While most of Wall Street focuses on large and mega cap stocks, as they provide a degree of safety and liquidity, many investors are limited in the number of shares they can buy. Many of the biggest public companies, especially the technology giants, trade in the low-to-mid hundreds, all the way up to over $1,000 per share. At those steep prices, it’s pretty hard to get any decent share count leverage.
Many investors, especially more aggressive traders, look at lower-priced stocks as a way to not only make some good money but to get a higher share count. That can really help the decision-making process, especially when you are on to a winner, as you can always sell half and keep half.
We screened our 24/7 Wall St. research database and found five stocks trading under the $10 level that could provide investors with some solid upside potential. While much more suited for aggressive accounts, they could prove to be exciting additions to portfolios looking for solid alpha potential.
Aurora Cannabis
While some investors may be against cannabis companies, the potential upside is huge, and Wall Street is starting to notice. Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB) has made a string of acquisitions to grow the scale of their overall business. It produces and distributes medical cannabis products. The company is vertically integrated and horizontally diversified across various segments of the cannabis value chain, from facility engineering and design to cannabis breeding, genetics research, production, derivatives, high value-add product development, home cultivation, wholesale and retail distribution.
The company’s products consist of dried cannabis and cannabis oil, CanniMed vegan capsules, and hemp products. It also sells vaporizers, consumable vaporizer accessories and herb mills for using herbal cannabis products. And it operates CanvasRX, a network of cannabis counseling and outreach centers, and provides cannabis analytical product testing services.
Jefferies has a Buy rating but just a $9.15 target price on the shares. However, Cowen rates the stock at Outperform and has a $14 price target. The shares closed trading on Friday at $10.37.
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Caesars Entertainment
This well-known old-school gaming company is offering solid upside. Caesars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR | CZR Price Prediction) provides casino-entertainment and hospitality services, and its resorts operate primarily under the Harrah’s, Caesars and Horseshoe brand names.
Caesars facilities include gaming offerings, food and beverage outlets, hotel and convention space, and non-gaming entertainment options. Caesars Entertainment is one of the largest gaming companies in the world and currently owns or operates 49 casino properties in 13 states and in four other countries.
Activist investor Carl Icahn is said to be building a massive position in the company, which could be very positive for investors.
The SunTrust Robinson Humphrey price target is $11, and the Wall Street consensus target is $11.16 a share. The stock was trading at $8.45 on Friday’s close.
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Chaparral Energy
Shares of this energy company have been obliterated and may hold massive upside potential. Chaparral Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: CHAP) engages in the onshore oil and natural gas acquisition, exploitation, exploration and production. It focuses on deposits of Stack, Meramec and Osage, Oswego and Woodford located in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. As of March 29, 2018, it had estimated potential reserves of one billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Chaparral recently announced that it anticipates 2019 total company production to be between 25,000 and 27,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which represents 22% to 32% year-over-year growth. Total Stack production is expected to be between 21,000 and 23,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which is a forecast year-over-year growth rate of 45% to 59%. While full-year production will have significant growth, first-quarter production will be affected by the timing of first sales associated with Chaparral’s current spacing tests and remaining drilling joint venture wells.
Stifel’s Buy rating comes with a gigantic $22 price target. That is even higher than the huge $20.75 consensus estimate. Shares ended the week at $4.24 apiece.
Noodles & Company
This stock has been a roller-coaster ride but also has giant upside potential. Noodles & Co. (NASDAQ: NDLS) operates in the restaurant industry, offering lunch and dinner meals. The company serves a variety of cooked-to-order dishes, including noodles and pasta, soups, salads, sandwiches and appetizers.
The company claims it serves noodles your way, from noodles and flavors that you know and love to new ones you’re about to discover for the first time. From indulgent Wisconsin Mac & Cheese to good-for-you Zoodles, Noodles serves a world of flavor in every bowl. With more than 450 restaurants and 10,000 employees, it is expected to report earnings next week.
Jefferies recently upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy with an $11 price objective. The posted consensus target was last seen at $11.43, and the stock was changing hands at $7.21 on last look.
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Seres Therapeutics
This small-cap biotech stock could explode higher. Seres Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MCRB) is a microbiome therapeutics platform company that engages in the development of biological drugs. It focuses on implementing its microbiome therapeutics platform to develop ecobiotic microbiome therapeutics that treats dysbiosis in the colonic microbiome.
When it released earnings recently, the company also noted the initiation of a SER-401 Phase 1b study in patients with metastatic melanoma. SER-401 is an oral microbiome therapeutic candidate sourced from healthy individuals identified to have a microbiome bacterial signature similar to that observed in immunotherapy responders.
The Phase 1b study, conducted in collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, will evaluate the potential for SER-401 to augment response to anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
The $14 Oppenheimer price target accompanies a Buy rating. The consensus target is $13.60, and shares were last seen trading at $5.11.
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These are five stocks for aggressive accounts looking to get share count leverage on companies that have sizable upside potential. While not suited for all investors, they are not penny stocks with absolutely no track record or liquidity, and major Wall Street firms have research coverage.
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