1 Unpopular Stock That Deserves Some Love and 2 Facing Headwinds

When Wall Street turns bearish on a stock, it’s worth paying attention. These calls stand out because analysts rarely issue grim ratings on companies for fear their firms will lose out in other business lines such as M&A advisory.

At StockStory, we look beyond the headlines with our independent analysis to determine whether these bearish calls are justified. Keeping that in mind, here is one stock where Wall Street’s pessimism is creating a buying opportunity and two where the skepticism is well-placed.

Two Stocks to Sell:

Monro (MNRO)

Consensus Price Target: $17.67 (-3.4% implied return)

Started as a single location in Rochester, New York, Monro (NASDAQ:MNRO) provides common auto services such as brake repairs, tire replacements, and oil changes.

Why Do We Avoid MNRO?

1. Ongoing store closures and lackluster same-store sales indicate sluggish demand and a focus on consolidation
2. Poor same-store sales performance over the past two years indicates it’s having trouble bringing new shoppers into its brick-and-mortar locations
3. Below-average returns on capital indicate management struggled to find compelling investment opportunities, and its shrinking returns suggest its past profit sources are losing steam

Monro’s stock price of $18.29 implies a valuation ratio of 33.1x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than MNRO.

Brighthouse Financial (BHF)

Consensus Price Target: $66.14 (0.7% implied return)

Spun off from MetLife in 2017 to focus specifically on retail financial products, Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) provides annuity contracts and life insurance products designed to help individuals protect wealth, generate income, and transfer assets.

Why Is BHF Risky?

1. Insurance offerings face significant market challenges this cycle as net premiums earned contracted by 1.4% annually over the last five years
2. Book value per share tumbled by 11.1% annually over the last five years, showing insurance sector trends are working against its favor during this cycle
3. Elevated debt-to-equity ratio of 1.3× suggests the firm is overleveraged and may struggle to secure additional financing

Brighthouse Financial is trading at $65.69 per share, or 0.8x forward P/B. To fully understand why you should be careful with BHF, check out our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members).

One Stock to Watch:

Incyte (INCY)

Consensus Price Target: $93.82 (-7.4% implied return)

Founded in 1991 and evolving from a genomics research firm to a commercial-stage drug developer, Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes proprietary therapeutics for cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Why Are We Fans of INCY?

1. Annual revenue growth of 15.5% over the last two years beat the sector average and underscores the unique value of its offerings
2. Performance over the past five years was turbocharged by share buybacks, which enabled its earnings per share to grow faster than its revenue
3. Free cash flow margin expanded by 5.5 percentage points over the last five years, providing additional flexibility for investments and share buybacks/dividends

At $101.33 per share, Incyte trades at 13.4x forward P/E. Is now a good time to buy? See for yourself in our comprehensive research report, it’s free for active Edge members .

High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions

Your portfolio can’t afford to be based on yesterday’s story. The risk in a handful of heavily crowded stocks is rising daily.

The names generating the next wave of massive growth are right here in our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).

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