Despite the market's recent selloff, most investors in a new CNBC poll expect their stocks to be higher a year from now though many say not by much.
The exclusive CNBC Wealth in America Report, which assesses people's views on a variety of economic issues, asked investors if they expect the value of their stock portfolios to increase, decrease or stay about the same over the next twelve months.
While 60% of the respondents expect their portolios to trade higher a year from now, 51% of them said the stocks would only increase somewhat. Thirty percent expected their stocks to stay about the same, while only 6% were looking for a decrease.
The survey, reported in part on On the Money Tuesday, will be released on Power Lunch Wednesday.
Some analysts though are more bullish than the investors in the CNBC survey, saying the stock market could finish the year with a significant gain.
"We're looking for the market to finish 2007 8% to 10% higher, with the S&P 500 at 1550," Scott Wren, Senior Equity Strategist for A.G. Edwards, told CNBC.com. "You've got low inflation, low interest rates and a great labor market with moderate, non-inflationary growth."
"We think the underpinnings for the market are still pretty positive for the rest of the year," Steve Folker, managing director for growth strategies at Fifth Third Asset Management, told CNBC. "Lots of companies are going to show good earnings growth this year."
Even the market's recent selloff has not diminished the optimism among many analysts that stocks will bounce back later in the year.
"I found that in three, six and twelve months after these initial cracks, the market was up 5% in both the 3-month and 6-month time periods, and up an average of 7% 12 months out," said Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist at Standard and Poor's. "If you go back the past 30 years, the market has really looked at this as a good buying opportunity."