Market swings can be tough to stomach, and volatile stocks often experience exaggerated moves in both directions. While many thrive during risk-on environments, many also struggle to maintain investor confidence when the ride gets bumpy.
At StockStory, our job is to help you avoid costly mistakes and stay on the right side of the trade. Keeping that in mind, here are two volatile stocks that could deliver huge gains and one that could just as easily collapse.
One Stock to Sell:
Lumen (LUMN)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 1.72
With approximately 350,000 route miles of fiber optic cable spanning North America and the Asia Pacific, Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) operates a vast fiber optic network that provides communications, cloud connectivity, security, and IT solutions to businesses and consumers.
Why Do We Pass on LUMN?
- Sales tumbled by 9.5% annually over the last five years, showing market trends are working against its favor during this cycle
- Free cash flow margin shrank by 6.6 percentage points over the last five years, suggesting the company is consuming more capital to stay competitive
- Eroding returns on capital from an already low base indicate that management’s recent investments are destroying value
At $8.47 per share, Lumen trades at 7.1x forward EV-to-EBITDA. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why LUMN doesn’t pass our bar.
Two Stocks to Watch:
Lyft (LYFT)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 1.22
Founded by Logan Green and John Zimmer as a long-distance intercity carpooling company Zimride, Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) operates a ridesharing network in the US and Canada.
Why Are We Positive On LYFT?
- Active Riders are rising, meaning the company can increase revenue without incurring additional customer acquisition costs if it can cross-sell additional products and features
- Additional sales over the last three years increased its profitability as the 33.8% annual growth in its earnings per share outpaced its revenue
- Free cash flow margin increased by 25 percentage points over the last few years, giving the company more capital to invest or return to shareholders
Lyft is trading at $18.54 per share, or 10.4x forward EV/EBITDA. Is now the right time to buy? See for yourself in our comprehensive research report, it’s free.
Nvidia (NVDA)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 1.99
Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang and two former Sun Microsystems engineers, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is a leading fabless designer of chips used in gaming, PCs, data centers, automotive, and a variety of end markets.
Why Should You Buy NVDA?
- Annual revenue growth of 104% over the past two years was outstanding, reflecting market share gains this cycle
- Share repurchases have amplified shareholder returns as its annual earnings per share growth of 79.1% exceeded its revenue gains over the last five years
- Strong free cash flow margin of 44.6% enables it to reinvest or return capital consistently, and its recently improved profitability means it has even more resources to invest or distribute
Nvidia’s stock price of $183.86 implies a valuation ratio of 25.4x forward P/E. Is now the time to initiate a position? Find out in our full research report, it’s free.
Stocks We Like Even More
Check out the high-quality names we’ve flagged in our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as ServiceNow (+163% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
