1 Unpopular Stock That Deserves Some Love and 2 We Brush Off

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.

Whatever the consensus opinion may be, our team at StockStory cuts through the noise by conducting independent analysis to determine a company’s long-term prospects. Keeping that in mind, here is one stock where Wall Street’s pessimism is creating a buying opportunity and two facing legitimate challenges.

Two Stocks to Sell:

nLIGHT (LASR)

Consensus Price Target: $29.08 (-3.4% implied return)

Founded by a former CEO and Harvard-educated entrepreneur Scott Keeneyn, nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) offers semiconductor and fiber lasers to the industrial, aerospace & defense, and medical sectors.

Why Should You Sell LASR?

1. Sales tumbled by 1.6% annually over the last two years, showing market trends are working against its favor during this cycle
2. Free cash flow margin dropped by 6.4 percentage points over the last five years, implying the company became more capital intensive as competition picked up
3. Waning returns on capital from an already weak starting point displays the inefficacy of management’s past and current investment decisions

nLIGHT’s stock price of $30.10 implies a valuation ratio of 3,011x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than LASR.

TreeHouse Foods (THS)

Consensus Price Target: $21.31 (9.9% implied return)

Whether it be packaged crackers, broths, or beverages, Treehouse Foods (NYSE:THS) produces a wide range of private-label foods for grocery and food service customers.

Why Is THS Risky?

1. Declining unit sales over the past two years indicate demand is soft and that the company may need to revise its product strategy
2. Gross margin of 16.5% is an output of its commoditized products
3. Low returns on capital reflect management’s struggle to allocate funds effectively

TreeHouse Foods is trading at $19.39 per share, or 10.3x forward P/E. If you’re considering THS for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more.

One Stock to Watch:

Tenet Healthcare (THC)

Consensus Price Target: $211.29 (5.6% implied return)

With a network spanning nine states and serving primarily urban and suburban communities, Tenet Healthcare (NYSE:THC) operates a nationwide network of hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and outpatient facilities providing acute care and specialty healthcare services.

Why Could THC Be a Winner?

1. Performance over the past five years was turbocharged by share buybacks, which enabled its earnings per share to grow faster than its revenue
2. Stellar returns on capital showcase management’s ability to surface highly profitable business ventures, and its returns are climbing as it finds even more attractive growth opportunities
3. Improving returns on capital reflect management’s ability to monetize investments

At $200 per share, Tenet Healthcare trades at 12.8x forward P/E. Is now the time to initiate a position? See for yourself in our comprehensive research report, it’s free for active Edge members .

Stocks We Like Even More

When Trump unveiled his aggressive tariff plan in April 2025, markets tanked as investors feared a full-blown trade war. But those who panicked and sold missed the subsequent rebound that’s already erased most losses.

Don’t let fear keep you from great opportunities and take a look at Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. 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).

Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Exlservice (+354% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today

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