Is the stock market in store for another bull market? Absolutely, undoubtedly yes. Will it take place in 2023? That remains to be seen. But there's no question that sooner or later stocks will once again begin a sustained period of positive momentum.

A new bull market is coming, though, at some point. Here are three stocks that could skyrocket whenever it happens.

1. Beam Therapeutics

Biotech stocks as a group have been in a bear market for going on two years. The negative environment has certainly weighed on Beam Therapeutics (BEAM -1.69%). Shares of the gene-editing stock have plunged more than 40% over the last 12 months.

We can't blame Beam's dismal stock performance entirely on external factors. The company faced some challenges of its own, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placing a clinical hold on advancing experimental cancer therapy BEAM-201 into clinical testing in humans.

However, that FDA hold has since been lifted. Beam is now moving forward with clinical studies. It's evaluating BEAM-101 in treating sickle cell disease and BEAM-201 in treating T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. In addition, the company expects to file for regulatory approvals to advance two other experimental therapies into clinical testing by early 2024.

Beam's base-editing technology holds the potential to be a medical game-changer by precisely editing DNA base pairs. Once a new bull market begins, expect this stock to take off as investors anticipate positive early-stage results from Beam's base-editing therapies.

2. MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre (MELI -1.01%) stock has rebounded strongly from the steep sell-off in the first half of 2022. However, the fintech stock is still down close to 17% below its previous high. 

There's nothing to complain about with MercadoLibre's underlying business, though. The company's net revenue soared 60.6% year over year in the third quarter of 2022 to $2.7 billion. Earnings jumped 35.8% to $129 million. MercadoLibre saw significant improvement in pretty much every key metric, from active users to total payment volume.

The outlook for the company is looking even better in 2023. MercadoLibre's top rival in Brazil is practically imploding. Americanas S.A. is embroiled in an accounting scandal that resulted in its CEO and CFO being shown the door.

More importantly, the e-commerce and digital payments markets in Latin America still have tremendous growth potential. MercadoLibre should continue to lead in both arenas for years to come. 

3. Soundhound AI

Don't think for a second that great artificial intelligence (AI) stocks are limited to the megacap tech giants. Little Soundhound AI (SOUN -7.31%) only has a market cap of around $250 million but could be a huge winner in the future with its voice AI technology.

Sure, the stock has been pulverized, cratering by more than 90% over the last 12 months. However, this disheartening decline doesn't reflect Soundhound's prospects.

Soundhound's customer base is a who's who list of successful global companies, including Hyundai, Qualcomm, and Netflix. Its bookings backlog totals more than $300 million. The company projects revenue growth of over 50% this year. And it expects to be profitable. 

Over the longer term, the opportunities for Soundhound AI appear to be exceptionally good. AI will almost certainly be increasingly adopted in customer service functions and in consumers' everyday life. Soundhound should benefit tremendously from this trend.

A word of caution

I fully expect that all three of these stocks will deliver impressive gains in the next bull market. However, I also think there's a good chance that they could underperform the market if there's a major economic downturn. That's especially the case with the two stocks on the list that aren't currently profitable -- Beam and Soundhound AI. MercadoLibre is the least risky of the group, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't face any risks.

Aggressive investors might want to check out any or all of these three stocks. Risk-averse investors, though, will probably be better off staying on the sidelines at least for now.