Investing

13 Analyst Stock Picks Under $10 With Massive Upside Potential

Stocks ended this past week on a very rough note, with the Dow having seen its first one-day drop of more than 300 points this year. The Dow has also dipped into negative territory for the year now. Investors do not seem panicked by the drop. In fact, many investors have decided to effectively put together a shopping list of stocks that they missed out on and they will buy if the shares fall back to bargain levels. It turns out that investors are mindful of the notion that the worst month for stocks is August.

24/7 Wall St. reviews hundreds of Wall Street research reports each week. We see many calls for strong gains in analyst reports, but the small-cap stocks and stocks trading under $10 often come with massive potential compared to the analyst price targets. We sometimes even see calls for these stocks to rise 50%, 100% or even exponentially.

Some caveats and common sense reminders should be brought up here. Keep in mind that low-priced and small-cap stocks generally have more implied risk than most established Dow and S&P 500 stocks. You almost never hear of an analyst report calling for Dow stocks to rise 50% or 100%. Another consideration with small-cap stocks or those under $10 is that they would almost never pass a “widows and orphans” suitability test for investors.

These are this past week’s analyst stock picks trading under $10 with massive upside potential.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was reiterated as Buy with a $12 price target on Friday by Sterne Agee. What is interesting is that this compared to a $6.47 prior close and a $6.46 close on Friday. The call is also immediately ahead of earnings on August 5, and the firm expects 23% revenue growth, but that is driven by international growth rates, which are almost 200% higher than that of domestic growth.

Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ: GLUU) was shown as having a strong second quarter and strong guidance at Canaccord Genuity on Thursday. The firm raised its price target to $8.00 from $5.50, but the stock slid on weak margin concerns and on some obvious profit taking. Maybe people realized that the Kardashian game is a waste of time. Glu Mobile closed down at $5.72 on Friday.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and it was given a $12 price target at RBC Capital Markets on Thursday. The prior close was $9.91, but the stock slid with the sell-off and closed at $9.70 on Friday. That still leaves close to 25% upside, higher than you see in most banks.

SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $10 price target, versus a prior $8.82 close, at Janney Capital Markets on Thursday. Shortly before the close of trading on Friday, the stock was up to $8.94. This is only an implied upside of 12%, but note that the consensus analyst price target here is $10.63.

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The rest of the analyst stock picks under $10 are listed below.

Aerohive Networks Inc. (NYSE: HIVE) appears again on the under $10 stock picks by analysts. The cloud-based mobile platform for workers was started as Outperform with a $12 price target at Pacific Crest on Wednesday. Its prior close was $8.01 and the stock ended the week at $8.13, implying upside of close to 50%. Aerohive’s consensus price target is even higher.

Alphatec Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ATEC) rose in recent days ahead of earnings. Canaccord Genuity chimed in Friday, saying that the company had solid revenue and EBITDA, and noted a transformational 2014. The firm reiterated its Buy rating, and the $3 price target was up more than 100% from the $1.41 share price late on Friday.

Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (NASDAQ: AMCC) has fallen back under the $10 mark again, allowing it a chance to get back on the under $10 stocks. Canaccord Genuity maintained its Buy rating, but the price target was cut to $12 from $16 on Wednesday. The firm said that its first server sales were ahead of expectations, but it expects a more gradual X-Gene ramp-up and softer legacy sales. Evercore also maintained its Buy rating on Wednesday, but lowered the price target to $13 from $15 in the call. Despite lowered targets and a stock drop, Applied Micro shares have some serious potential upside, if you consider that the stock was under $8.50 right at the close on Friday.

ALSO READ: Why GoPro Sold Off After Earnings

Coeur Mining Inc. (NYSE: CDE) was given a very positive note on Thursday by Sterne Agee, where the firm maintained a Buy rating and an $18 price target. This was up well over 100% in implied upside from the $8.11 close before. The firm said that the La Preciosa feasibility study indicated improved economics, but lower metal prices and higher Mexican taxes had an impact on project returns. The call signaled that Coeur shares were very oversold, as precious metal pricing fears are unjustified in the current valuation, and that Coeur remains its favorite silver-oriented equity.

8×8 Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Zacks with an $8.90 target price on Tuesday. That is not stellar upside from a price above $8 at the time and a high of $8.40 this week, but the stock ended on Friday at $7.92.

Higher One Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ONE) was raised to Overweight from Underweight at Piper Jaffray on Tuesday. The payment and refund disbursement service provider for higher education was given a price target of $6.50, implying about 50% upside from the $4.26 prior close and versus the $4.15 share price after the call. Shares closed out at $4.30 on Friday.

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) was raised to Buy from Fair Value with an $11 price target by CRT Capital. Shares were up marginally on Friday and closed the week out at $8.24. If CRT is correct, then the satellite phone provider has upside of 33%.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW) was started as Neutral on Friday at Credit Suisse. The problem is that Credit Suisse’s coverage is on a “relative to peers basis” rather than outright on price. After the stock’s $8.85 close on Thursday, the firm’s $10.50 price target issued on Friday indicates potential upside of almost 20%. That doesn’t sound like a true Neutral. The firm said that the growth prospects were attractive with a balanced risk and reward. Shares closed at $8.97 for the travel site on Friday.

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Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SCMP) was started as a Buy at Roth Capital Partners with a $9 price target on Friday. Shares were up at $6.00 in late Friday trading, which implies that there is upside potential here of 50%, if Roth’s call is correct. Sucampo’s 52-week high is $11, and its 52-week low is $5.40.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in shares Bed Bath & Beyond, Control4, Expedia, Hyatt, PG&E, SunPower, 3D System, and about a dozen more companies. Also, Merrill Lynch has identified its top large cap stocks that were oversold even before the sell-off.

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