What to do with stocks that have scored big gains this year

Stocks that went on massive runs this year may not see the same momentum carry over into 2025, according to Wall Street analysts’ consensus targets. The S & P 500 has jumped nearly 26% this year, touching the 6,000 mark on Tuesday as investors continued to pile into technology, energy, industrial and utility companies tied to growth in artificial intelligence and data center-related spending. Parts of this trade have recently slowed down, however, reflecting expectations for the next year, the effect of President-elect Trump’s election and economic policies in his next term. The energy sector, for example, has lagged over the past month as traders have raised their bets against oil companies given Trump’s plan to encourage higher oil production. Using CNBC Pro’s stock screener , we found that the S & P 500’s top three winners this year are Vistra , Palantir Technologies and Texas Pacific Land — but that analysts’ consensus price targets suggest meager gains or an outright slump ahead for those stocks, according to LSEG data. Expectations for Nvidia , now the largest company in the U.S. and another top performer this year, remain bullish, however. Take a look at which companies performed best year this year, and what Wall Street thinks could be next: Shares of electric power generation company Vistra are up more than 320% this year as of Tuesday’s close. Analysts polled by LSEG have a consensus buy rating but a 12-month price target that suggests the stock might rise less than 3%, however. Texas-based Vistra has benefited from the AI boom, as its gas-fired and nuclear power plants increasingly supply the power needed to fuel energy-hungry data centers. The company said on its third-quarter earnings call that it is continuing to consider “new generation projects” to meet the growing demand from large-scale data center customers, exploring new construction and expansions at existing data center sites. Vistra posted in-line adjusted EBITDA of $1.44 billion in the third quarter and raised its planned share buyback. Palantir was another investor favorite this year, but the stock might now fall almost 42% in the coming year, according to analysts’ consensus price target as collected by LSEG. Palantir’s shares have soared nearly 277% this year, climbing 47% just in the past month after the analytics software provider beat the Street’s earnings and sales estimates in its third quarter, raised its forecasts for future profit and decided to move its stock listing to the Nasdaq Stock Market from the New York Stock Exchange. It’s one of the few stocks on the list that analysts have a hold rating on. Taser-maker Axon Enterprise is another of this year’s winners that could take a hit next year, at least based on the Street’s consensus price target. To be sure, analysts still have a consensus buy rating on Axon. Bank of America analyst Jordan Lyonnais is particularly bullish on Axon’s growing AI potential, recently estimating more than 25% top line growth for the company by the end of 2026 as it from its new AI Era Plan for law enforcement customers. Nvidia and Constellation Energy remain well-positioned among this year’s stock market winners, however, as analysts forecast roughly 23% and 11% potential upside, respectively, over the coming 12 months.