Stocks with the Potential to Pop

It's the basic question when investing in a stock: is it on the way up or down.

To answer this question, the street has developed numerous ways of attempting to predict what will happen, estimating various attributes tied to stock performance in order to determine what the future holds for a company's valuation. After dissecting the data, analysts following a particular stock produce a price target of where they believe the stock is headed.

So far this year, the S&P 500 is up nearly 8.58 percent, with lessthan half (211) of the index components outperforming the overall market. Stocks with positive performance this year, CNBC’s Analytics team  looked at the ones that have average consensus estimates farthest above their current stock prices. Companies which have seen their values drop by more than 10 percent YTD are excluded from this list, in order to compensate for any time lag in analyst estimates. All values including analysts’ estimates are as of the market close on July 2, 2012.

So, which stocks are analysts expecting to have the biggest pops? Read on to find out! 

1. Denbury Resources (DNR)

Photo: Denbury Resources Inc.Potential to Pop: 64.46%
Mean Price Target: $24.62
Closing Price (7/2): $14.97

Number of Analysts: 17
High Estimate: $33
Low Estimate: $18


2. LSI Corp (LSI)

Potential to Pop: 61.66%
Mean Price Target: $10.33
Closing Price (7/2): $6.39

Number of Analysts: 15
High Estimate: $14
Low Estimate: $6.50

3. Western Digital (WDC)

Photo: westerndigital.comPotential to Pop: 57.71%
Mean Price Target: $47.06
Closing Price (7/2): $29.84

Number of Analysts: 18
High Estimate: $61
Low Estimate: $30


4. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX)

Potential to Pop: 53.96%
Mean Price Target: $52.16
Closing Price (7/2): $33.88

Number of Analysts: 19
High Estimate: $66
Low Estimate: $40

5. Owens Illinois (OI)

Mike Fuentes/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesPotential to Pop: 53.87%
Mean Price Target: $29.45
Closing Price (7/2): $19.14

Number of Analysts: 11
High Estimate: $38
Low Estimate: $22



6. Teradyne (TER)

Potential to Pop: 52.89%
Mean Price Target: $21.42
Closing Price (7/2): $14.01

Number of Analysts: 12
High Estimate: $26
Low Estimate: $15

7. Metlife (MET)

Keith Bedford/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesPotential to Pop: 52.51%
Mean Price Target: $46.76
Closing Price (7/2): $30.66

Number of Analysts: 17
High Estimate: $60
Low Estimate: $40



8. Micron Technology (MU)

Potential to Pop: 52.21%
Mean Price Target: $9.97
Closing Price (7/2): $6.55

Number of Analysts: 27
High Estimate: $12
Low Estimate: $6

9. Fluor Corp (FLR)

Photo: Fluor.comPotential to Pop: 49.18%
Mean Price Target: $73.35
Closing Price (7/2): $49.17

Number of Analysts: 20
High Estimate: $83
Low Estimate: $63


10. Caterpillar (CAT)

Potential to Pop: 49.00%
Mean Price Target: $124.68
Closing Price (7/2): $83.68

Number of Analysts: 19
High Estimate: $142
Low Estimate: $95

Click here to see the full list of Stocks with the Potential to Pop.

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