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.
At StockStory, we look beyond the headlines with our independent analysis to determine whether these bullish calls are justified. That said, here is one stock where Wall Street’s positive outlook is supported by strong fundamentals and two where consensus estimates seem disconnected from reality.
Two Stocks to Sell:
PagerDuty (PD)
Consensus Price Target: $16.14 (29.7% implied return)
Born from the frustration of developers being woken up by unprioritized alerts, PagerDuty (NYSE: PD) is a digital operations management platform that helps organizations detect and respond to IT incidents, outages, and other critical issues in real-time.
Why Does PD Give Us Pause?
- Customers had second thoughts about committing to its platform over the last year as its average billings growth of 3.8% underwhelmed
- Estimated sales growth of 2.7% for the next 12 months implies demand will slow from its two-year trend
- Persistent operating margin losses suggest the business manages its expenses poorly
At $12.45 per share, PagerDuty trades at 2.3x forward price-to-sales. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including PD in your portfolio.
Paramount (PSKY)
Consensus Price Target: $14.57 (19.7% implied return)
Owner of Spongebob Squarepants and formerly known as ViacomCBS, Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA) is a major media conglomerate offering television, film production, and digital content across various global platforms.
Why Do We Steer Clear of PSKY?
- Sizable revenue base leads to growth challenges as its 3.2% annual revenue increases over the last five years fell short of other consumer discretionary companies
- Projected 4.9 percentage point decline in its free cash flow margin next year reflects the company’s plans to increase its investments to defend its market position
- Shrinking returns on capital from an already weak position reveal that neither previous nor ongoing investments are yielding the desired results
Paramount is trading at $12.17 per share, or 12.9x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with PSKY, check out our full research report (it’s free).
One Stock to Buy:
Meta (META)
Consensus Price Target: $835.42 (30.1% implied return)
Famously founded by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) operates a collection of the largest social networks in the world - Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, along with its metaverse focused Reality Labs.
Why Should You Buy META?
- 14.8% annual increases in its average revenue per user over the last two years show its platform is resonating with power users
- Share buybacks catapulted its annual earnings per share growth to 40.1%, which outperformed its revenue gains over the last three years
- Impressive free cash flow profitability enables the company to fund new investments or reward investors with share buybacks/dividends
Meta’s stock price of $642.35 implies a valuation ratio of 12.6x forward EV/EBITDA. Is now a good time to buy? See for yourself in our comprehensive research report, it’s free.
Stocks We Like Even More
If your portfolio success hinges on just 4 stocks, your wealth is built on fragile ground. You have a small window to secure high-quality assets before the market widens and these prices disappear.
Don’t wait for the next volatility shock. Check out our Top 6 Stocks for this week. 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-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
