Piper Jaffray strategists reportedly have issued a study predicting that the Standard & Poor's 500 Index will reach 2,100 this year. That would represent a 13 percent increase from 1,851, where the index stood at midday Friday.
The report says that in mid-term election years, the stock market is typically weak in the second and third quarters and then strengthens in the fourth quarter,
according to 24/7 Wall Street.
The securities firm recommends overweighting the healthcare, consumer cyclical and technology sectors.
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Piper Jaffray's specific stock picks include Eli Lilly, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Altera, Oracle, Riverbed Technology, Goodyear Tire & Rubber and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
As for Eli Lilly, Piper Jaffray expects good things from its ramucirumab cancer drug. Piper Jaffray forecasts $200 million of sales for ramucirumab in 2015 and $2 billion in 2020. And the stock has a 3.3 percent dividend.
When it comes to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Piper Jaffray thinks its wide product pipeline will help it become one of the top companies in the biotechnology sector.
Not everyone shares Piper Jaffray's bullish take on stocks. "I would say it's a better time to get out of stocks than into stocks,"
Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, told CNBC.
"This bull market has gone on longer than the average bull market for the last 80 years. The economic expansion will be five years old this June."
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