Citi Predicts Up to 410% Rally for These 2 ‘Strong Buy’ Stocks
TipRanksSat, August 22, 2026 at 9:05 PM GMT+3 7 min read
With the third quarter well underway and most second-quarter earnings now in the rearview mirror, investors are starting to look ahead to the rest of 2026 and how best to position their portfolios.
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The good news is that the latest earnings season has given investors plenty to work with. According to FactSet, S&P 500 earnings are on track to rise about 50% year-over-year in the second quarter, which would mark the index's strongest earnings growth since Q2 2021. Meanwhile, profit margins are on track to reach nearly 17%, their highest level in more than 15 years.
And the strength could have staying power. If current estimates hold, 2026 would mark the third consecutive year of double-digit earnings growth for the S&P 500, something the market has not seen in two decades. That gives investors a strong fundamental backdrop heading into the remainder of the year.
Citi strategist Scott Chronert believes the next phase of the market's run could become less concentrated, with gains continuing to broaden beyond the stocks that have done much of the heavy lifting.
"With Q2 earnings mostly behind us, we lift our full year S&P 500 index estimate to $365 from a previous $350. The fundamental tailwinds supporting our year-end 8100 target remain mostly in place. Broadening has been happening and should continue premised on our expectation for the market to price out Fed rate hikes," Chronert noted.
While Citi sees more room for the broader market to rise, some individual stocks could have far greater upside. In fact, the firm's 5-star analyst, Yigal Nochomovitz, sees triple-digit gains ahead for two names, with one offering potential upside of as much as 410%.
After running the tickers through TipRanks' database, we found out that each has been scoring points with the rest of the Street, earning a "Strong Buy" consensus rating. Let's take a closer look.
Biomea Fusion (BMEA)
We'll start with Biomea Fusion, the first of Citi's picks. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company is developing new treatments for diabetes and obesity, two widespread conditions linked to a broad range of serious health complications and premature death. With demand for new and more effective therapies remaining high, success in either market could open a significant commercial opportunity for the company.
Biomea has two drug candidates in the pipeline right now: Icovamenib, a potential first-in-class therapeutic agent designed to restore beta-cell function in diabetes, and BMF-650, a small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist designed for oral dosing and currently under investigation as a treatment for obesity and type-2 diabetes.
Starting with the more advanced Icovamenib program, earlier results have provided some encouragement. In the Phase II COVALENT-111 study, patients with Type 2 diabetes who remained inadequately controlled while receiving GLP-1-based therapy saw a mean 1.2-percentage-point reduction in HbA1c at Week 52, a statistically significant improvement versus placebo. Importantly, that improvement was sustained through Week 52, months after treatment with icovamenib had ended. The subgroup also showed improvements in C-peptide index, supporting the drug's potential to improve the body's own insulin secretion. Icovamenib was generally well tolerated, with no treatment-related serious adverse events or treatment discontinuations due to adverse events reported in the analysis.
Biomea is now building on those results through several ongoing studies. COVALENT-211 and COVALENT-212 are evaluating Icovamenib in different groups of patients with Type 2 diabetes, with data on their 26-week primary endpoints expected in 1Q27 and 2Q27, respectively. On the obesity side, Biomea has dosed the first patient in the OPAL study, which will evaluate 12 weeks of icovamenib in combination with 24 weeks of low-dose semaglutide against 24 weeks of low-dose semaglutide alone. The study is enrolling people without Type 2 diabetes who are either overweight or obese.
The nearer-term catalyst for Biomea shares, however, comes from BMF-650, which is currently in a Phase I trial. Earlier this summer, Biomea expanded the ongoing study to test faster dose escalation and the potential for greater weight loss with BMF-650. The completed cohorts have so far produced a favorable safety and tolerability profile, with no dose-limiting toxicities observed. Investors won't have to wait long for the next update, as Biomea expects to release data on the initial 28-day clinical weight reduction experience during this quarter.
With BMEA currently trading at just $1.37, Citi's Yigal Nochomovitz believes now is the time to snap up shares ahead of the upcoming catalyst.
