Volatility was the name of the game for stocks in 2018. The market plunged to severe lows in both February and December, but all-time highs in September. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and Dow Jones Industrial Average were both on the precipice of bear markets late in the year. However, we enjoyed a surprising "Santa Claus" rally that saw the Dow climb more than 1,000 points - its biggest single-day point gain ever - on Dec. 26.

When you're evaluating stock picks for 2019, expect more of the unexpected.

Continued volatility seems unavoidable considering unsolved trade tensions and heightened worries about the Federal Reserve and interest-rate hikes. The flip side? "Despite the volatility that we have witnessed in the global markets, for 2019 our analysts are maintaining a pro-growth, pro-cyclical bias," RBC Capital writes in its 2019 outlook. Many Wall Street analysts, in fact, predict upside in 2019. That includes Deutsche Bank, whose 3,250 target for the S&P 500 next year implies more than 30% upside for the market!

With this outlook in mind, here are some of the analyst community's top stock picks for 2019. These are stocks, large and small, that boast a "Strong Buy" analyst consensus and significant upside potential. We used TipRanks to ensure that these picks also enjoy the support of top-performing analysts who have strong track records.

Alphabet

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Alphabet (GOOGL, $1,052.90), whose Google division is the largest ad-revenue-based internet business, has averaged 23% growth over the past 35 quarters and still is running hot. Moreover, it has $100 billion of net cash on its balance sheet - "dry powder (that) should give investors extra confidence amid market turbulence," five-star RBC Capital analyst Mark Mahaney writes.

"That's why we call Alphabet an internet staple."

Alphabet is overwhelmingly an ad-based company (RBC estimates that approximately 85% of the company's 2018 revenue will come from advertising), but it's trying to expand into other key businesses. Investments in hardware, cloud, Internet-connected homes and autonomous vehicles give GOOGL the potential for several more years of premium top-line growth and profits.

As with most stock picks in 2019, Alphabet isn't a 100% slam dunk. "There is regulatory risk," Mahaney writes, "though we have yet to find evidence that regulations will adversely impact the usefulness of Google for consumers or advertisers."