Most investors are chasing the same ideas.
• The same companies.
• The same headlines.
• The same crowded trades.
By the time a stock becomes popular, the opportunity is often already priced in.
But what about the ones no one’s watching?
There are thousands of public companies that sit outside the spotlight—not because they’re bad businesses, but because they’re overlooked.
That’s where opportunity can live.
“The Unpopular Stock” explores what actually makes a stock popular—and how to identify the ones that aren’t.
Not hype. Not speculation.
Just underfollowed businesses hiding in plain sight.
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When Insider Selling Is a Good Thing: 2 Stocks to Watch
Author: Thomas Hughes. Originally Published: 3/23/2026.
Key Points
- Waste Management insiders sold roughly $25 million in stock after shares hit an all-time high in early 2026, but institutional accumulation and a growing dividend keep the long-term outlook bullish.
- Ionis Pharmaceuticals faces heavier insider and institutional selling, though analysts see roughly 25% upside driven by the commercial ramp of Olezarsen.
- Both stocks have pulled back from recent highs, potentially creating entry points for investors willing to look past short-term selling pressure.
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Insider selling can be constructive when executives are simply taking profits in stocks with increasingly bullish outlooks. In these cases, one stock is a steady, cash-generating dividend-growth machine, while the other is a commercial-stage biopharma with an outlook for double-digit — even near hyper — growth. Both names have pulled back from early-2026 highs largely due to insider selling, creating attractive entry points for new investors.
Waste Management Doesn't Waste Time: Growth and Dividends in 2026
Waste Management (NYSE: WM) rose about 25% from its 2025 low to a new all-time high in early 2026. That peak prompted insiders — including the CEO, CFO, CAO and COO, along with several VPs — to sell. While those sales helped cap gains in Q1, they are immaterial to the longer-term outlook: insiders own just 0.18% of the company and total sales amounted to less than $25 million, while other forces driving the stock remain bullish.
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Click here to get the details and I'll show you how to claim your stake…Institutional activity shows accumulation on a trailing 12-month basis, with accumulation ramping up in 2025 and continuing at a strong pace into 2026. Institutions own about 80% of the company, and notably have been net buyers for three years without a distribution quarter. Given the earnings outlook and capital-return plans, that accumulation is likely to persist.
Analysts are also bullish, with 25 ratings tracked for 2026. Their coverage has increased on a trailing-12-month basis and provides a supportive price tailwind and investment incentive.
Sentiment has firmed: the Moderate Buy rating is approaching Strong Buy, and price targets are trending upward. As of late March, the consensus implies roughly 10% upside — enough to reach a new all-time high — and analyst trends point to the higher end of that range.
The dividend is another reason to own the stock. Waste Management yields about 1.65% in early 2026, the payout ratio is a sustainable ~56% of earnings, and the company raises its distribution annually. At its current trajectory, the company is on track for potential inclusion in the Dividend Aristocrats Index by decade's end — a development that would likely increase buy-and-hold ownership, reduce volatility and support the uptrend.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals: A Cautious Outlook for a Potential Blockbuster
Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IONS) is an RNA-focused biopharma with several products on the market and two that matter most. The first, Spinraza, is sold through a partner and — despite its prior blockbuster status — now has declining sales. The second is a wholly owned treatment, Olezarsen, which analysts expect could reach peak sales above $2 billion. Many analysts consider the $2 billion forecast conservative, and price targets are rising on that view.
Insider selling at Ionis resembles Waste Management's pattern in Q1 2026, but with a key difference: Ionis insiders also sold heavily through 2025, and institutional selling has compounded the pressure. Institutions own more than 90% of the stock, and data show net institutional selling on a trailing 12-month basis across three of the four quarters in 2025, continuing at a rapid pace into Q1 2026 as investors take profits.
Analysts provide the offset. Institutions have taken profits after the stock rose more than 100% from its 2025 low. Meanwhile, analyst data show a consensus Moderate Buy from 21 analysts, with increasing coverage, firmer sentiment and rising price targets. The consensus implies about 25% upside by year-end, and the high-end analyst targets add roughly another 10% on top of that.
