On February 25, Hamilton Lane co-CEO Erik Hirsch joined ‘Closing Bell Overtime’ on CNBC to discuss the developments that currently hinder the IPO pipeline. Erik Hirsch noted that there are two competing factors at play. On one side, there is general market uncertainty, which is currently the dominant issue. While on the other side, there are positive factors: many high-quality businesses in private markets are ready for an exit. They are mature, cash flow positive, and growing. The IPO market is the logical conclusion for them, and the public markets need more new names to reduce concentration in a few technology businesses. For the public markets to be healthy, they need fresh blood.
Hirsch believes the IPO market can have a good year without relying solely on software. There is room for more software companies, but there is also interest in traditional non-tech businesses to balance market weightings. He identified sectors that could see growth, such as manufacturing, which could benefit from reshoring and reinvestment in the US. The food supply chain and healthcare are also expected to benefit from administrative changes. Regarding President Trump’s positioning on tariffs, Hirsch thinks it is more about negotiating tactics than actual tariffs. If negotiations cease and tariffs become the focus, there will likely be a market reaction. The uncertainty extends to government job cuts, with questions about the scale of reductions and where displaced workers will go. Despite some positive signs for certain sectors and businesses ready for IPOs, market uncertainty, and regulatory changes are holding back the IPO market and dealmaking. The environment of unpredictability makes it challenging for companies to pursue IPOs or M&A deals at present.
Still, the IPO market holds promise due to a strong backlog of mature and high-quality private businesses eager for public exits. That being said, we’re here with a list of the 12 best IPO stocks to buy in 2025.
Our Methodology
We used the Finviz stock screener to compile a list of the top companies that went public in the last 2 years. We then selected 12 stocks with high analysts’ upside potential that were also the most popular among elite hedge funds. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q4 2024. The hedge fund data was sourced from Insider Monkey’s database which tracks the moves of over 900 elite money managers.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
12 Best IPO Stocks to Buy in 2025
12. CG Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:CGON)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 154.05%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 27
CG Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:CGON) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is dedicated to bladder cancer treatment. It develops bladder-sparing therapies, with a focus on its lead candidate which is called cretostimogene, and other innovative treatments for various stages of the disease.
Cretostimogene’s Phase 3 BOND-003 trial, which targets patients who are unresponsive to standard treatment (BCG), shows promising results. A significant 74.5% of patients achieved a complete response. The median duration of this response surpassed 27 months in Q3 2024 and is still ongoing. At 12 months, 63.5% of patients still showed a response, and at 24 months, 56.6% did. 97.3% of patients were free from progression to muscle-invasive bladder cancer at 12 months. The drug exhibits a strong safety profile, with no severe adverse events or treatment discontinuations reported.
The company is financially stable with $540.7 million in cash reserves, which is projected to be enough for funding through 2027. It invested $19.6 million in R&D in Q3. Analysts predict a 70% annual revenue growth over the next three years. CG Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:CGON) is actively pursuing FDA approval for cretostimogene, which has already received Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy Designations. These are FDA programs that are designed to expedite the development and review of drugs.
11. Klaviyo Inc. (NYSE:KVYO)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 58.01%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30
Klaviyo Inc. (NYSE:KVYO) is a technology company that offers a cloud-native SaaS platform. This platform provides businesses of all sizes with personalized marketing tools, which include email, SMS, and push notifications. It uses data management and AI to enhance customer engagement.
The company’s marketing automation platform empowers 167,000+ brands to build personalized customer relationships. This platform is a central data hub that enables businesses to understand and engage with their customers across multiple channels. In 2024, the company’s annual revenue reached $937 million, which marked a 34% year-over-year increase. Q4 2024 alone saw $270 million in revenue, which was also up 34%.
The dollar-based net revenue retention rate at Klaviyo Inc. (NYSE:KVYO) was 108% in Q4. The company added 10,000+ new customers in this quarter, which brought their total customer count to 167,000. This marked a 17% year-over-year increase. The company is also expanding internationally, with EMEA revenue growth accelerating to 49% in Q4. It’s attracting larger clients and has formed a new partnership with WooCommerce to be the preferred marketing automation partner.
10. Apogee Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:APGE)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 121.19%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 31
Apogee Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:APGE) is a biotechnology company that develops extended half-life monoclonal antibody therapies for inflammatory and immunological diseases. These include atopic dermatitis, asthma, and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
The company is prioritizing the development of APG279, which is a combination therapy for atopic dermatitis (AD) and other inflammatory diseases. This therapy combines APG777 and APG990, and targets different inflammatory pathways for potentially enhanced efficacy. Crucial to this is APG990, which showed an approximate 60-day half-life in Phase 1 trials. This supports the possibility of dosing APG279 only 2-4 times a year via a single 2mL injection.
