If you're looking for stocks that can make dramatic moves to the upside in a year or less, Wall Street analysts have some suggestions for you. Right now, projected price targets for these three growth stocks are well above the prices they've been trading at recently.
Blindly following analyst recommendations is a strategy that doesn't work out as often as investors want it to. That said, it often pays to understand why analysts are bullish in the first place. Here's why experts think these stocks have what it takes to put up big gains in 2023.
Amazon
Shares of Amazon (AMZN 0.80%) are still down around 42% from the peak they reached in 2021. Investment bank analysts who follow the stock think it has enough fuel to rocket higher in 2023 -- the average price target right now implies a 40.1% gain over the next 12 months.
Amazon's stock price has been under pressure because the company doubled the size of its fulfillment network during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. When demand subsided, that led to significant losses on the bottom line, but they're most likely temporary.
AMZN Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts.
The investment bank analysts who follow Amazon expect better days ahead, because it's already showing signs of improvement in a challenging environment. The company's North American segment narrowed its fourth-quarter operating loss to $206 million after reporting an operating loss of $2.6 billion during the first nine months of 2022.
In addition to a leading e-commerce operation that will most likely return to profitability by the end of the year, Amazon runs the world's most popular cloud infrastructure business. Fourth-quarter figures from Synergy Research Group show that Amazon Web Services still has around 33% of the worldwide market. Overall spending on cloud infrastructure decelerated last year, but it still rose 21% year over year.
Inari Medical
Inari Medical (NARI 1.60%) stock is down around 56% from the peak it reached in 2021. Banks up and down Wall Street think it can mount a comeback; the average price target on this growth stock represents a 63.6% premium.
Analysts are particularly confident about Inari Medical because the clot-removal devices it sells offer many advantages over standard care. Traditionally, patients are treated with powerful blood thinners while providers hope for the best. Unfortunately, blood thinners can lead to fatal bleeding events, so this method also requires lengthy and expensive hospitalizations. Inari's transcatheter devices slide into blocked blood vessels and quickly remove offending clots so patients can quickly get on their feet again.
In 2022, total sales rose about 38%, and we can reasonably expect rapid growth for many more years. Inari is the only company with venous clot removal devices approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That said, cautious investors might want to wait until its bottom line crosses into positive territory.
InMode
Shares of InMode (INMD 0.33%) are down around 63% from the peak they set in late 2021. The analysts tasked with following this maker of devices for cosmetic procedures expect a comeback: The consensus price target on the stock right now is 39.2% above its recent closing price.
Wall Street is bullish about InMode because the company is sewing up the market for minimally invasive cosmetic procedures. One of its biggest growth drivers is BodyTite, which produces results similar to liposuction using a narrow probe inserted below the skin surface.
The global market for noninvasive aesthetic treatments was valued at $61.2 billion last year, and is expected to expand by 15.4% annually through 2030, according to Grand View Research. Botox and fillers are expected to drive some of this growth, but nonsurgical fat reduction is projected to grow faster than any other category.
With the world's leading nonsurgical fat reduction devices, you might expect InMode stock to trade at a premium, but this isn't the case. Right now you can scoop up shares for just 13.7 times forward-looking earnings estimates. With a strong secular trend pushing up sales of its market-leading devices, Wall Street is right to call InMode a buy at recent prices.
