We recently published a list of 10 Best Multibagger Stocks To Buy Heading into 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQST) stands against other best multibagger stocks.
November has been an eventful month so far for the market as the Fed cut rates by a quarter percentage and president-elect, Donald Trump won the election for the second time. The market reacted positively to these events as the major indices touched all-time highs and even Bitcoin finally broke off its shell after many months, reaching an all-time high of $93,000.
More recently, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated that solid economic growth, low unemployment, and inflation above 2% mean there’s no urgency to cut interest rates. Speaking in Dallas, Powell said inflation is on a path toward the Fed’s 2% target, allowing for cautious policy adjustments.
He highlighted the economy’s strong fundamentals but acknowledged persistent inflation pressures. While a rate cut is expected by the market in December, it anticipates fewer cuts next year due to steady inflation and policy uncertainties. According to the CME FedWatch, 62.4% of the interest rate traders expect a 25 bps rate cut in December. However, in January, 55.5% of the market anticipates the rates to remain the same after the December cut.
Powell emphasized that the Fed will monitor inflation closely, especially housing costs, as it aims to reach its target sustainably.
READ ALSO: 12 High Growth Large Cap Stocks to Buy Now and 10 Best Low Volatility Stocks to Invest in Now.
Election Boosts Market Optimism but Risks Remain
Stuart Kaiser, Citi’s head of equity trading strategy recently joined CNBC’s Closing Bell. In the post-election discussion, Kaiser expressed a generally optimistic outlook, with confidence that the markets have cleared the immediate uncertainties related to the election. Kaiser noted a temporary boost from this event but emphasized that moving forward, market focus will return to U.S. economic growth, the Fed’s actions, and corporate earnings.
While he believes valuations are currently more justifiable with expected growth from deregulation and new policy changes, he remains cautious about risks tied to bond market movements and rising yields. He suggested that rising yields linked to economic growth are manageable for equities, but warned against yields climbing due to fiscal or tariff issues, which could unsettle the market.
Regarding equity strategy, Kaiser advocated a cautious approach to small-cap investments, preferring high-quality, profitable small caps due to their domestic focus, which could shield them from trade policy risks impacting larger companies. Additionally, although Kaiser doesn’t handle non-traditional assets directly, he acknowledged that assets like Bitcoin might gain traction in a strong economic or supportive policy environment.
A pharmacist showing a patient a green sublingual film formulation with buprenorphine and naloxone.
Our Methodology
For this article, we used the Finviz stock screener to identify over 350 stocks with share price gains of over 100% in the last 12 months, as of November 13. Next, we narrowed our list to 28 stocks with share price gains of 200% either in the last 12 or 24 months and Buy or better ratings from analysts. From that list, we removed the stocks that had negative share price returns compared to 24 months ago and finally narrowed the list to 10 stocks with an average analyst price target upside of over 100%. The 10 best multi-bagger stocks are listed in ascending order of their average price target upside.
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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQST)
1-Year Share Price Performance: ~195%
2-Year Share Price Performance: ~372%
Average Price Target Upside: 100.60%
Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQST) is a pharmaceutical company focused on improving patient care by developing innovative, orally administered therapies that offer alternatives to traditional, invasive treatments. The products include treatments for epilepsy, opioid dependence, nausea, ADHD, and ALS. Its proprietary pipeline includes Libervant (seizures), KYNMOBI (Parkinson’s), Exservan (ALS), AQST-108 (epinephrine for various conditions), and Anaphylm (epinephrine for allergic reactions). Through collaborations with other pharmaceutical companies, the company uses its proprietary technologies, such as PharmFilm, to develop and bring new drugs to market.
As of the third quarter, Aquestive (NASDAQ:AQST) has made significant progress including the introduction of AQST-108 for alopecia areata, an expanded Libervant (a buccal soluble film formulation of diazepam used to treat seizures in patients with epilepsy) launch for children aged two to five, and advancements in their Anaphylm program. The company confirmed the positive results of the OASIS study for Anaphylm, which demonstrated rapid symptom resolution in allergy patients. Anaphylm is an epinephrine sublingual film designed for the emergency treatment of severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis.
The company also received supportive FDA feedback for Anaphylm’s NDA submission and plans a pediatric pharmacokinetic study in 2025. Libervant is now covered by Medicaid in all 50 states, with retail distribution launched in October. For AQST-108, a Phase 2a study is expected in 2025.
Aquestive’s (NASDAQ:AQST) cash and cash equivalents were $77.9 million as of September 30, 2024. The company maintained its 2024 revenue guidance of $57 million to $60 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $20 million to $23 million.
Overall, AQST ranks 10th on our list of best multibagger stocks to buy heading into 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of AQST as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AQST but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.