Looking at Goldman Sachs’ “firm buys” in recent weeks, we can spot some stocks that analysts believe have great potential. The Wall Street bank’s Conviction List includes its top buy-rated stocks that are expected to outperform. Here are five of them: Baidu Goldman Sachs said in a July 16 report that it had added Chinese internet search giant Baidu to its list of regional convictions. “We believe Baidu is one of the best positioned Chinese internet companies to focus on the mundane topic of generative artificial intelligence,” it said. Baidu’s search advertising business is expected to recover steadily due to its high exposure to offline SMEs, the bank’s analyst said. They added that they expect key catalysts in the second half of the year, such as regulatory approval of large language models (artificial intelligence programs trained using large amounts of data). “Markets are currently pricing in Baidu’s AI initiatives in limited fashion: the stock has outperformed Alibaba/Tencent by 10-15% year-to-date,” the Goldman analysts wrote. “We position Baidu on long-term AI trends more constructively than before, and we expect the market to start appreciating Baidu’s AI business once it starts generating user traffic and achieving revenue scale.” Both price targets imply an upside of about 37%. Shift4 Payments U.S. payment processor Shift4 Payments is also on Goldman’s conviction list. The company appeared on the screen for stocks growing at a reasonable price in a July 13 report from the bank. Goldman Sachs analysts point to stocks they see a sales compound annual growth rate of at least 10% from 2022 to 2025 and a P/E growth rate of less than 1.0. They say Shift4 Payments is well-positioned to compete with new entrants in the SMB payments space. “Its newer, modern restaurant POS (point of sale) platform and new verticals should drive market share gains,” the Goldman analysts wrote. Johnson Controls International Goldman Sachs is also bullish on U.S. construction products company Johnson Controls International, which appeared in the July 13 stock screen with undervalued margin expansion and expected growth. The bank identified stocks for which analysts expect sales growth of at least 5% in 2023 and 2024, positive incremental operating margins annually, and at least 150 basis points of operating margin growth from 2022 to the end of 2024. “Favorable developments in end markets such as education and ‘clean’ construction, as well as cost-saving initiatives, should drive growth and margin expansion,” the bank said of Johnson Controls. Goldman said the company’s services business has the potential to create more growth and margin expansion opportunities in the long run, ultimately contributing to “steady” free cash flow. Warner Bros. Discovery Goldman Sachs said in a July 18 note that it believes Warner Bros. Discovery has the most attractive risk/reward profile among its peers, calling the stock a top pick in the media sector. It highlighted that the company paid down more than $1 billion in debt during the second quarter through its free cash flow. “This implies that WBD is ahead of its 1H23 FCF target despite a challenging operating environment,” Goldman wrote. “As such, we maintain our expectation for WBD to materially deleverage its balance sheet in 2023 and support substantial equity upside.” Goldman Sachs, which ranks First Solar a Buy in its buy-rated stock screen, has a mixed consensus among its analysts, while most of the stock on Wall Street has neutral or sell ratings. The company said in a report on July 13: “These names do not seem to be sufficiently valued by the market and may bring alpha benefits to investors with contrarian views.” Analysts said that First Solar has been included in the bank’s order list, and its target price may rise by 40% from the $194.96 on July 12. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.