"We expect increased investor interest in the company's internally developed oral GLP-1 candidate (BMF-650) when management announces 28-day weight reduction data in healthy overweight or obese volunteers from the Ph1 GLP-131 study in 3Q26. We believe BMF-650 represents an interesting opportunity worth pursuing as a potentially safer, but equally effective, oral GLP-1 compared to existing therapies in this category. BMF-650 was designed based on the chemotype of orforglipron, LLY's oral GLP-1, but with slightly lower potency to possibly improve tolerability and a shallower peak-to-trough ratio to enhance PK properties. We are encouraged by preclinical data where BMF-650 has demonstrated seemingly 2-3x greater oral availability than orforglipron, and where BMF-650 has shown up to ~15% weight loss in NHPs after 28 days of treatment," Nochomovitz noted.
Based on BMF-650's potential and the strength of Biomea's broader pipeline, Nochomovitz rates BMEA shares a Buy with a $7 price target. That figure reflects his confidence in BMEA's ability to soar 410% over the next twelve months. (To watch Nochomovitz's track record, click here)
Citi isn't the only bull when it comes to BMEA shares. The Wall Street consensus here is a Strong Buy, based on 5 unanimous Buy ratings. The average price target of $6.80 is nearly as bullish as Citi's, implying about 396% upside over the next 12 months. (See BMEA stock forecast)
Syndax Pharmaceuticals (SNDX)
The second stock piquing Citi's interest is another biotech, Syndax Pharmaceuticals. Syndax is working at both the clinical and commercial stages, with a focus on advanced cancer therapies. The company has two FDA-approved drugs on the market, revumenib and axatilimab-csfr, and is conducting additional studies of both aimed at expanding their use into new indications and treatment settings. Syndax has also expanded its earlier-stage pipeline with new drug candidates targeting EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer and myelofibrosis.
Both approved drugs received their initial FDA approvals in 2024. Revumenib, branded as Revuforj, is a menin inhibitor used to treat certain genetically defined forms of leukemia. The initial approval covered adults and children with relapsed or refractory acute leukemia carrying a lysine methyltransferase 2A gene (KMT2A) translocation; a label expansion in 2025 added relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) harboring a susceptible nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) mutation in patients with no satisfactory alternative treatment options. Revuforj treatment duration can vary considerably, with some patients remaining on therapy without undergoing a transplant, while others resume treatment following a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).
The second approved drug, axatilimab-csfr, is branded as Niktimvo and is a monoclonal antibody that blocks the colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF-1R). Niktimvo is used to treat chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD), a complication that can occur following an allogeneic stem cell transplant. The drug is approved for adult and pediatric patients weighing at least 40 kilograms after failure of at least two prior lines of systemic therapy.
Having two commercial-stage drugs gives Syndax a growing revenue base as it continues investing in its pipeline. In its 2Q26 report, Syndax posted total revenue of $72.8 million, up 92% year-over-year. Revuforj contributed $54.7 million in net product revenue, up 91% year-over-year. Syndax co-commercializes Niktimvo in the U.S. with Incyte, splitting profits from U.S. sales roughly evenly; Niktimvo generated $60.3 million in U.S. net revenue during the quarter, up 67% year-over-year, of which Syndax recognized $18.1 million as collaboration revenue.
Despite the revenue growth, Syndax remains unprofitable. The company posted a Q2 net loss of $49.4 million, though that's a marked improvement from the $71.8 million net loss in the same period last year.
Citi's Yigal Nochomovitz sees plenty to like in Syndax's near-term outlook, arguing that the company is entering an important stretch with several factors that could strengthen the investment case.
"We were encouraged by updated duration commentary, with post-HSCT patients now beyond 9 months on therapy and non-transplant patients beyond 7 months, reinforcing that Revuforj growth should increasingly compound through longer treatment duration rather than depend solely on new starts… We continue to see upside ahead of a data-rich 2H26, as additional revumenib updates (1L AML, NUP98r) and 4Q26 axatilimab readouts (MAXPIRe/1L cGVHD) can recenter attention on franchise durability and pipeline expansion," Nochomovitz opined.
Putting those expectations into numbers, Nochomovitz rates SNDX a Buy with a $57 price target, which points to 190% upside over the next 12 months.
Nochomovitz sits at the bullish end of the spectrum, but Wall Street is fully behind the stock. Syndax has earned 10 Buy recommendations, giving SNDX a unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating. The $37.33 average price target implies ~90% upside from the current $19.65 share price. (See SNDX stock forecast)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
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