5 Stocks to Watch: Week of 3/17/2025

You’re busy doing weekend stuff, so we’ll keep it short. 

Even in an ugly market, there are still some stocks poised to grow. Below, we’ve unearthed 5 high-potential tickers, all of which have excellent fundamentals and plenty of positive analyst sentiment, including:

• Analysts forecast nearly 60% potential upside for TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE: FTI)
• Despite a big drop recently, there are a lot of reasons to like NerdWallet Inc (NASDAQ: NRDS)...
• Sezzle Inc (NASDAQ: SEZL) is up about 300% — is the move over?
• Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: RIGL) offers value and growth potential — a rare combo for pharma companies. 
• Mueller Water Products (NYSE: MWA) gains despite the ugly market

(P.S. Did you miss last week's stocks to watch? Get 'em here.)

1- TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE: FTI)

Our last pick for today sure is a mouthful — but you’ll quickly see why memorizing the word TechnipFMC is worthwhile after all. The company provides advanced products necessary for offshore oil extraction — and since deepwater investments are currently outpacing even shale, FTI stock is well-positioned to benefit from this trend.

Zen Rating: A (Strong Buy) — see full analysis >  

Recent Price: $26.50  — get current quote > 

Max 1-year forecast: $43.00 

Why we’re watching:

• FTI stock enjoys widespread confidence from equity researchers. At present, 11 analysts issue ratings for TechnipFMC shares — 8 have rated them a Strong Buy, 2 issue Buy ratings, and 1 analyst has deemed the stock a Hold. See the ratings
• David Anderson of Barclays (a top 24% rated analyst)  doubled down on a previously-set Strong Buy rating following the company’s Q4 and FY 2024 earnings call, and increased his 12-month price forecast for FTI stock from $42 to a Street-high $43, which implies a 59.38% upside.
• Anderson said they took away from the print and earnings call that the company is "just entering the sweet spot" of the subsea cycle with robust orders, another leg of growth coming into view, backlog conversion accelerating and further margin expansion.
• Looking ahead, the analyst told readers that because TechnipFMC's earnings growth visibility stretches to at least 2028, they can expect the stock's re-rating story to continue. 
• A composite Zen Rating of A means that FTI belongs to a class of equities that have provided an average annual return of 32.52% since the early 2000s.
• With 6 consecutive earnings beats on the books, it’s little wonder that TechnipFMC stock carries a Sentiment Component Grade rating of A. In fact, FTI shares rank in the top 5% of stocks according to this category — and the same holds true when looking at its Artificial Intelligence Component Grade rating. (See all 7 Zen Component Grades here >)

2- NerdWallet Inc (NASDAQ: NRDS)

Credit where credit is due — NerdWallet, a competitor of ours, has been killing it lately. Despite NRDS stock seeing a significant drop in price over the past year, a strong checkbook, an enviable quarterly report, and a vote of confidence from one of Wall Street’s top-rated analysts could augur the end to NRDS’ downward momentum. NerdWallet stock is worth watching — at least until Wall Street Zen has its IPO.

Zen Rating: A (Strong Buy) — see full analysis >  

Recent Price: $9.90  — get current quote > 

Max 1-year forecast: $20.00 

Why we’re watching:

• Three analysts currently track NerdWallet — and the ratings are split between 2 Strong Buys and 1 Hold. See the ratings
• Barclays researcher Ross Sandler (a top 9% rated analyst) maintained a Strong Buy rating on NRDS stock after the company’s Q4 and FY 2024 earnings call. Sandler also bumped his price target up from $17 to $19.
• Sandler told investors that although Nerdwallet is facing challenges in terms of search optimization, traffic decreases, and category weakness in its core businesses, the company once again exceeded expectations in Q4.
• The analyst believes the company's "resilience amidst the environment in which it finds itself should be rewarded."
• Based on 115 factors correlated with outsized returns, our proprietary quant model has identified NerdWallet stock as one to watch — awarding an overall Zen Rating of A.
• Remember that oh-so-gracious comment that we made in the intro — the one concerning NerdWallet’s checkbook, to be specific? NRDS stock merits a Financials Component Grade rating of A, as it ranks in the top 5% of stocks in that category. In addition, NerdWallet is in the 96th percentile in terms of its Artificial Intelligence rating. (See all 7 Zen Component Grades here >)

3- Mueller Water Products (NYSE: MWA)

Water! Everyone needs it, and Mueller Water Products ensures everything keeps flowing smoothly — from the tiniest of valves to large, complex leak-detection systems. This $3.6 billion company has been in business for 168 years — but like most providers of infrastructure components, it hasn’t necessarily spent a lot of time in the spotlight. But as you’ll see below, it’s not your typical conservative defense play…

Zen Rating: A (Strong Buy) — see full analysis >  

Recent Price: $26.31 — get current quote > 

Max 1-year forecast:  $29.00

Why we’re watching:

