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Stocks are entering a new bull cycle after a disgraceful 2022 performance, Leuthold Group chief investment strategist Jim Paulsen, told Bloomberg.  

"If you think the bear market is not over, I get that and that's one thing. I think the lows are in and I think we're starting a new bull market," he said during the Bloomberg interview that was broadcast Thursday. 

"If … we are past the bear [market] and we have a modest or no recession and starting a new bull [market], I think the returns can be really pretty phenomenal - something around 5,000 in the coming 12 months," he said of the potential mark for the S&P 500. 

That level translates into a 26% upside from Thursday's close at 3,952 and would beat the index's all-time high of 4,818.62 notched in January.  The index this year has plunged by about 17% with 10 of its sectors in the red. Only the energy sector has surged with a 52% leap.  

Paulsen sees stocks entering a new bull market on about 60/40 odds of the US avoiding recession or the economy experiencing a mild recession. 

"In the first year of bulls, earnings don't do well at all. They're generally flat, they're often down. But what really happens is multiples go way up," he said.

"Let's say earnings go to $220 or even $215 in the next year - but the multiple goes from the bear-market low of around 17 up to 22 or 23 times, it gets me to around 5,000," on the S&P 500. he said. "And I don't think that that's all that unreasonable."