A short-squeeze stocks to buy are something investors need to watch out for. If investors believe that a stock’s price will fall within a certain time frame, they will enter a short position. The buy orders from these short positions artificially raise stock prices.
However, bears don’t always get it right. There have been times that they missed the mark and suffered losses on their short positions. Just this year, short sellers lost “nearly $5.5 billion” with Tesla. The company got over regulatory issues hindering the sale of self-driving cars in China.
Good press coverage, a new product announcement or beating earnings can stop a fall in stock price from happening. In light of this, here are three stock picks I see as short-squeeze stocks to buy for the long term.
Immunity Bio (IBRX)
Immunity Bio (NASDAQ:IBRX) is an immunotherapy company researching treatments for cancer in the form of therapies and vaccines. The company has 34.60% of available shares being sold in short positions. Yahoo! Finance has 2 analysts predicting a 1-year price range on IBRX to be between $6.00 and $9.00, with a mean of $7.50.
IBRX did not have strong financials for Q1 2024. Both revenue and net profit margin suffered significant year-on-year drops. Management had been crucial to the improvement of cash and short-term investments, growing it by 86.81% YoY. While financials aren’t the company’s strengths, company developments paint a different picture for the future of IBRX.
Immunity Bio has made great progress with the success of its multi-purpose immunotherapy, ANKTIVA. ANKTIVA has received FDA approval for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, but has potential for further applications. A clinical trial showed that ANKTIVA was “almost double that of standard care chemotherapy” in non-small cell lung cancer. Immunity Bio has stated there is a meeting scheduled in June with the FDA to discuss FDA approval of ANKTIVA for non-small cell lung cancer. The potential for this immunotherapy, in addition to the company’s extensive pipeline of other treatments, make this one of the short-squeeze stocks to buy that will outdo bears in the long run.
United Health (UNH)
United Health (NYSE:UNH) is a healthcare services and insurance company specializing in healthcare insurance. The company offers a wide variety of health insurance plans. Yahoo! Finance has 23 analysts predicting a 1-year price range on UNH to be between $484.92 and $675.00, with a mean of $575.92.
UNH financials were strong for Q1 2024 with a YOY revenue growth of 8.56%. While profitability isn’t a strength of UNH, there are signs of improvement with operating expenses growing 3.28% YOY for the quarter. This idea of profitability improving is further supported by EPS growing 10.38% YOY. Management has done an excellent job with the balance sheet, as total assets have increased while liabilities decreased.
United Health is poised for growth through its expanded medicaid partnerships in Kansas and Michigan, offering “UnitedHealthcare’s comprehensive care.” Its subsidiary, Optum Rx, has launched a weight management program to make related medications more affordable. With program expansion that improves community engagement while growing its customer base and program developments that meet demand in a rapidly growing industry, United Healthcare is one of the short-squeeze stocks to buy for me.
C3.ai (AI)
C3.ai (NYSE:AI) is a technology company focusing on artificial intelligence applications, and field-leading in Enterprise AI: a field where optimal business solutions are derived from AI analytical methods. Yahoo! Finance reports 12 analysts predicting a 1-year price range on C3.ai between $15 and $40, with a mean of $29.35.
C3 has shown strong financials for Q1 2024. The company has outperformed analyst expectations for both revenue and EPS. Profitability has been a weakness for the company, but an improving net profit margin suggests a bright future for C3. The 98.01% YOY growth in free cash flow demonstrates how C3 is focusing on improving its profitability.
Strategic partnerships poise C3 for future market domination. The company has entered a partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by helping establish the school’s new college of computing and data science through $50 million in funding. Indeed, C3 establishes a pipeline for students from one of the best computer science programs in the nation to work with the company on future endeavors as potential employees. C3 entered a partnership with Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE), offering its enterprise AI services to optimize fuel cell server performance. This partnership expands the clientele of C3, helping it expand into other industries in the future. C3 is one of the easy short-squeeze stocks to buy.
On the date of publication, Matthew Rodrigues did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
