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.
Skeptics of low-priced shares should remember that at one point 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 last 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 new year 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.
Arco Dorados
This company may seem under the radar, but it has one of the best products imaginable in terms of name recognition. Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO) is the world’s largest independent McDonald’s franchisee.
The company is based in Montevideo, Uruguay and has the exclusive right to own, operate and grant franchises of McDonald’s restaurants in 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas, and Venezuela. As of December 31, 2021, it operated or franchised 2,261 restaurants.
Goldman Sachs has a $10 price target on Arcos Dorados stock. The $10.28 consensus target is a bit higher, and shares traded on Friday at $8.65.
Gambling.com
With sports betting exploding, this stock is a solid play that has been cut in half since late last year. Gambling.com Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: GAMB) is a multiple-award-winning performance marketing company and a leading provider of digital marketing services active exclusively in the online gambling industry.
The company operates from offices in Ireland, the United States and Malta. Through its proprietary technology platform, it publishes a portfolio of premier branded websites, including Gambling.com and Bookies.com.
Founded in 2006, the company owns and operates more than 30 websites in six languages across 13 national markets, covering all aspects of the online gambling industry, including iGaming and sports betting.
Truist Financial’s target price is $12, while the consensus target is $12.67. The shares traded on Friday at $9.30.
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