These 2 Stocks Got Wall Street's Seal of Approval to Start 2023

2022 wasn't the best of years for markets, and investors came into Tuesday's session hoping for a change of pace. Unfortunately, the first trading day of 2023 didn't give investors any more confidence than they'd seen last year, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.10%) led major market indexes lower as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.11%) and S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.02%) also posted more modest losses.

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

Wall Street certainly hasn't written off 2023 just yet, and some professional stock analysts gave their views on a couple of stocks they see bouncing back from poor performances last year. Both Wynn Resorts (WYNN -1.78%) and PayPal Holdings (PYPL 0.64%) hope to turn things around in the coming year, and they got a couple of votes of confidence from the Wall Street crowd on Tuesday. Read on for the details.

Wynn hopes for a Macao rebound

Shares of Wynn Resorts finished the first trading day of the year up 4%. The casino giant has struggled along with its Macao operations since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, but some bullish investors think a lasting bounce could be coming soon.

Analysts at Wells Fargo boosted their rating on Wynn Resorts from equal weight to overweight, and they increased their price target on the casino stock to $101 per share, up $27 from the previous target. Wells believes that Wynn is better positioned to mount a lasting rebound than its peers in Macao, in part because Wynn should be able to woo back its VIP customers through direct contact without relying on junket operators offering free trips and travel incentives. Wynn also appeals to mass-market visitors, which could help not only with gambling revenue but also with ancillary sales from restaurants and entertainment events.

The news comes even as Macao's current operational numbers remain weak. The Asian gaming capital's gambling bureau said that casino revenue across Macao plunged 56% year over year, as new concerns about outbreaks of COVID-19 have once again caused concerns among would-be visitors.

Wynn put a major source of uncertainty behind it when it won new gambling licenses from Macao's regulators. Now, all it needs is for its visitors to come back. Analysts are hopeful that could happen sooner rather than later.

PayPal looks to hit bottom

Elsewhere, shares of PayPal Holdings were up 5%. The electronic payments specialist got favorable comments from analysts at Truist who believe that the stock's price has fallen too far.

Truist upgraded its rating on PayPal stock from hold to buy, boosting its price target on the stock from $75 per share to $95. As Truist sees it, the big plunge in PayPal's share price over the past 12 months more than reflects any likely slowdown in its fundamental business, and it's willing to bet that investors have grown too negative about PayPal's future prospects.

PayPal dropped more than 60% in 2022, as slowing growth in payment volume weighed on investor sentiment. With economic conditions deteriorating, it could prove harder than anticipated to get current users to spend more on the platform, which is a key to turning the company's sagging growth around.

Electronic payments will remain a highly competitive arena, and PayPal can't coast on its past successes. However, PayPal does have a long history of working hard to innovate, and so Truist might prove correct in its view that the digital payments stock has more room to rise than to fall from here.