The Phase 1 trials of APG990 showed strong tolerability, with no serious adverse events and only mild side effects, like headaches, in a small percentage of patients. Preclinical studies showed no safety concerns when combining APG777 and APG990. These results pave the way for Phase 1b head-to-head trial against DUPIXENT in 2025, with data expected in H2 2026. The company has $731.1 million in cash reserves, which is projected to fund operations into Q1 2028.
9. Loar Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LOAR)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 42.18%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 32
Loar Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LOAR) designs, manufactures and markets a range of aerospace and defense components for various aircraft and systems. It serves commercial, business, and defense markets. Its product portfolio includes everything from structural components to advanced avionics systems.
In Q3 2024, the company’s net sales surged to $103.5 million, which was a 25% year-over-year improvement. The company is capitalizing on strong growth in both commercial and defense sectors. One of its strongest segments includes the aerospace and defense components segment. For 2025, Loar Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LOAR) forecasts net sales of $470 to $480 million. The company anticipates a net income of between $55 and $60 million in 2025.
Loar Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LOAR) is actively expanding through acquisitions, which includes the planned purchase of LMB Fans & Motors for €365 million. This will broaden the company’s specialized aerospace and defense component portfolio and is expected to close in Q3 2025.
Loar Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LOAR) has been delivering strong financial results and positive growth forecasts, which contributes significantly to TimesSquare Capital U.S. Small Cap Growth Strategy’s performance. Here’s what it said regarding the company in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Many of our Industrials positions provide necessary business-to-business operational services, highly technical components, equipment enabling automation & efficiency improvements, or essential infrastructure services. Providing a 40% lift was Loar Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LOAR), a diversified manufacturer and supplier of niche aerospace and defense components. We first added Loar to the strategy on its IPO in April and continued building the position early this quarter. Later, Loar reported higher-than-anticipated revenues and earnings, then boosted its guidance for the rest of the year. Loar forecasted increased growth for all three of its end-markets: aerospace original equipment, aftermarket, and defense.”
8. OneStream Inc. (NASDAQ:OS)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 55.62%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 34
OneStream Inc. (NASDAQ:OS) offers a unified and AI-enabled Digital Finance Cloud platform. It provides solutions for financial close, planning, analysis, and reporting, and serves global enterprises and government entities. It helps organizations streamline financial processes and gain end-to-end visibility into their financial and operational data.
In 2024, the company’s total revenue reached $489 million, which represented a 31% year-over-year increase. Subscription revenue surged by 41% to $428 million. The platform’s value is evident in its 98% gross retention rate. The company’s core business is its cloud-based financial and operational data platform, which is driven by its Finance AI solutions. The company is actively expanding its Finance AI portfolio and developing new solutions like ESG reporting and Sales Performance Management (SPM).
The Finance AI segment grew with a quadrupling of bookings and customer adoption. It has a Sensible Machine Learning (SML) segment. Customers using SML reported an average 20% improvement in forecast accuracy and an 80% reduction in forecast cycle time. By the end of 2024, the company’s ARR reached $568 million. For 2025, OneStream Inc. (NASDAQ:OS) projects total revenue to be between $583 and $587 million.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Growth Strategy saw positive returns from new investments, which included OneStream Inc.’s (NASDAQ:OS) IPO. This indicated successful stock selection and strong growth potential for the company. It stated the following in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We are encouraged by the high proportion of positive returns on new ideas added over the last five quarters of elevated new idea generation, with solid contributions to overall performance despite their representing a modest portion of the Strategy’s assets.
We continued to deliver strong new idea generation, adding four new investments in the quarter: OneStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:OS) (through participating in its IPO), Abercombie & Fitch, Wintrust Financial, and FTAI Aviation.
OneStream is a horizontal software company focused on back-office solutions for the office of the CFO. With a largely organically built platform offering, selling to the enterprise and competing against a variety of entrenched legacy providers, OneStream offers best-in-class growth and ramping profitability.”
7. Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 49.07%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) architects and licenses crucial CPU products and related technologies for semiconductor companies and OEMs globally. Its portfolio includes microprocessors, system IPs, and software. It powers devices across automotive, computing, consumer, and IoT markets.
In Q3 2024, the company reported a total revenue of $983 million, which was a 19% increase year-over-year. Net income for the same period rose to $252 million. The company projects revenue growth in the mid-20% range for FY2025 due to the increasing demand for chips in AI and data centers. The company’s primary revenue driver is its IP licensing of the ARM architecture, which is essential for an array of devices, including those that power AI applications.
Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) is expanding its presence in the AI market. It secured a contract with Meta for chip development, which signaled a move towards direct chip production. The company is involved in merger discussions with Ampere Computing LLC. The expansion of AI data centers is creating a demand for the company’s technology. Additionally, Malaysia is investing $250 million into Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) for AI chip development.
