We recently compiled a list of the 15 Stocks That Will Go to The Moon According to Analysts. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) stands against the other stocks.
The Stock Market Under Trump Admin
While stocks initially fell based on worries regarding Trump tariffs on America’s major trading partners, major indexes recovered from their initial losses as the President delayed tariffs on Mexico. He agreed to a 30-day pause on tariffs on Mexico and Canada in return for the two countries bolstering border enforcement to halt fentanyl smuggling and money laundering.
Reuters reported that Trump raising tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to a flat 25% pushed up share prices of US steelmakers. The chaos around tariffs doesn’t end here. According to CNN, the President is looking to pursue more tariffs. Trump has been keen on reciprocal tariffs and wants agencies to investigate plans for new reciprocal tariffs that would increase America’s revenue. He reiterated this keenness saying:
“They charge us a tax or tariff and we charge them the exact same”
These tariffs are expected to hit developing countries, especially India, Brazil, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian and African countries, considering the large gap in tariff rates charged on US goods brought into these nations relative to what the United States charges them.
On February 14, the New York Times reported that global stock markets are holding up after Trump revealed his plan for reciprocal tariffs against all trading partners. While some countries such as Vietnam, India, and Taiwan have said that they would import specific US goods more, French winemakers are ramping up shipments to the country before levies. The threat of tariffs continues to result in uncertainty, regarding how they could be inflationary and potentially spook investors.
Sucharita Kodali, Retail Analyst at Forrester Research, appeared on CNBC to talk about the potential impact of tariffs on companies. In her opinion, all US companies would face some kind of challenges, with higher prices for both consumers as well as these firms. Based on her analysis, this is going to result in 20 basis points to a 150 basis points negative impact on the US GDP. Meanwhile, RBC’s Tom Narayan previously told CNBC that auto stocks will be the hardest hit by Trump’s Canada and Mexico tariffs, which are being deemed really inflationary and disruptive for the US auto consumer.
Our Methodology
We used a stock screener to find stocks which had the highest average upside potential (at least 25%), as of February 24. The 15 stocks that will go to the moon according to analysts have been arranged in ascending order of their average upside potential. Please note that we excluded penny stocks from our screening criteria. We have also mentioned the hedge fund sentiment for these stocks, as of Q4 2024.
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).

A research scientist in a laboratory holding a vial of a biotechnology drug.
Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)
Average Upside Potential: 91.87%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50
Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) is a clinical-stage vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines. The firm continues to engage in developing broad-spectrum conjugate and novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Through advanced chemistry and modern synthetic techniques, the company re-engineers how highly complex vaccines are created.
Alongside a potential best-in-class pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) franchise, the company’s lead clinical candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) that is to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease. It has the potential to be a best-in-class PCV in a $7 billion global market that will be growing massively and is expected to reach nearly $13 billion by 2027. The vaccine has received FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease in adults.
Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) is currently advancing to the second stage of the ongoing phase 2 study evaluating VAX-31 for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease in infants. The 31-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) candidate is made to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease which is especially serious in infants, older adults, young children, and those having immune deficiencies or certain chronic health conditions.
Overall PCVX ranks 1st on our list of the stocks that will go to the moon according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of PCVX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than PCVX 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 Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.