In this piece, we will take a look at JP Morgan's top 15 stock picks for 2023 and most recent stock picks. If you want to skip our introduction to the world's biggest bank in terms of assets, its latest performance, and other details, then check out JP Morgan's Top 5 Stock Picks for 2023.
JPMorgan is a banking giant. According to Insider Monkey's research, the bank had $3.74 trillion in total assets as of June 2023, which made it the biggest private bank in the world. Not a small achievement, JPMorgan's presence spans all over the world and particularly America, and its retail and investment banking divisions are divided across two arms. Chase Bank is the retail division of JPMorgan, and its corporate, investment banking, and wealth management divisions for the super rich are managed through J.P. Morgan.
When compared to some other banks, such as the embattled The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), JPMorgan has had a rock star of a year in 2023 financially. Its shares, trading under JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), are up by a respectable 13% year to date, which significantly outpaces the S&P Banks Select Industry Index's -11.99% returns year to date. So why is JPMorgan the star of the banking industry in 2023? Well, for starters, it has been posting solid earnings, which are perhaps one of the biggest catalysts to a company's share price. JPMorgan's third quarter financials revealed that the bank's revenue grew by 22% annually to sit at $39.9 billion and its profits posted a 35% annual growth to sit at $13.2 billion. At the heart of its revenue growth are the record high interest rates in the U.S. right now, with JPMorgan's net interest income beating analyst estimates during the quarter to touch a sizeable $22.9 billion.
A dominating presence in the financial industry also provides JPMorgan employees with a unique insight into the corporate world. The bank's analysts regularly cover thousands of stocks to assign them ratings and share price targets. We've been regular followers of JPMorgan here at Insider Monkey as well, and as 2023 kicked off, we took a look at JPMorgan’s Best Performing 15 Stock Picks for 2023. This showed that the top five performing stocks back then were Peloton Interactive, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTON), Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Wizz Air Holdings Plc (LON:WIZZ.L), and ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CHPT). So, the next thing to ask when evaluating just how good the analysts at JPMorgan are is how the shares performed as 2023 bids us farewell.
Well, the year to date share price performance of the five companies is -32%, 114.96%, 168.59%, -1%, and -77.78%. This shows that when it comes to stocks, at least when we limit our attention to only five companies, then JPMorgan's top stock picks can deliver outstanding triple digit percentage returns, and yet, also drop considerably. On a side note, this is also a perfect example of why portfolio diversification is also recommended as it helps investors limit the impact of one stock on their portfolios.
Shifting gears, JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon, who's also often rumored to be running for President, has been at the center of a lot of media coverage as of late. This is because Mr. Dimon announced through JPMorgan that he would sell his shares for the first time since he took over the reins in 2005. The JPMorgan boss owned 8.6 million shares as of October 2023 - the date of the announcement - and using JPMorgan's current share price of $152.82 shows that he's worth a cool $1.3 billion. Running the biggest bank in the world comes with its own set of perks and privileges, and being a billionaire is one of them.
The tail end of 2024 has also created some hope in the stock market that high rates might start to come down soon. High rates also affect investment banking, and if you're wondering what JPMorgan is seeing in this area, then here's what the firm's chief financial officer Mr. Jeremy Barnum had to say during its latest earnings call:
I mean, as you know, obviously, the current levels in Investment Banking remain quite depressed, certainly relative to the very elevated levels that we saw during the pandemic but even relative to sort of 2019, which is what you might consider the last normal year. We do eventually think we'll recover to those levels and hopefully recover to above those levels, recognizing that by the time it happens, you will have had many years of economic growth in the meantime. And to be fair, while the current environment is a little bit complicated in mix and there are some headwinds, as you pointed out, things have improved a little bit. And I think I would say our banking team is a little bit more optimistic than they were last quarter.
So, as cautious optimism starts to make its way at JPMorgan, we took a look at its top stock picks with some notable names being Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).
JP Morgan's Top 15 Stock Picks for 2023
Our Methodology
To compile our list of JPMorgan's stock picks, we used its SEC filings and picked out the fifteen biggest investments as of Q3 2023 end.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a major American bank headquartered in San Francisco, California. The firm is allegedly under fire from regulators these days, with a report from the WSJ outlining that they want the bank to amp up its financial crime monitoring.
75 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey had invested in the firm. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)'s biggest shareholder during Q3 was Natixis Global Asset Management's Harris Associates as it owned $976 million worth of shares.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) joins Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in our list of JP Morgan's top stocks.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) is an American utility with tens of thousands of megawatts of power generation capacity. While the broader market rose after the latest inflation data as prices dropped, NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)'s shares were under pressure as it benefits from raising debt for some of its operations.
By the end of this year's second quarter, 59 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's database had held a stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE). Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management was the firm's largest investor during the third quarter due to its $560 million stake.
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) is a financial technology company that serves the needs of businesses. Its shares are rated Strong Buy on average and analysts have set an average share price target of $568.91.
Insider Monkey dug through 910 hedge fund holdings for this year's second quarter to discover that 86 were the firm's investors. During the third quarter, Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)'s biggest shareholder among hedge funds was Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management as it owned $1.4 billion worth of shares.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is one of the biggest pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in the world. These days, the firm is eyeing the lucrative robotics market and has shared plans to produce a surgery robot.
As of June 2023, 88 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey had invested in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). In the subsequent quarter, Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management was the largest hedge fund investor due to its $1.1 billion stake.
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) is an American retailer that sells home improvement products. The firm is due to report its third quarter earnings report soon, and the results will show whether the home building market is recovering after notable inflation drops.
By the end of this year's second quarter, 64 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey had held a stake in the company. Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)'s biggest investor in the following quarter was Bill Ackman's Pershing Square as it owned seven million shares that are worth $1.4 billion.
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) is a Dutch semiconductor firm that sells products such as processors and microcontrollers. A slowing semiconductor industry is making a mark on its finances as well, with the third quarter financials showing flat annual revenue growth.
During 2023's June quarter, 48 out of the 910 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had bought and invested NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI)'s shares. Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick's First Pacific Advisors LLC was the largest shareholder in the September quarter courtesy of its $157 million investment.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) is a biotechnology company headquartered in Tarrytown, New York. The firm's third quarter results impressed analysts at Raymond James, who upgraded the shares to Outperform from Market Perform in November 2023.
As of Q2 2023 end, 56 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey had bought the firm's shares. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN)'s biggest hedge fund stakeholder in Q3 was D. E. Shaw's D E Shaw as it owned $304 million worth of shares.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is one of the biggest oil companies in the world. The firm is rapidly increasing its focus climate climate friendly technologies, and it plans to invest up to $15 billion in an Indonesian carbon capture project for this purpose.
Insider Monkey dug through 910 hedge funds for their June quarter of 2023 shareholdings and found that 71 were Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)'s investors. During the September quarter, Jean-Marie Eveillard's First Eagle Investment Management owned the largest stake which was worth $1.5 billion.
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is an electric vehicle manufacturer that also sells power storage products. These days, the firm is facing the heat in Sweden as union dockworkers and mechanics are striking against the firm.
During this year's second quarter, 79 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's database had held a stake in the company. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)'s biggest shareholder during the third quarter was Catherine D. Wood's ARK Investment Management due to its $1 billion stake.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a financial products and services provider. The firm scored a big win in November 2023 when its joint venture in China was approved by the country's central bank - allowing Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) to target one of the most populous nations in the world.
139 out of the 910 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had bought Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)'s shares during Q2 2023. During Q3, Charles Akre's Akre Capital Management owned the largest stake which was worth $2.3 billion.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) are some stocks on JP Morgan's radar.
