High volatility doesn’t always mean high risk - some companies experience wild price swings but still trend reliably upward over time.
In fact, many of the market’s biggest winners have been highly volatile stocks.
Investors looking for hidden gems should keep an eye on small-cap stocks because they’re frequently overlooked by Wall Street.
Many opportunities exist in this part of the market, but it is also a high-risk, high-reward environment due to the lack of reliable analyst price targets.
Wall Street has issued downbeat forecasts for the stocks in this article.
These predictions are rare - financial institutions typically hesitate to say bad things about a company because it can jeopardize their other revenue-generating business lines like M&A advisory.
Small-cap stocks in the Russell 2000 (^RUT) can be a goldmine for investors looking beyond the usual large-cap names.
But with less stability and fewer resources than their bigger counterparts, these companies face steeper challenges in scaling their businesses.
Gas handling company Chart (NYSE:GTLS) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q3 CY2025 as sales rose 3.6% year on year to $1.10 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.78 per share was 11.2% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
While strong cash flow is a key indicator of stability, it doesn’t always translate to superior returns.
Some cash-heavy businesses struggle with inefficient spending, slowing demand, or weak competitive positioning.
Stocks that outperform the market usually share key traits such as rising sales, expanding margins, and increasing returns on capital.
The select few that can do all three for many years are often the ones that make you life-changing money.
Since September 2020, the S&P 500 has delivered a total return of 105%. But one standout stock has doubled the market - over the past five years, Chart has surged 206% to $199.80 per share. Its momentum hasn’t stopped as it’s also gained 22.6% in the last six months thanks to its solid quarterly results, beating the S&P by 7.1%.
Value investing has created more billionaires than any other strategy, like Warren Buffett, who built his fortune by purchasing wonderful businesses at reasonable prices.
But these hidden gems are few and far between - many stocks that appear cheap often stay that way because they face structural issues.
Companies that consistently increase their sales, margins, or returns on capital are usually rewarded with the best returns,
and those that can do all three for years on end are almost always the legendary stocks that return 100 times your money.