6. Birkenstock Holding (NYSE:BIRK)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 60.96%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
Birkenstock Holding (NYSE:BIRK) manufactures and sells a range of footwear, skincare, and accessory products globally. It’s known for its iconic sandals and utilizes e-commerce, retail stores, and business-to-business channels to reach its customers internationally.
In FQ1 2025, the company reported a 19% revenue increase, which was higher than its 15% to 17% annual growth target. Its growth is driven by expansion beyond traditional sandals, particularly in closed-toe footwear. The closed-toe shoe revenue more than doubled the overall business growth and represented over half of the total revenue in FQ1. The company is also pushing into DTC sales and the APAC region. The APAC region saw a 47% growth in this quarter.
The company’s B2B segment also performed strongly, with a 30% revenue increase. The DTC business grew by 10%, and Birkenstock Holding (NYSE:BIRK) anticipates that this segment will outpace B2B growth in the latter half of 2025 due to new store openings and digital investments. The company is reaffirming its full-year revenue growth target of 15% to 17% now.
5. CAVA Group Inc. (NYSE:CAVA)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 41.74%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 47
CAVA Group Inc. (NYSE:CAVA) owns and operates a chain of restaurants under the CAVA brand in the US. It also offers dips, spreads, and dressings through grocery stores. It also provides online and mobile ordering platforms.
The company’s growth is fueled by its successful new restaurant openings, which are exceeding expectations and driving revenue increases. In 2024, the company opened 58 new restaurants, which contributed to a 35% revenue growth. These locations are performing well, with projected year-one average unit volumes (AUVs) of $2.3 million and year-two AUVs of $2.5 million. The company is seeing strong cash-on-cash returns from these new locations. It’s projected to be at least 40% in year two.
CAVA Group Inc. (NYSE:CAVA) is expanding into new markets, which include the Midwest and South Florida. The company is planning to open 62 to 66 new restaurants in 2025. This expansion is supported by its refined restaurant design and data-driven location selection. The company’s overall AUV increased to $2.9 million by the end of 2024, and same-restaurant sales increased by 21.2% in Q4 2024. For 2025, the company projects same-restaurant sales growth of 6% to 8%.
4. Astera Labs Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 79.79%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51
Astera Labs Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) designs and sells semiconductor-based connectivity solutions that are essential for cloud and AI infrastructure. It offers intelligent connectivity platforms that feature smart DSP retimers, cable modules, and software suites like COSMOS. It enables efficient management of large-scale cloud deployments.
On March 14, Raymond James began covering the company and assigned it an Outperform rating with an $82 price target. This emphasized the company’s market position in high-speed connectivity, which is growing due to the increasing demand from GenAI. James observed that the rising computational demands are fueling the need for advanced interconnects. The firm also highlighted the company’s leadership in the $2 billion PCIe retimer market and its presence in the Active Electrical Cable segment.
In Q4 2024, Astera Labs Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) achieved a record revenue of $141 million, which was a 179% increase year-over-year. This was attributed to the performance of its Aries PCIe Retimer and Taurus Ethernet Smart Cable Module product families, which are crucial for AI scale-up and scale-out connectivity. Full-year 2024 revenue was up 242%. The company is expanding R&D and making acquisitions to enhance AI-driven connectivity solutions. It anticipates a $12 billion market opportunity by 2028 due to the growth potential in the high-speed connectivity sector.
The company is a leader in connectivity solutions for high-performance computing. Alger Small Cap Growth Fund stated the following regarding Astera Labs Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) is a semiconductor company specializing in connectivity solutions for data-centric systems, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Its products optimize data flow and performance in servers, GPUs, and AI accelerators, addressing bottlenecks in high-performance computing environments. The company’s Intelligent Connectivity Platform (ICP) integrates advanced semiconductor hardware with the proprietary COSMOS software suite, delivering customizable and cost-effective solutions. Astera’s Platform-Specific Standard Products (PSSP) enhance flexibility with features such as predictive analytics, monitoring, and troubleshooting. Backed by strong relationships with leading cloud and AI providers, we believe Astera is well positioned in rapidly growing markets, demonstrating high profitability and industry-leading gross margins. During the quarter, shares contributed to performance after reporting better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results, with revenues and gross margins exceeding analyst estimates. Specifically, revenue growth spanned all four product segments, led by accelerated custom silicon sales and robust GPU demand. Management also raised fiscal fourth-quarter guidance, citing expanding product ramps and a broader customer base.”
3. Sharkninja Inc. (NYSE:SN)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 51.01%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
Sharkninja Inc. (NYSE:SN) is a product design and technology company that provides consumer solutions. Under its Shark and Ninja brands, it offers cleaning, cooking, food preparation, beauty, and home environment appliances that are sold through various retail and e-commerce channels.
