# The Top 10 Strongest U.S. Stocks of 2023 are Out, Wall Street is Optimistic About This One with the Most Potential

The S&P 500 surged last year! It skyrocketed 24% for the whole year, setting the longest consecutive weekly gain record (9 weeks) since 2004. Among them, technology stocks led the way, soaring 56%, followed by communication services stocks rising 53%, and the AI concept was booming; consumer stocks rose 40%, and industrial stocks increased by 18%.

**Top 10 Stocks in 2023**:
1. NVIDIA ( NVDA ) +239% - Technology
2. Meta +194% - Communication Services
3. Royal Caribbean Cruises +162% - Consumption
4. Building First Source +157% - Industry
5. Uber +149% - Industrial
6. Carnival Cruise +133% - Consumption
7. AMD +128% - Technology
8. PulteGroup +127% - Consumer
9. Palo Alto Networks +111% - Technology
10. Tesla +102% - Consumption

**Wall Street's Top Picks for 2024**: Nvidia. Analysts have set a target price of $650, indicating a 37% increase. Ranking second and third are Carnival Corp ( with a target price of $21.5, up 32% ) and Meta ( with a target price of $385, up 12% ).

Why is Nvidia so strong? The core is the monopoly in the AI chip market - 95% market share in data center accelerators, and 80-95% in machine learning chips. Q3 financial report exploded: revenue surged 206% to $18.1 billion, with data center revenue skyrocketing 279% to $14.5 billion, and net profit soaring 588%.

The valuation is also not expensive: P/E ratio of 63 times, but the growth rate is far ahead - expected annual EPS growth of 42% in the next 3-5 years. The PEG ratio is only 1.5, far lower than AMD(35.6), Intel(3.6), Amazon(2.8), and Microsoft(2.5).

The industry is still in its early stages. Nvidia expects a total addressable market of $1 trillion, and Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that spending on generative AI will reach $1.3 trillion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 42%. What are the risks? Stock prices fluctuate greatly, but in the long run, this company is synonymous with AI chips.