Institutional investors are bullish on 2023, with 66% expecting stocks to rise by at least 6%, according to a CNBC poll.

CNBC surveyed 400 chief investment officers, equity strategists, portfolio managers and contributors in the last week of December.

Forty percent see stocks rising between 6% and 10%, and nearly 20% foresee gains of 11% to 19%. Another 6% are calling for stocks to rise more than 20% in 2023 — which would counteract the S&P 500’s 19% decline in 2022, erasing $8 billion from the index’s market cap.

Overall, two-thirds, 66%, of the money managers expect equities to rise by 6% or more in 2023.

Value, Dividend, Energy

Sectors they are most bullish on for the coming year are value over growth (72%) and energy stocks (41%). An even 31% each favor high-dividend, financial and health-care stocks.

Asked if they would buy any of five high-flying stocks — Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, Netflix and Meta — 37% said Amazon and Alphabet, parent company of Google. Tesla received 17% of their votes; Netflix, 6%; and Facebook parent Meta, 3%.

Nearly 50% think the Federal Reserve can orchestrate a “soft landing” for the U.S. economy, i.e. slow it down without toppling it into a recession as the Fed continues to raise interest rates.

Asked what their biggest concerns for the coming year are, 73% say Fed policy. Other concerns pale in comparison. Only 12% are worried about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, 9% labor and supply chain challenges, and 6% a resurgence of COVID in China. Europe’s energy shortage concerns none of the professional money managers.

Crypto Contempt

In light of crypto exchange FTX’s spectacular bankruptcy, it should not come as a surprise that 81% of the money managers surveyed said they wouldn’t touch crypto.

• Inflation, Recession, Earnings to Drive Stocks in 2023