Bankim Chadha, Deutsche Bank’s chief global strategist, joined CNBC’s ‘The Exchange’ on June 24 to express a cautionary view regarding further monetary policy movement despite recent positive inflation reports. He made a historical reference attributed to his colleague, rate strategist Francis Yarad. In 1973, following an oil shock and associated shortages, inflation rose, and the Fed hiked rates. But then long-term rates either moved sideways or slightly decreased during this period. Therefore, a recession occurred, which made the Fed cut rates in response.

However, in that historical instance, the term premium and the long end of the yield curve increased and continued to rise. Chadha points out this seemingly perverse dynamic, where long-term rates fell when the Fed hiked but rose when the Fed began to cut, which suggests that the inflation shock was being accommodated. He notes that a similar phenomenon occurred more recently in the fall when the Fed cut rates and the long end of the curve rose. He explains that the current market dynamics hinge on the nature of ongoing shocks, such as tariffs and oil prices. If these are perceived as negative supply shocks, and if tariffs remain unresolved, then a rate cut might not make sense and could lead to perverse dynamics.

That being said, we’re here with a list of the 12 best S&P 500 stocks with huge upside potential.

Methodology

We sifted through the Finviz stock screener to compile a list of the top S&P 500 stocks that had a high average upside potential of over 20% as of June 24. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of their average upside potential. We’ve also added the hedge fund sentiment for each stock, which was sourced from Insider Monkey’s database, as of Q1 2025. The hedge fund data was sourced from Insider Monkey’s database which tracks the moves of over 1000 elite money managers.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

12 Best S&P 500 Stocks With Huge Upside Potential

12. DuPont de Nemours Inc. (NYSE:DD)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64

Average Upside Potential as of June 24: 24.62%

DuPont de Nemours Inc. (NYSE:DD) is one of the best S&P 500 stocks with huge upside potential. On June 10, DuPont announced that 13 of its current and former scientists and engineers have been named 2025 Heroes of Chemistry by the American Chemical Society/ACS. The prestigious award recognizes their collaborative development of embedded barrier layer technology, which is a significant advancement in semiconductor lithography, specifically for 193 nm immersion lithography.

The innovation addresses challenges like defectivity and process stability in early immersion lithography by integrating barrier functionality directly into the photoresist. The ACS Heroes of Chemistry Award is presented annually to industrial scientists whose work results in the successful development and commercialization of impactful chemistry-based products. The 2025 awardees will be formally recognized at a ceremony in August, during the ACS Fall 2025 meeting in Washington, D.C.

The integration simplifies lithography processes and leads to lower materials usage and reduced energy consumption. Formulations incorporating this technology have been adopted across the global semiconductor industry and support the development of technologies like AI, advanced computing, and consumer electronics.

DuPont de Nemours Inc. (NYSE:DD) provides technology-based materials and solutions. It operates through Electronics & Industrial, Water & Protection, and Corporate & Other segments.

11. Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 40

Average Upside Potential as of June 24: 24.91%

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) is one of the best S&P 500 stocks with huge upside potential. On June 11, Akamai Technologies announced a strategic partnership with Cloudinary. Under the new agreement, Cloudinary’s AI-powered video solution will be integrated into Akamai’s next-gen Video Manager solution.

The collaboration aims to simplify video management and delivery for Akamai Video Manager customers by addressing common challenges like time-consuming post-production work. Additionally, Cloudinary has joined the Akamai Qualified Compute Partner Program as an Independent Software Vendor/ISV. As an ISV, Cloudinary brings over a decade of experience in managing and delivering high-performing video experiences at scale, which will now be deployed on the Akamai Cloud.

Cloudinary currently supports over 1 billion videos for thousands of customers across nearly every industry. The Akamai Qualified Compute Partner Program is designed to provide Akamai customers with easy access to solution-based services that are interoperable with Akamai cloud computing services. Technology partners in this program undergo a qualification process to ensure their services can be readily deployed and scaled across the globally distributed Akamai Cloud.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) provides security, delivery, and cloud computing solutions in the US and internationally. Cloudinary is an image and video platform that helps the world’s most engaging brands deliver transformative visual experiences at a global scale.