Wall Street’s bearish price targets for the stocks in this article signal serious concerns. Such forecasts are uncommon in an industry where maintaining cordial corporate relationships often trumps delivering the hard truth.
Accurately determining a company’s long-term prospects isn’t easy, especially when sentiment is weak. That’s where StockStory comes in - to help you find attractive investment candidates backed by unbiased research. Keeping that in mind, here is one stock poised to prove Wall Street wrong and two facing legitimate challenges.
Two Stocks to Sell:
Brown-Forman (BF.B)
Consensus Price Target: $28.26 (7.4% implied return)
Best known for its Jack Daniel’s whiskey, Brown-Forman (NYSE:BF.B) is an alcoholic beverage company with a broad portfolio of brands in wines and spirits.
Why Are We Cautious About BF.B?
- Annual sales declines of 2.4% for the past three years show its products struggled to connect with the market
- Projected sales for the next 12 months are flat and suggest demand will be subdued
- Falling earnings per share over the last three years has some investors worried as stock prices ultimately follow EPS over the long term
Brown-Forman is trading at $26.31 per share, or 15.4x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than BF.B.
CNO Financial Group (CNO)
Consensus Price Target: $53.75 (0.9% implied return)
Rebranded from Conseco in 2010 to signal a fresh start after navigating financial challenges, CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) develops and markets health insurance, annuities, and life insurance products primarily targeting middle-income pre-retirees and retirees.
Why Do We Avoid CNO?
- Sluggish 1.2% annualized growth in net premiums earned over the last five years indicates the firm trailed its insurance peers
- Efficiency has decreased over the last five years as its pre-tax profit margin fell by 7.7 percentage points
- Book value per share tumbled by 7.5% annually over the last five years, showing insurance sector trends are working against it during this cycle
At $53.28 per share, CNO Financial Group trades at 1.8x forward P/B. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including CNO in your portfolio.
One Stock to Buy:
Super Micro (SMCI)
Consensus Price Target: $42.38 (2.8% implied return)
Founded in Silicon Valley in 1993 and known for its modular "building block" approach to server design, Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) designs and manufactures high-performance, energy-efficient server and storage systems for data centers, cloud computing, AI, and edge computing applications.
Why Do We Love SMCI?
- Impressive 61.4% annual revenue growth over the last two years indicates it’s winning market share this cycle
- Enormous revenue base of $39.06 billion provides significant distribution advantages
- Earnings growth has trumped its peers over the last two years as its EPS has compounded at 27.8% annually
Super Micro’s stock price of $41.21 implies a valuation ratio of 9.6x forward P/E. Is now a good time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it’s free.
Stocks We Like Even More
ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Top 5 Momentum Stocks. The best time to own a great stock is when the market is finally noticing it. These aren’t just high-quality businesses. Something is happening with them right now. Elite fundamentals meet near-term momentum — both boxes checked at the same time.
Find out which stocks our AI platform is flagging this week. See this week’s Strong Momentum stocks — FREE. Get Our Strong Momentum Stocks for Free HERE.
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,460% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,552% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.