Important context first
No screen can reliably identify “the” single stock with the most upside in 2026—future returns are uncertain and can’t be guaranteed.
What we can do is look for stocks that combine:
- solid growth trends,
- positive analyst views, and
- meaningful upside to analyst target prices.
That’s exactly what these filters are aiming to do.
Screening Filters
Market Cap: 1B–100B USD
- Purpose: Focus on mid-sized to large companies with room to grow, but that aren’t tiny, highly speculative micro-caps.
- Rationale:
- Below ~$1B, stocks can be extremely volatile, illiquid, and risky—huge upside but also huge blow‑up risk.
- Above ~$100B, companies are often more mature; upside can be more limited simply because they’re already very large.
- This range is a compromise: companies big enough to be somewhat stable, but still small enough to potentially deliver strong returns.
Exchanges: XNYS, XNAS, XASE (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX)
- Purpose: Restrict to major U.S. exchanges.
- Rationale:
- These exchanges have stricter listing standards, better liquidity, and more analyst coverage.
- It reduces the chance of landing on very obscure or low‑quality OTC/pink sheet names that might be risky or easily manipulated.
Revenue 5‑Year CAGR ≥ 10%
- Purpose: Require companies to have grown their top line meaningfully over the last five years.
- Rationale:
- Sustained double‑digit revenue growth is a sign of real business momentum, not just a one‑off event.
- If you’re looking for “upside potential by 2026,” it’s logical to favor companies already demonstrating strong growth trends rather than stagnating businesses.
EPS 5‑Year CAGR ≥ 10%
- Purpose: Ensure earnings per share are growing at least as fast as revenue.
- Rationale:
- Strong revenue without earnings can mean the company isn’t turning growth into profits.
- Consistent double‑digit EPS growth suggests the business is scaling efficiently, which often supports higher stock prices over time.
- For upside potential, you want companies that grow both sales and profits.
Analyst Consensus: Strong Buy or Moderate Buy
- Purpose: Include only stocks that professional analysts currently view positively.
- Rationale:
- If most covering analysts rate a stock as Buy/Strong Buy, it signals that, based on current information, they see more upside than downside.
- This doesn’t guarantee performance, but it adds a layer of expert judgment on top of the raw financial metrics.
- It aligns with your goal of “most upside” by filtering out names that analysts think are overvalued or risky.
Target Price Upside Potential: MoreAbovePrice
- Purpose: Require that analysts’ average target price is above the current share price by a meaningful margin.
- Rationale:
- If the consensus target is higher than today’s price, it implies expected upside based on analysts’ models.
- This ties directly to your question — it focuses on stocks where professionals see price appreciation potential in the coming years, not just good fundamentals.
Why These Results Match Your Question
The output from this screen won’t be a guarantee of the “best” 2026 performer, but it should give you a shortlist of quality, growing companies that analysts believe still have room to run from here.
This list is generated based on data from one or more third party data providers. It is provided for informational purposes only by Intellectia.AI, and is not investment advice or a recommendation. Intellectia does not make any warranty or guarantee relating to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any third-party information, and the provision of this information does not constitute a recommendation.