The company focuses on disruptive consumer innovation by introducing new product categories. In Q4 2024, the company’s net sales surged by 30% year-over-year. For the full year, adjusted net sales grew by 32%. This growth is attributed to the successful launch of new product subcategories, such as coolers, fans, frozen drink appliances, and skincare. The company is also disrupting existing markets. For instance, the Ninja SLUSHi frozen drink maker generated over 0.5 billion social media impressions. Similarly, the Shark CryoGlow skincare product outperformed initial sales expectations.
Sharkninja Inc. (NYSE:SN) reported an 89% growth in the food preparation category for Q4, mainly due to the popularity of products like CREAMi and SLUSHi. The company anticipates launching 25 new products in 2025 and projects a 10-12% increase in net sales for the year. It’s targeting a $120 billion addressable market.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding SharkNinja, Inc. (NYSE:SN) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Among our top Q3 contributors were Guidewire, Veracyte and SharkNinja, Inc. (NYSE:SN). SharkNinja is a leading household consumer products company. Its Shark brand focuses on the cleaning category (vacuums, mops, carpet cleaners, etc.) and, more recently, beauty (hair dryers, hair stylers, etc.). Its Ninja brand focuses on food preparation (blenders, food processors, ice cream makers, juicers, etc.) and cooking (indoor grills, ovens, toasters, cookers, air fryers, etc.). We believe a healthy combination of market share gains within existing categories, new category entries and international expansion will drive growth. Shares rallied after reporting strong earnings results, including 31% revenue growth and 600bps of gross margin expansion.”
2. Core Scientific Inc. (NASDAQ:CORZ)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 121.19%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66
Core Scientific Inc. (NASDAQ:CORZ) provides digital asset mining services in the US. It operates across self-mining, hosted mining, and high-performance computing (HPC). It offers infrastructure, software, and data center solutions. It facilitates blockchain transactions, hosts mining equipment, and provides essential services for the digital asset industry.
The company’s main source of growth is HPC. It signed a major 12-year deal with CoreWeave which is worth $8.7 billion. This exceeded its $500 million revenue from 2024, which mainly came from Bitcoin mining. CoreWeave is a cloud computing provider that offers GPU-accelerated computing infrastructure. By the end of 2024, Core Scientific Inc. (NASDAQ:CORZ) had contracts for 1,300+ megawatts of power. It’s expanding its Denton facility by 70 megawatts and adding another $1.2 billion to the CoreWeave contract. It plans to have 250 megawatts online by the end of 2024 and 590 megawatts by early 2027.
The company is working to get more HPC customers with an aim to have CoreWeave make up less than 50% of its business by 2028. It also plans to add 300 megawatts of capacity at its current locations and another 400 megawatts at new sites by 2027. In Q4 2024, it made $8.5 million from HPC hosting.
1. Reddit Inc. (NYSE:RDDT)
Average Upside Potential as of March 21: 88.51%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 87
Reddit Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) operates a global digital community platform. This platform allows users to engage in conversations, explore interests, and form communities around specific topics through various media sharing and interaction features. It fosters a space for users to connect and share experiences.
In Q4 2024, the company’s advertising revenue surged by 60% year-over-year and reached $395 million. For the full year, advertising revenue drove total revenue to $1.3 billion, which marked a 62% increase. International advertising revenue grew by 77% year-over-year. This growth is attributed to the platform’s ability to connect brands with engaged users seeking trustworthy opinions. It’s seen across various advertising objectives, channels, verticals, and geographies.
Reddit Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) is enhancing its advertising platform to improve performance and usability. This includes investing in AI-powered tools like the AI Headline Generator and Memorable AI, which aim to attract more mid-market and SMB advertisers. The company is also focusing on brand safety and developing unique advertising solutions that use its community intelligence, such as Reddit Pro Trends. It’s also investing in increased automation of the ad stack, and diversification of advertisers.
The company’s exceptional quarterly earnings, user growth, and AI partnership news drove a stock surge, which made it a top performer for Columbia Threadneedle Global Technology Growth Strategy. The fund stated the following regarding Reddit Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) was the single best-performing stock for the fund, as the stock surged during the quarter, with significant outperformance following its stellar quarterly earnings release. The capital-light social news aggregation platform — and the ninth most-visited website in the world — reported quarterly revenue, user growth and profit margins that came in considerably higher than even the most bullish of estimates, and the company also provided forward-looking guidance that came in well ahead of expectations on most metrics. After earlier announcing a data licensing partnership with AI pioneer OpenAI, investors ‘up-voted’ the evolving AI narrative for Reddit after gaining a better understanding of its unique and hard-to-replicate trove of content generated by its growing and increasingly global user base.”
While we acknowledge the growth potential of Reddit Inc. (NYSE:RDDT), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than RDDT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
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