No one really knows how much a given stock will go up or down in the future. However, Wall Street analysts are paid handsome salaries to crunch numbers to put forward their best estimates on how stocks will perform.
It's not a bad idea to check out the stocks for which analysts are the most bullish. That's especially the case when the underlying businesses of those companies are highly innovative. Here are three game-changing stocks that could soar between 61% and 99% in 2022, according to Wall Street.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Sea Limited
Wall Street analysts really love Sea Limited (SE 4.34%). The consensus 12-month price target for the stock reflects an upside potential of close to 99% above the current share price.
Sea's biggest shareholder doesn't appear to be as optimistic. The stock fell on Tuesday after Tencent Holdings sold 14.5 million shares of Sea Limited. However, Tencent could have other reasons to sell part of its stake that don't relate to Sea's prospects. And it still owns 18.8% of the company, so Tencent clearly isn't extremely bearish about Sea.
The facts seem to be on Wall Street's side in this case. Sea Limited continues to generate sizzling growth. Its monster hit game Free Fire ranked No. 2 in the third quarter, based on average monthly active users on Alphabet's Google Play, according to data from App Annie.
Sea's greatest growth prospects, though, could be in e-commerce and digital payments. The company's Shopee e-commerce platform was the top Google Play shopping app in Q3, based on time spent in the app. This success is also helping boost the SeaMoney mobile wallet.
2. Teladoc Health
Teladoc Health (TDOC 3.31%) performed abysmally in 2021, with its shares plunging more than 50%. But analysts think the healthcare stock could make a major comeback this year. The average price target for Teladoc is roughly 77% higher than its current share price.
Why does Wall Street still like Teladoc so much? The positive outlook reflects both near-term potential catalysts and significant long-term opportunities.
New contracts with large health insurers should boost Teladoc's revenue in 2022. One of those is an agreement to make the Primary360 virtual primary-care service available to Aetna's self-insured employers across the U.S.
Over the longer term, the virtual-care market could expand dramatically. Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company even estimates that up to $250 billion of U.S. healthcare spending could shift to virtual care. Even if that projection is overly optimistic, Teladoc should have a huge opportunity in the years to come.
3. MercadoLibre
MercadoLibre (MELI 1.96%) stands out as another Wall Street favorite that underwhelmed in 2021. The e-commerce stock fell nearly 20%. However, analysts foresee a much better new year: The consensus price target for MercadoLibre is more than 61% above the current share price.
There are plenty of reasons to believe that the analysts are right about this stock. MercadoLibre's business continues to fire on all cylinders.
In particular, gross merchandise volume on its flagship e-commerce platform jumped 29.7% year over year in Q3 on a constant-currency basis to $7.3 billion. That's especially impressive considering the tough comparisons versus 2020 with a surge in online shopping due to the pandemic.
MercadoLibre should have plenty of room to grow even more. The Latin American e-commerce market-penetration rate is expected to double by 2025, according to Morgan Stanley. MercadoLibre also believes that it's "only the beginning" for its fast-growing fintech business.