• MWA is our Stock of the Week — our Editor-in-Chief, Steve Reitmeister, outlined why exactly it piqued his interest in an article on Monday. We’ll briefly go over some of his observations.
• Mueller Water Products stock is a part of Steve’s Zen Investor portfolio — and it rallied by 7.4% on March 10, with 3x the normal trading volume.
• Interestingly enough, there was no clear catalyst — no analyst upgrades, no index inclusions, buyout rumours, acquisitions, or positive developments.
• MWA ranks in the top 1% of stocks we track according to Sentiment rating — and our Editor-in-Chief believes that this provides a window as to what most likely happened. In the absence of a clear catalyst, there’s a strong chance that the Smart Money crowd knows something we don’t — and they scooped up a bunch of shares anticipating further moves to the upside.
• In the last 4 quarterly reports, the company has posted an average earnings beat of 45% — and earnings are expected to grow a total of 26% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis
• MWA carries an overall Zen Rating of A — and once you take a look at the stock’s Component Grade ratings, you’ll quickly see why.
• Although exact rankings vary from day to day, at the time of Steve’s article, Mueller Water Products stock ranked top 1% in terms of Sentiment, top 10% in terms of Financials, top 15% in terms of Safety, top 15% in terms of Momentum, and top 18% in terms of Growth. (See all 7 Zen Component Grades here >)

4- Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: RIGL)

Rigel Pharmaceuticals offers a rare blend of value and growth potential in one appealing package. After a strong showing in Q4, one of Wall Street’s top analysts set quite the ambitious price target on the stock. We believe there’s merit to his forecast.

Zen Rating: A (Strong Buy) — see full analysis >  

Recent Price: $19.91   — get current quote > 

Max 1-year forecast: $57.00 

Why we’re watching:

• RIGL stock is a consensus Buy at the moment, with 3 Hold ratings, 1 Buy rating, and 1 Strong Buy rating. However, that lone Strong Buy rating is the most recent one — and it came from a highly-rated analyst. See the ratings  
• Let’s dig in further to that Strong Buy rating. Yigal Nochomovitz of Citigroup (a top 13% rated analyst) maintained an earlier Strong Buy rating on March 6. In addition, the researcher upped his price target on Rigel Pharmaceuticals stock from $49 to $55, a figure that implies a 179.10% upside.
• Nochomovitz backgrounded that "the company has quietly but deliberately built a solid commercial franchise over the past three years." Tavalisse, Rezlidhia, and the more recently acquired Gavreto are expected to generate $200M in sales in 2025, the analyst detailed. 
• Citigroup believes that business alone supports a valuation of $45 per share, or 131% upside from current levels, Nochomovitz told readers, and that Rigel Pharmaceuticals' pipeline "also has many interesting features."
• Our proprietary quant rating model seems to agree with Nochomovitz — with an overall Zen Rating of A, RIGL stock belongs to a class of equities identified as having a higher likelihood of outperforming the wider market.
• Rigel Pharmaceuticals stock appears to give a rather appealing answer to the age-old question of Value or Growth — yes, please. In terms of the former, it ranks in the top 1% of stocks — in terms of the latter, it is rated in the top 5%. (See all 7 Zen Component Grades here >)

5- Sezzle Inc (NASDAQ: SEZL)

Sezzle is sizzlin’! (Yeah, we went there.) Despite its under-the-radar status, this buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer is up nearly 300% in the past year — and both analysts and the fundamentals demonstrate that the big move may not be over. Here’s what you need to know:

Zen Rating: A (Strong Buy) — see full analysis >  

Recent Price: $217.24  — get current quote > 

Max 1-year forecast: $377.00 

Why we’re watching:

• Only two Wall Street analysts we track currently issue ratings for SEZL, but they’re both bullish — 1 Strong Buy rating and 1 Buy rating. See the ratings
• The $377.00 Street-high price target was set by B. Riley Securities researcher Hal Goetsch (a top 7% rated analyst), who reiterated a Strong Buy rating after the company’s latest earnings report and increased his price target from $372 to $377. Goetsch has been tracking the stock since June of 2024.
• We’d also be remiss not to mention that the price of SEZL shares has increased by nearly 300% in the span of the last 365 days.
• The company delivered "very strong" quarterly results and strong, if conservative, guidance, Goetsch told readers.
• For FY 2025, management forecast EPS of $13.25 and revenue growth of 25% to 30%, the analyst detailed, with B. Riley Securities estimating the latter metric at 55% or more.
• SEZL’s overall Zen Rating is an A (Strong Buy) — it ranks in the top 3% of the equities tracked by our quant rating system.
• This promising small-cap stock ranks highly when it comes to its Sentiment and Financials Component Grade ratings — in the 94th and 90th percentile, to be exact. If you’re wondering about how that Sentiment rating works with just 2 analysts covering the stock, keep in mind that it also takes into account factors like earnings surprises, short interest, and the ratio of insider selling and buying. (See all 7 Zen Component Grades here >)

What to Do Next?

• 8 Stock Lists You Need Now >
• See All “A” Rated Stocks with +32.52% Average Annual Return > 
• 4 Step Process to Find More 100%+ Stock Winners >

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