It's almost always folly to chase get-rich-quick investments. Risks and potential rewards tend to go hand in hand, and many stocks that people claim will explode in value in the near term are short paths to losing your money.
But with a little patience and time -- like five years -- some high-growth stocks could be excellent investments. There are two in particular that actually have a solid chance of doubling before the end of the first quarter of 2028. While they aren't exactly risk-free purchases, their upside potential is undeniable, and there's reason to believe that their downside is limited.
Let's check them out and see if they might be great to hold in your portfolio.
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1. 23andMe
Wall Street analysts are expecting that 23andMe's (ME -5.39%) stock will hit around $5.69 within a year, which means they think it can grow to more than double its current price of $2.61. There's no guarantee the analysts will be right about this genetic-testing-slash-biotech company, but there's more than one reason to believe that their prediction isn't too crazy.
For one, management expects to bring in as much as $300 million for its 2023 fiscal year, which ends on March 31, up from a total of $271.8 million in 2022. That doesn't imply growing like gangbusters, but it does indicate that there's plenty more room for 23andMe in its markets.
Its revenue is currently derived from two sources: research services, and sales of genetic-testing kits and genetic-analysis subscriptions to consumers. Both segments are experiencing more demand than before, but there's a segment-to-be that's likely to drive major returns for shareholders: drug sales.
The biotech is already getting paid to help pharma companies like GSK find new targets for drug development; it's collaborating with GSK on more than 50 programs so far, and more are likely on the way. If those targets lead to medicines that are eventually commercialized, 23andMe will earn royalties on sales.
It's also working to develop a cancer therapy of its own, and the program is currently in phase 1 clinical trials. While that candidate probably won't be anywhere close to getting regulatory approval in the next five years, there's a solid chance that it'll be further along in the clinical trials process, and that could repeatedly catalyze upward movement of the stock.
Keep in mind that therapies can fail to be commercialized, and also that 23andMe isn't profitable as of yet. But thanks to its cash holdings of $432.8 million and the fact that it only lost $166.8 million in cash over the last 12 months, it can stand to have quite a few of its early-stage plays fall flat without facing any threat to its survival. And for a business that could double in value before early 2028, that means it isn't particularly risky despite offering what could become an attractive reward for investors.
2. InMode
InMode (INMD -0.06%) is a developer of medical aesthetics devices that seek to steal market share from more invasive beautification methods like plastic surgery.
It's growing like wildfire, and the next five years will see its technologies selling in an ever-increasing number of places around the world. Clinicians are already using its lineup of workstations and accessories to deliver skin-tightening and fat-destroying benefits to patients, and the company plans to continue rolling out new products at a quick pace.
Management's revenue guidance calls for up to $530 million in revenue for 2023, and Wall Street analysts, on average, contend that it could have revenue of $611 million in 2024. In 2019, it reported sales of $156.3 million, which means that its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2019 through 2024 would be 31.3%. To accomplish that, it's built up sales organizations across the globe while developing new devices to sell along the way. And per its fourth-quarter update, there's no reason to expect that successful and profitable strategy to change.
But it doesn't need to keep growing that quickly to double your money. If we assume that InMode's ongoing efforts (to expand its sales operations and commercialize a couple of new devices per year) continue to work through the start of 2028, it'll be enough. In fact, if its top line expands by only 20% per year over the next five years, it'll have more than $1.3 billion in sales annually. At its present price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 6.7, that means its market capitalization will be as much as $8.7 billion, which is 190% higher than its market cap today.
So InMode is highly likely to double over the next five years, even if its historical growth rate slows considerably, which makes it a smart stock to buy sometime this year. Since it has less than $5 million in debt and more than $547.3 million in cash, there's little reason to suspect that it'll face financial constraints to its growth in the near term, and that's just the icing on the cake.
