontier was ranked number one for the fastest internet upload speeds in the United States, according to Ookla Speedtest results. Frontier also earned statewide recognition over competitors for speed and latency results in key markets. Additionally, customers ranked Frontier the top-rated internet in California and Florida. The Ookla results are yet another indicator that Frontier’s fiber-first strategy is resonating with customers.

The $33 Goldman Sachs target price is less than the $35.27 consensus target. Still, investors would be up 78% from Wednesday’s close at $18.57 if the firm’s target is hit.

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These three outstanding companies are top picks at Goldman Sachs, and all have a dominant position in their respective silos, and their stocks have some huge upside to the target prices. Given that more of the same trouble we have seen this year could be coming our way in the second half in the form of interest rates increases, inflation and market volatility, it makes sense to scale into positions slowly.

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