Three stocks under $15 that are in the midst of rallies

The US stock market is shooting higher on Monday as Wall Street dances in celebration of President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury Secretary. The nominee, Scott Bessent, is a former investment officer at George Soros’ investment house and the principal at his own hedge fund over the past decade. 

Although it’s not really his purview at Treasury, it’s Congress’s, Bessent has come out swinging by saying that tax cuts are a priority for the new administration despite higher structural deficits. This type of deficit spending with increased deficits should spur higher economic growth alongside the possibility of increasing inflation. Additionally, he wants to increase oil drilling and reduce the trade deficit, pushing US economic growth to 3%.

Another thing supporting the risk-on sentiment is that Israel is said to be close to a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 0.7% at the time of writing, while the NASDAQ and S&P 500 tacked on 0.4% and 0.3% gains, respectively.

With that said, here are three stocks for under $15 that show reason to expect further upside as we head into the Christmas season.

Flagstar Financial 

Flagstar Financial (FLG) is one stock you probably haven’t heard of. That’s because it was called New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) up until two months ago. The bank ran into trouble after taking over the assets of Signature Bank, which went under during the banking crisis of March 2023.

Here’s where the story touches on another of Trump’s Treasury Secretaries. Steve Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary during Trump’s first term, swooped in with his investment firm to gather $1 billion worth of capital to stabilize the bank and take over the firm’s board of directors, placing Flagstar on a new trajectory.

Since then, Mnuchin has hired a number of new executives and begun exiting many of the bank’s bad commercial real estate loans. The new plan is to halt acquisitions (NYCB bought up entirely or some assets from at least 13 banks since 2000) and pivot toward commercial and industrial loans to safer borrowers with better credit profiles.

The new strategy appears to be paying off. On Monday, Flagstar stock reached its highest price level since March 6, achieving an intraday high at the time of writing at $12.95. This is nearly 65% above the April 30 low, when the stock bottomed out this cycle. Current projections point to a book value above $18 per share, so it would appear likely that FLG stock rises another 40% to 50% over the next year as it becomes more certain that the bank has returned to health. 

Its tier-1 equity ratio already demonstrates that the bank is back on better footing, and it might not be so long until the board raises its dividend well above the current penny it is paying quarterly.

What’s more, Flagstar stock has been trading within a rising price channel for most of the year. On Monday, shares of FLG stock finally broke out above the top trendline resistance, and it might not be long before the bank makes it back toward a choppy demand zone near $15 per share.

FLG daily stock chart

Teladoc Health

Teladoc Health (TDOC) stock has suffered a terrible blow this year. Despite recent gains, shares of TDOC have slumped 43% year to date. Much of this has to do with Amazon (AMZN) competing with it in telehealth since the market knows that the tech behemoth can run the unit at a loss for decades in order to steal market share.

Teladoc doesn’t have that option as the market has discounted its shares as its losses have continued. Teladoc took an extremely large write-down on the value of its Livongo acquisition during the pandemic stock rally, and revenue growth has largely subsided as management halted expensive customer acquisition efforts.

However, Goldman Sachs initiated Teladoc as a Buy in mid-November as analyst David Roman argued that the telehealth leader stands to benefit from increasing memberships and growing revenue beginning in 2026. Roman attached a $14 price target to TDOC shares, which was then a 50% premium.

TDOC stock has decided to start rallying in just the last few sessions, pushing the share price above $12 for the first time since May. Now holding above the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) for the first time since August 2023, this might be the beginning of a long rally.

TDOC daily stock chart

WisdomTree

Already up 77% this year, WisdomTree is a manager of exchange-traded funds, aka ETFs. Shares are now trading at a level not seen since 2018. The narrative largely revolves around gradually increasing revenue and the custodians venture into digital asset ETFs. 

WisdomTree is an investment manager akin to BlackRock (BLK) or State Street (STT), except it focuses wholly on ETFs and manages much less money. Currently, its entire ETF catalogue holds just $110 billion, while the BlackRock’s of the world manage trillions.

However, as assets under management has steadily increased over the past two years, margins are growing more healthy. In 2024, full-year revenue is projected to rise more than 20% YoY, and net income is slated to rise more than 50% in that period.

Many expect WisdomTree to continue to see share price gains as its retail-focused app allows its customers to freely purchase digital assets alongside many equity funds.

WT daily stock chart



The author has at times owned some of the securities mentioned in this article.