20 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 about 16 percent, with less than half (197) of the index components outperforming the overall market. Stocks with positive performance this year, CNBC’s Analytics teamlooked 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 September 21, 2012. All data in this story is sourced from Capital IQ and Thomson Reuters.

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

By Giovanny Moreano & Paul Toscano
Posted 21 Sept 2012

Potential to Pop: 24.5%
Mean Price Target: $108.81
Closing Price (9/21): $87.39
YTD change: -6.73%

Number of Analysts: 21
High Estimate: $137
Low Estimate: $86

Get OXY Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 24.9%
Mean Price Target: $49.47
Closing Price (9/21): $39.60
YTD change: -6.14%

Number of Analysts: 16
High Estimate: $59
Low Estimate: $40

Get AET Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 25.3%
Mean Price Target: $47.26
Closing Price (9/21): $37.72
YTD change: +24.82%

Number of Analysts: 32
High Estimate: $57
Low Estimate: $37

Get NE Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 26.3%
Mean Price Target: $21.69
Closing Price (9/21): $17.17
YTD change: -5.50%

Number of Analysts: 8
High Estimate: $31
Low Estimate: $12

Get WPX Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 26.4%
Mean Price Target: $24.50
Closing Price (9/21): $19.39
YTD change: +19.32%

Number of Analysts: 12
High Estimate: $31
Low Estimate: $20

Get HIG Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 27.3%
Mean Price Target: $34.07
Closing Price (9/21): $26.76
YTD change: -5.97%

Number of Analysts: 14
High Estimate: $40
Low Estimate: $23

Get RHI Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 27.5%
Mean Price Target: $77.94
Closing Price (9/21): $61.13
YTD change: -1.40%

Number of Analysts: 24
High Estimate: $110
Low Estimate: $65

Get DVN Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 27.8%
Mean Price Target: $24.36
Closing Price (9/21): $19.07
YTD change: -1.60%

Number of Analysts: 11
High Estimate: $34
Low Estimate: $20

Get OI Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 28.0%
Mean Price Target: $19.59
Closing Price (9/21): $15.30
YTD change: -11.76%

Number of Analysts: 22
High Estimate: $32
Low Estimate: $15

Get NBR Real-Time Quote

Pictured: A Nabors Industries Ltd. crude oil drill rig.

Potential to Pop: 28.1%
Mean Price Target: $113.52
Closing Price (9/21): $88.59
YTD change: -2.20%

Number of Analysts: 26
High Estimate: $140
Low Estimate: $95

Get APA Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 29.9%
Mean Price Target: $9.45
Closing Price (9/21): $7.28
YTD change: +22.35%

Number of Analysts: 16
High Estimate: $11
Low Estimate: $7

Get LSI Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 30.2%
Mean Price Target: $22.61
Closing Price (9/21): $17.36
YTD change: +14.97%

Number of Analysts: 19
High Estimate: $33
Low Estimate: $18

Get DNR Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 30.7%
Mean Price Target: $14.53
Closing Price (9/21): $11.12
YTD change: -6.08%

Number of Analysts: 8
High Estimate: $17
Low Estimate: $12.50

Get AES Real-Time Quote

Pictured: The AES Corporation 495-megawatt Alamitos natural gas-fired power station in Long Beach, California.

Potential to Pop: 31.3%
Mean Price Target: $26.12
Closing Price (9/21): $19.89
YTD change: -5.60%

Number of Analysts: 13
High Estimate: $36
Low Estimate: $21

Get UNM Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 31.6%
Mean Price Target: $45.91
Closing Price (9/21): $34.87
YTD change: +11.83%

Number of Analysts: 16
High Estimate: $56
Low Estimate: $42

Get MET Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 31.7%
Mean Price Target: $11.64
Closing Price (9/21): $8.84
YTD change: +3.27%

Number of Analysts: 14
High Estimate: $18
Low Estimate: $8.40

Get LUV Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 32.9%
Mean Price Target: $13.82
Closing Price (9/21): $10.40
YTD change: -3.35%

Number of Analysts: 17
High Estimate: $20
Low Estimate: $10

Get F Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 35.1%
Mean Price Target: $97.16
Closing Price (9/21): $71.93
YTD Change: -5.76%

Number of Analysts: 28
High Estimate: $129
Low Estimate: $78.50

Get APC Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 44.6%
Mean Price Target: $21.11
Closing Price (9/21): $14.60
YTD Change: +7.12%

Number of Analysts: 14
High Estimate: $26
Low Estimate: $14

Get TER Real-Time Quote

Potential to Pop: 48.2%
Mean Price Target: $9.43
Closing Price (9/21): $6.36
YTD Change: +1.11%

Number of Analysts: 28
High Estimate: $12
Low Estimate: $5.80

Get MU Real-Time Quote