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Wall Street's equity strategists see stocks posting far more modest gains next year compared to 2019 as U.S. economic growth slows, the pace of stock buybacks cools and volatility rises as voters prepare to head to the polls in the 2020 presidential election.

Some strategists, including Morgan Stanley's Michael Wilson and UBS's Francois Trahan, expect stocks to decline on expectations of weak profits and lackluster fundamentals.

Credit Suisse's Jonathan Golub, more bullish than his peers, told clients he sees "abundant" stock buybacks, smaller earnings headwinds and multiple expansion that should send stocks up 10% by December 2020.

The median strategist target for 2020 sees the benchmark S&P 500 index climbing to 3,325 by the end of next year, implying a 7% climb from current levels. The average target of 3,272, meanwhile, represents about a 5% gain.

While far closer to the stock market's average annual gain over the last several decades, the median forecast for 2020 represents a marked deceleration from its 2019 rally.

Investors in the largest public U.S. companies have seen a remarkable year in terms of returns. The S&P 500, up 24% since January, is on track to clinch its best year since 2013. Including dividends and other payments, an investment in the S&P 500 would have returned 26% in 2019 thus far.

The gains have been in large part thanks to persistent growth in technology and resiliency in the new communication service sectors despite the ongoing trade fight between the U.S. and China.

Chipmakers, in particular, have proven reliable despite the economic barbs. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF, which tracks the performance of U.S. chipmakers like Intel and Nvidia, is up more than 50% since January. Meanwhile, the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 is Advanced Micro Devices, which has seen its equity price rise 114%.

But despite the big gains in beloved tech and internet stocks, Wall Street's strategists now also favor a choosier stock-picking strategy. One that prioritizes lower levels of debt, reliable income and solid finances.

Nearly all touted the importance of finding under-loved stocks with solid fundamentals and more compelling price tags opposed to the high-premium, high-growth equities that fueled the S&P 500 for much of the past five years.

"We believe the US economy will muddle through in 2020, but expect EPS growth to disappoint," Wilson wrote on Nov. 18. "We prefer value over growth, with a slight defensive bias, given our tepid forecasts and last week's fade in 10-year Treasury yields and the ratio of cyclical to defensive stocks."

CNBC also analyzed which sectors strategists expect to post the best gains in 2020, with many looking to classic value plays like financials and industrials.