While most of Wall Street focuses on large-cap 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 hundreds, all the way up to over $1,000 per share or more. At those steep prices, it is difficult to get any decent share count leverage.

Many investors, especially more aggressive traders, look at lower-priced stocks as a way not only to 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.
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Skeptics of low-priced shares should remember that at one point both Amazon, Apple and Netflix traded in the single digits. One stock we featured over the years, Zynga, was purchased by Take-Two Interactive. Cogent Biosciences, which we featured in March, has tripled since then.

We screened our 24/7 Wall St. research database looking for smaller cap companies that could offer patient investors some huge returns for the rest of 2022 and beyond. While these five stocks are rated Buy and have a ton of Wall Street coverage, it is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Carvana

This stock was a high-flier that has come back to earth and offers big upside potential. Carvana Co. (NASDAQ: CVNA) operates an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars in the United States. The company’s platform allows customers to research and identify a vehicle; inspect it using the company’s 360-degree vehicle imaging technology; obtain financing and warranty coverage; purchase the vehicle; and schedule delivery or pick-up from their desktop or mobile devices.

After being hammered over the past few months, shareholders got some good news recently after a Nov. 22 regulatory filing showed that Carvana Chief Product Officer Daniel Gill bought 133,000 shares on Nov. 21 for an average price of $7.62, or $1.01 million. That brings his total holdings to 263,415 shares, worth well over $2 million.

Needham’s $20 target price on Carvana stock compares with an $18.00 consensus target and a closing share price of $8.07 on Friday.

Fisker

This is an electric vehicle trade for investors looking to be in the space with the ability to get some strong share size. Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR) develops, manufactures, markets, leases and sells electric vehicles.
Fisker is also involved in asset-light automotive business. It operates through The White Space, The Value Segment, and The Conservative Premium segments. In addition, the company offers Fisker flexible platform agnostic design, a process that develops and designs electric vehicles in specific segment sizes.
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Last week the company announced that it officially started production of the Fisker Ocean all-electric sport utility vehicle in Graz, Austria. Fisker said it expects to see more than 300 units manufactured in the first quarter, 8,000 units in the second quarter and 15,000-plus units in the third quarter. It is targeting 2023 production of 42,400 units. The CEO said recently that demand was stronger than the company initially expected.

Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Fisker stock this week and has a $15 target. The consensus target is $13.44, and shares closed at $7.63 on Friday.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment

This is an inexpensive way to play the casino and gaming business. Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLCO) owns and operates casino gaming and resort facilities in Asia and Europe.

It owns and operates City of Dreams, an integrated casino resort that has approximately 516 gaming tables and 822 gaming machines, as well as approximately 2,170 hotel rooms, suites and villas; a wet stage performance theater with approximately 2,000 seats; approximately 25 restaurants and bars and 165 retail outlets; and health and fitness clubs, three swimming pools, spa and salons and banquet and meeting facilities.

The company also operates Altira Macau, a casino hotel with approximately 97 gaming tables and 110 gaming machines; 230 hotel rooms; various dining and casual restaurants and recreation and leisure facilities; and various non-gaming amenities, including a spa, gymnasium, outdoor garden podium and sky terrace lounge.

In addition, Melco Resorts operates Studio City, a cinematically-themed integrated entertainment, retail and gaming resort with 293 gaming tables and 947 gaming machines in Cotai, Macau. The company owns and operates eight Mocha Clubs with 1,478 gaming machines, as well as the Grand Dragon casino in Taipa Island, Macau. And it operates and manages City of Dreams Manila, a casino, hotel, retail and entertainment integrated resort in the Entertainment City complex in Manila.

J.P. Morgan has a $10 price target. The consensus target for Melco Resorts & Entertainment stock is $9.02, and shares closed on Friday at $9.00.

Started by Silicon Valley legend Peter Thiel, this company may offer the largest upside potential of all the stocks in this group, and it is also a takeover candidate. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) builds and deploys software platforms for the intelligence community in the United States to assist in counterterrorism investigations and operations.
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The company offers Palantir Gotham, a software platform for government operatives in the defense and intelligence sectors, which enables users to identify patterns hidden deep within datasets, ranging from signals intelligence sources to reports from confidential informants, as well as facilitates the handoff between analysts and operational users, helping operators plan and execute real-world responses to threats that have been identified within the platform.

The company also provides Palantir Foundry, a platform that transforms the ways organizations operate by creating a central operating system for their data, and it allows individual users to integrate and analyze the data they need in one place.

The Strong Buy rating at Raymond James is accompanied by a Wall Street-high $15 target price. The consensus target is $9.43. Palantir Technologies stock closed at $7.66 on Friday.

Riot Blockchain

This well-known cryptocurrency miner’s stock has been destroyed, and for those still positive on digital currencies, it may be a goldmine. Riot Blockchain Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT) focuses on bitcoin mining operations in North America. It operates through Bitcoin Mining, Data Center Hosting and Electrical Products and Engineering segments.

After the massive blow-up of FTX, many of the top bitcoin miners have been absolutely destroyed, and Riot Blockchain is one of the few companies that many experts in the crypto arena feel can survive this sector destruction. Some have gone as far as to say that, given the company’s micro-cap status (the market cap is only $766 million), it may be a strong takeover candidate for a larger entity looking to enter the crypto world or increase its current holdings.

The $10 H.C. Wainwright target price is less than the $10.30 consensus target for Riot Blockchain stock. On Friday, shares closed at $4.96 apiece, up over 8% for the day.

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These are five stocks for aggressive investors 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.

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