1 Mid-Cap Stock with Exciting Potential and 2 Facing Challenges

Mid-cap stocks often strike the right balance between having proven business models and market opportunities that can support $100 billion corporations. However, they face intense competition from scaled industry giants and can be disrupted by new innovative players vying for a slice of the pie.

Luckily for you, our mission at StockStory is to help you make money and avoid losses by sorting the winners from the losers. Keeping that in mind, here is one mid-cap stock with huge upside potential and two best left ignored.

Two Mid-Cap Stocks to Sell:

Ball (BALL)

Market Cap: $13.86 billion

Started with a $200 loan in 1880, Ball (NYSE:BLL) manufactures aluminum packaging for beverages, personal care, and household products as well as aerospace systems and other technologies.

Why Do We Avoid BALL?

1. Organic sales performance over the past two years indicates the company may need to make strategic adjustments or rely on M&A to catalyze faster growth
2. Competitive supply chain dynamics and steep production costs are reflected in its low gross margin of 21.6%
3. Low free cash flow margin of -0.6% for the last five years gives it little breathing room, constraining its ability to self-fund growth or return capital to shareholders

At $50.93 per share, Ball trades at 13.5x forward P/E. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including BALL in your portfolio.

Royalty Pharma (RPRX)

Market Cap: $15.59 billion

Pioneering a unique business model in the pharmaceutical industry since 1996, Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) acquires rights to receive portions of sales from successful biopharmaceutical products, providing funding to drug developers without conducting research itself.

Why Are We Hesitant About RPRX?

1. Customers postponed purchases of its products and services this cycle as its revenue declined by 1.2% annually over the last two years
2. Smaller revenue base of $2.31 billion means it hasn’t achieved the economies of scale that some industry juggernauts enjoy

Royalty Pharma is trading at $36.01 per share, or 7.2x forward P/E. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why RPRX doesn’t pass our bar.

One Mid-Cap Stock to Buy:

LPL Financial (LPLA)

Market Cap: $26.64 billion

As the nation's largest independent broker-dealer with no proprietary products of its own, LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) provides technology, compliance, and business support services to independent financial advisors and institutions who manage investments for retail clients.

Why Should You Buy LPLA?

1. Annual revenue growth of 22.6% over the past two years was outstanding, reflecting market share gains this cycle
2. Performance over the past five years shows its incremental sales were more profitable, as its annual earnings per share growth of 21.3% outpaced its revenue gains
3. Stellar return on equity showcases management’s ability to surface highly profitable business ventures

LPL Financial’s stock price of $333 implies a valuation ratio of 16.4x forward P/E. Is now a good time to buy? See for yourself in our full research report, it’s free.

High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions

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Don’t let fear keep you from great opportunities and take a look at Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).

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