By Ian Salisbury
The stock market is all about taking on risk in the hopes of big rewards. While in general it pays to diversify your investments, taking a rider now and then can be fun and -- if you're lucky -- pay off big.
To that end, Bespoke Investment Group recently published its list of "longshot stock ideas," meaning small-cap names that have the potential to deliver tenfold returns. These picks aren't designed to be core portfolio holdings. Many of these stocks have taken investors on roller-coaster rides and have sky-high price-to-earnings ratios.
Take a look at SoundHound, one of the many artificial-intelligence names on the list. Shares of the company, which offers voice-technology software to restaurants and other companies, shot up from around $5 last fall to nearly $25 in December, before tumbling to about $10 currently.
In March, the company said it needed extra time to file its 10-K because of accounting complexity around some recent acquisitions. It also revealed CEO Keyvan Mohajer planned to sell large chunks of stock worth more than $20 million. (SoundHound didn't respond to a request for comment. The 10-K has since been filed.)
While about half the names on Bespoke's list are involved in AI or robotics, some are in more traditional industries. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Mercury Systems are defense companies. Mercury makes aerospace products like oxygen sensors and head-up displays. Kratos, singled out in Barron's recent cover story on the defense industry, builds drones.
The other names on Bespoke's full list include: Airship AI, Innodata, Palladyne AI, Red Violet, Richtech Robotics, Symbotic), Vishay Precision, Amprius Technologies, Stride, Perdoceo Education, Olo, Life Time Group.
Write to Ian Salisbury at ian.salisbury@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 20, 2025 15:16 ET (19:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.