1 of Wall Street’s Favorite Stock for Long-Term Investors and 2 That Underwhelm
The stocks in this article have caught Wall Street’s attention in a big way, with price targets implying returns above 20%. But investors should take these forecasts with a grain of salt because analysts typically say nice things about companies so their firms can win business in other product lines like M&A advisory.
Unlike the investment banks, we created StockStory to provide independent analysis that helps you determine which companies are truly worth following. Keeping that in mind, here is one stock likely to meet or exceed Wall Street’s lofty expectations and two where analysts may be overlooking some important risks.
Two Stocks to Sell:
ANI Pharmaceuticals (ANIP)
Consensus Price Target: $109.25 (37.4% implied return)
With a diverse portfolio of 116 pharmaceutical products and a growing rare disease platform, ANI Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ANIP) develops, manufactures, and markets branded and generic prescription pharmaceuticals, with a focus on rare disease treatments.
Why Does ANIP Worry Us?
- Revenue base of $826.9 million puts it at a disadvantage compared to larger competitors exhibiting economies of scale
- Efficiency has decreased over the last five years as its adjusted operating margin fell by 4.5 percentage points
- Negative returns on capital show that some of its growth strategies have backfired
At $79.52 per share, ANI Pharmaceuticals trades at 9.8x forward P/E. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why ANIP doesn’t pass our bar.
Unum Group (UNM)
Consensus Price Target: $94.77 (20.9% implied return)
Tracing its roots back to 1848 when financial security for workers was virtually non-existent, Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) provides workplace financial protection benefits including disability, life, accident, critical illness, dental and vision insurance primarily through employers.
Why Does UNM Give Us Pause?
- Net premiums earned only expanded by 2.7% annually over the last five years, trailing its insurance peers as its scale limited incremental business
- Earnings growth over the last two years fell short of the peer group average as its EPS only increased by 6.2% annually
- Scale is a double-edged sword because it limits the firm’s capital growth potential compared to its smaller competitors, as reflected in its below-average annual book value per share increases of 3.8% for the last five years
Unum Group’s stock price of $78.42 implies a valuation ratio of 1.2x forward P/B. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than UNM.
One Stock to Watch:
Freshworks (FRSH)
Consensus Price Target: $18.43 (54.9% implied return)
Starting as a customer service solution before expanding into a comprehensive software suite, Freshworks (NASDAQ:FRSH) provides AI-powered software-as-a-service solutions that help companies manage customer service, IT support, sales, and marketing functions.
Why Could FRSH Be a Winner?
- Customers view its software as mission-critical to their operations as its ARR has averaged 19.1% growth over the last year
- Prominent and differentiated software culminates in a top-tier gross margin of 84.8%
- FRSH is a free cash flow machine with the flexibility to invest in growth initiatives or return capital to shareholders
Freshworks is trading at $11.90 per share, or 3.7x forward price-to-sales. Is now the time to initiate a position? Find out in our full research report, it’s free for active Edge members.
High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions
Check out the high-quality names we’ve flagged in our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.