Low-priced stocks to buy with the potential to double within the next year or so have inherent appeal for investors. Individual shares are affordable making it relatively easy to establish a stake. In this case, I’ve chosen the arbitrary price level of $20. All of the shares discussed in this article are priced between $20 and $25. Each share is also projected to double in price over the next 12 to 18 months.
Make no mistake about it, this is risky investing. However, at this price range we aren’t talking about penny stocks, so we have at least graduated above that level of risk. Make your own individual determination as it relates to the amount of risk you are willing to assume.
As for industries, there’s a reasonably diverse offering of companies represented here. As expected, there are a few biotechnology firms that are well represented at the penny stock level. Let’s take a look at these companies to buy for growth and their stocks.
AtriCure (ATRC)
AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) is a stock representing a manufacturer and seller of devices used in the surgical ablation of cardiac tissue and other ablation procedures. Those other procedures include treatments for atrial fibrillation and left atrium appendage (LAA) management.
Q1 revenues increased by 16.4%, reaching $108.9 million. $90.2 million of revenues were attributable to the U.S., rising by 15.4%.
The company boasts impressive gross margins but continues to produce overall net losses. AtriCure is expected to continue to run at losses for the foreseeable future yet at the same time share prices are expected to increase drastically. Shares currently trade in the $23 to $24 range with a consensus target price of $45. Analysts are so bullish on AtriCure primarily because of the strong double-digit growth projected well into the future.
Even though AtriCure is going to continue to produce losses, the market remains highly positive about its stock. The company has a solid growth trajectory ahead of it and makes a lot of sense at current prices.
Forward Air (FWRD)
Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) is a freight company that appears to have reached the depths of a valley and may currently be in the middle of a rebound. Three weeks ago a Forbes article speculated Forward Air may see a recovery after being down by 75%. Share prices have risen from $16 to $21 after that article was printed. The article is not solely responsible as FWRD shares had risen from $12 to $16 prior to its printing.
The company is suffering through a period of weak freight demand and pricing pressure that sent share prices from $64 all the way down to $12. However, it was then that an activist investor and a private equity firm showed interest in the company leading to a sharp turnaround.
The company has appointed an interim CFO and CEO and the stock is gaining recognition for its bargain valuation.
Matthews International (MATW)
Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) makes memorialization products, energy storage solutions, and specialized equipment as an industrial conglomerate. The stock is primarily propelled by the sale of memorialization products including headstones, burial vaults and other related products that make up half of its business.
From that perspective, Matthews International is reasonably well positioned. The U.S. is aging faster than ever and a large proportion is expected to die soon.
However, the reason Matthews International is so well regarded at the moment has less to do with demographics than increasing internal stability. If you look at company-wide performance over the past five years you can see that the company produces losses one year and then strong earnings the next, so on and so forth.
However, Matthews International is projecting stable earnings growth extending into 2026. Share prices have spiked in the past due to strong earnings and I anticipate they will again due to the stability. Analysts covering the stock feel the same.
Medifast (MED)
Medifast (NYSE:MED) operates a weight management platform and offers a high upside stock to investors. Let’s start with its most recent earnings report.
Medifast’s first quarter earnings report showed solid earnings of 76 cents per share. The company has more than $156 million in liquidity and carries no debt. However, revenues did decline substantially but Medifast maintained profitability nonetheless.
The reason investors should consider Medifast is GLP-1 inhibitors. That class of drugs includes popular weight loss treatments such as Zepbound, Mounjaro and Wegovy. The company is working to incorporate such drugs into its Optavia weight loss coaching platform. If successful, those revenues could help offset recent revenue declines elsewhere. The massive potential of GLP-1 agonist drugs instantly makes Medifast worth considering.
That said, the overall analyst consensus is that Medifast is a ‘sell’. Despite the negative sentiment, the consensus target price sits near $50, more than double the current share price of $20.55.
Adams Resources & Energy (AE)
Adams Resources & Energy (NYSEMKT:AE) is an oil and gas refinery and marketer stock. That means the company markets, transports, terminals and stores gas and oil. Adams Resources & Energy also maintains a fleet of 164 tanker trucks which it uses to buy and sell products.
Although only one analyst is covering the stock, he has a strong buy rating on it and expects AE’s share to double to $50 from $25.
What’s particularly interesting about the company is it is essentially flirting with overall profitability while also paying dividends. In the most recent quarter, the company narrowed its losses by $1.5 million to just $500,000 on $661 million in sales. That resulted in losses per share of 19 cents. However, the company also had to pay a 24-cent dividend implying it may not be sustainable. That said, the last time the company reduced its dividend was all the way back in 2008.
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR)
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) is a stock representing a company with a massive pipeline of therapeutics promising to propel the company and its shares much higher. Many of those therapeutics leverage the company’s technology that effectively silences genes that cause various diseases.
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is not a pre-revenue pharma company, but it is not profitable either and continues to produce losses. The hope moving forward is that Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals can find overall profitability eventually. To do so, the company will have to continue leveraging its technology that combats RNAi interference. Hopefully, that will manifest as approvals within the current pipeline. However, if not, others are based on the same technology.
While Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is not profitable it is quite well-regarded overall. The consensus target price of $48 is more than double its current price of $23.80. One of the analysts with coverage of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals believes the stock is worth $90.
CervoMed (CRVO)
CervoMed (NASDAQ:CRVO) is another biotech stock with high upside. The company is developing and commercializing treatments for age-related neurological disorders. The company’s lead candidate drug is called neflamapimod and is being studied for its efficacy in treating dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and for ischemic stroke recovery.
The company completed a private placement in early Q2 valued at $149.4 million. Based on most of the output from the company it seems that the current potential of neflamapimod lies primarily in dementia with Lewy bodies. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, “Lewy bodies are clumps of abnormal protein particles that, for reasons that are not fully understood, accumulate in the brain.”
The company is completing an enrollment for a Phase 2b clinical trial of the drug in Q2 for the disease. Top-line data related to that study is expected in the fourth quarter.
CervoMed stock currently trades for $21 and boasts a low target price of $65 and a tightly bound range overall, with a high of $70. Therapeutics for neurologic diseases including dementia and Alzheimer’s will soon be commercialized en masse making CRVO shares another stock to buy for growth.
On the date of publication, Alex Sirois did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.