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 more than $1,000 per share and higher. 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 looking for smaller cap companies that could very well offer patient investors some huge returns for the rest of 2021 and beyond. Many of the biggest companies in the world including Apple and Amazon traded in the single digits at one time.

While all five of the companies are rated Buy, it’s important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Coty

Smart investors know that regardless of the economy, women will continue to buy makeup and fragrances and this is a very solid play on that theme. Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) is number two globally in the fragrance category and number six in color cosmetics.

The company manufactures, markets, distributes and sells beauty products worldwide. The company provides prestige fragrances, skincare and color cosmetics products through prestige retailers, including perfumeries, department stores, e-retailers, direct-to-consumer websites, and duty-free shops under the Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Bottega Veneta, Calvin Klein, Cavalli, Chloe, Davidoff, Escada, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Jil Sander, Joop!, Kylie Jenner, Lacoste, Lancaster, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Nikos, philosophy, and Tiffany & Co. brands.

Coty also offers mass color cosmetics, fragrance, skincare, and body care products primarily through hypermarkets, supermarkets, drug stores, pharmacies, mid-tier department stores, traditional food and drug retailers, and e-commerce retailers under the Adidas, Beckham, Biocolor, Bozzano, Bourjois, Bruno Banani, CoverGirl, Enrique, Max Factor, Mexx, Monange, Nautica, Paixao, Rimmel, Risque, Sally Hansen, Stetson, and 007 James Bond brands.

Jefferies has a Buy rating and a $12 price target, that is versus Wall Street’s $10.28 consensus target. The shares ended trading Friday at $9.44.

Kinross Gold

This is a smaller cap mining company that more aggressive investors may want to consider. Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) is one of the largest gold producers in the world, and together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold properties principally in Canada, the United States, the Russian Federation, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, and Mauritania.

The BofA team notes that the firm’s Buy rating is a function of our view that Kinross’s gold output is rising over the next several years to 2.9 million gold equivalent ounces in 2023. Kinross is trading at material discounts to the senior gold producer peers. A key catalyst for Kinross will be the completion of the Tasiast Phase Two mine development in 2022.

BofA Securities has the price target for this company at $9.50. That compares with the higher consensus target across Wall Street of $10.14. The shares closed Friday at $6.38.

Shift Technologies

This is an off-the-radar idea with big-time upside potential. Shift Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: SFT) provides an end-to-end auto e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars. The company operates through two segments, Retail and Wholesale. It engages in the retail sale of used vehicles through its platform that enables mobile digital transactions, such as car searching, scheduling an on-demand test drive, and purchasing at home or at the preferred site of a test drive, as well as provides financing and services.

The company also provides value-added products, such as vehicle service contracts, guaranteed asset protection waiver coverage, prepaid maintenance plans, and appearance protection plan. In addition, it is involved in the sale of used vehicles through wholesale auctions or directly to a wholesaler.

Cantor Fitzgerald recently started coverage with an Overweight rating and a strong $15 price target. The consensus target across Wall Street is set at $12.88. The last trade to hit the tape Friday came in at $8.61.

Quantum Corporation

After a sensational run off the late 2020 lows, this company has backed up some and has an outstanding entry point for aggressive traders. Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ: QMCO) provides products for storing and managing digital video and unstructured data in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific.

The company offers StorNext software systems that enable high-speed ingest, editing, processing, and management of digital video and image datasets; and Scalar tape systems that provide long-term data storage facility to archive and preserve digital content for decades.

Quantum Corporation also provides DXi backup systems for backup storage and multi-site disaster recovery; surveillance and physical security storage systems, including video recording servers, as well as hyper-converged storage systems for video surveillance management and recording; and appliances designed for video surveillance analytics and to run various types of access control systems.

In addition, the company offers in-vehicle storage systems, which are removable storage systems for in-vehicle data capture, mobile surveillance, and military applications; managed services, implementation and training services, and support services; and object storage systems for online content repositories, such as media archives, genome sequencing data repositories, and big data lakes.

B. Riley Securities has a Buy rating and a big $15 price target. That compares with the $12 consensus across Wall Street and Friday’s final print of $7.07.

Vaxart

This micro-cap biotech company has some large upside potential for investors looking to add a name in the space. Vaxart Inc. (NASDAQ: VXRT) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engaged in the discovery and development of oral recombinant protein vaccines based on its proprietary oral vaccine platform.

The company’s product pipeline includes norovirus vaccine, an oral tablet vaccine, which is in a Phase Ib clinical trial with bivalent oral tablet vaccine for the GI.1 and GII.4 norovirus strains; seasonal influenza vaccine, which is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of H1 influenza infection; respiratory syncytial virus vaccine; and coronavirus vaccine, which completed Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is also developing therapeutic vaccines for cervical cancer and dysplasia caused by human papillomavirus.

Vaxart has a research collaboration agreement with Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V. (Janssen) to evaluate the company’s proprietary oral vaccine platform for the Janssen universal influenza vaccine program.

Jefferies has a Buy rating and a $13 price target. The consensus target across Wall Street is set even higher at $14.50. The shares closed the week Friday at $8.54.

Five stocks for aggressive accounts that look to get share-count leverage on companies that have sizable upside potential. While not suited for all investors, these are not penny stocks with absolutely no track record or liquidity, and top Wall Street firms have research coverage on all five.

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