3 Monster Stocks in the Making

Keith Speights, David Jagielski, and Prosper Junior Bakiny, The Motley Fool

Sun, May 11, 2025, 8:15 AM 6 min read

• Axsome Therapeutics is taking off, led by a treatment for major depressive disorder.

• Iovance Biotherapeutics could transform how solid tumors are treated.

• Viking Therapeutics is taking on giants in the obesity drug market.

• 10 stocks we like better than Axsome Therapeutics ›

Think of some of the biggest and most successful stocks on the market. Now, go back 20 or 30 years. Some of them didn't even exist that long ago. Others were only a fraction of their current size.

What if you could buy potential huge winners of the future while they have relatively small market caps? Three Motley Fool contributors believe you can. Here's why they think Axsome Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AXSM), Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: IOVA), and Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) are monster stocks in the making.

David Jagielski (Axsome Therapeutics): One stock that's been picking up steam this year is Axsome Therapeutics. Entering trading this week, shares of the mid-cap biotech stock were up more than 35% since January. And there may be a bigger rally to come after the company recently reported strong earnings.

Through the first three months of the year, the company's revenue soared by 62% to $121.5 million. Leading the way was its potential blockbuster drug, Auvelity, which regulators approved in 2022 as a treatment for major depressive disorder. Revenue for Auvelity rose 80% in the most recent quarter, climbing to $96.2 million. Narcolepsy drug Sunosi also reported strong 17% growth as its sales totaled $25.2 million for the period.

And there's more growth ahead. Earlier this year, the company announced approval for its migraine treatment, Symbravo, which can enable people to recover from migraine pain within two hours. At its peak, analysts believe the drug could generate around $341 million in the U.S., by 2035.

Axsome is building up a promising portfolio of assets that could help drive up its value in the future. While it isn't profitable today, the company's net loss of $59.4 million this past quarter was an improvement from the $68.4 million loss it incurred a year ago. As the business continues to develop more drugs, scale its operations, and make progress toward breaking even, the stock could have a lot more upside.

Keith Speights (Iovance Biotherapeutics): Several drugmakers have achieved success with chimeric antigen T-cell (CAR-T) therapies targeting blood cancers. But around 91% of cancers are solid tumors. One company is in the lead position to address those indications with a CAR-T-like approach: Iovance Biotherapeutics.