Ionis' growth prospects are the main reason to consider the stock. The company is forecast to sustain a high-20% growth rate well into the next decade, reach profitability around 2028, and improve margins each year thereafter. Longer-term models suggest that even at a 7x multiple on 2035 earnings the shares could more than double and still look inexpensive. If Olezarsen's forecasts are indeed conservative and the pipeline advances as expected, upside could be substantially greater — Ionis has multiple candidates on track for near- and mid-term commercialization.
Target Has Surged in 2026--Wall Street May Be Ready to Hit Pause
Author: Jennifer Ryan Woods. Originally Published: 3/30/2026.
Key Points
- Target stock has surged more than 20% year to date as investors grow more confident that the company’s turnaround plan under new CEO Michael Fiddelke can return the retailer to steady growth after a multi-year slump.
- The rally comes after a tough stretch in which Target shares fell more than 50% between April 2024 and November 2025 as weak consumer confidence hurt discretionary spending.
- Despite improving sentiment and a strong fourth-quarter report, Wall Street remains cautious, with the average analyst price target near the current share price suggesting recent optimism may already be priced in.
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Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) stock hit the bullseye during the first quarter of 2026, with shares climbing as investors grew more confident in the retailer’s turnaround plan. After that strong run, however, much of the optimism may already be priced in, leaving Wall Street waiting for clearer evidence the plan will deliver sustained growth.
Shares of Target have risen more than 20% year to date, with an even larger gain — roughly 35% — since the company's November report, as investors bet the recovery efforts led by new CEO Michael Fiddelke are gaining traction. That renewed confidence has been a welcome reprieve after a roughly four-year slump that followed the stock’s 2021 high.
Target Stock Slumps After 2021 Pandemic-Era Peak
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Click here to get the details and I'll show you how to claim your stake…Target was a big winner during the pandemic as shoppers flocked to stores for both essentials and discretionary goods, pushing the stock above $250 in November 2021. Soon after, demand softened and the company faced pressure from inflation and competition, and the stock began a prolonged decline. Shares remained volatile in the years that followed, plunging in the spring of 2024 before briefly rebounding later that year.
Between April 2024 and November 2025, the stock tumbled again, falling from roughly $177 to a 52-week low near $83. Much of that weakness reflected soft consumer confidence, especially among cost-conscious shoppers who make up the retailer’s core customer base. As spending slowed, customers pulled back on discretionary items such as clothing and home decor in favor of necessities like groceries and household staples.
While Target struggled, competitor Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), which derives a larger share of sales from essential categories, fared much better. Target's shares fell by more than 50% during that period, while Walmart’s stock gained nearly 80%.
Turnaround Plan Boosts Investor Confidence
Sentiment began to improve toward the end of 2025 after Target reported third-quarter results on Nov. 19. It was a mixed quarter: earnings per share topped expectations, but revenue missed forecasts and comparable sales declined. The company also narrowed its full-year guidance to the lower end of its prior range.
Investors nonetheless appeared encouraged as Fiddelke, then chief operating officer and set to take over as CEO in February, laid out a turnaround plan focused on three priorities: revitalizing merchandise, improving the in-store experience, and investing in technology, including generative AI tools. The company said it planned to increase investment across the business, including about $5 billion for new stores, remodels, and supply-chain improvements.
Although Target’s stock fell roughly 5% in the two sessions after the earnings report, it quickly regained ground as the more optimistic outlook bolstered sentiment.
Growth Expectations Fuel 2026 Rally
Shares continued to climb into 2026, and the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report on March 3 further fueled the rally. Target reported earnings per share of $2.44, beating the $2.16 estimate and topping the prior year’s result. Revenue of $30.45 billion declined 1.5% year over year and came in just under the $30.52 billion forecast.
For the full year, Target expects net sales to grow about 2% with modest comparable-sales gains. The company forecast adjusted earnings between $7.50 and $8.50 per share, implying mid-single-digit growth from the prior year, and announced more than $2 billion in incremental investment for 2026, split between capital spending on stores and remodels and operating investments to improve the guest experience.
Investors welcomed the report as a sign the company may be moving back toward steady, profitable growth. After the earnings release, more than a dozen analysts raised their 12-month price targets on the stock.
Analysts Are Cautious After Recent Rally
Despite the bullish momentum, analyst targets still range widely — from as low as $81 to as high as $145. The average price target, about $116, sits slightly below the current share price, suggesting that much of the recent optimism may already be reflected in the stock.
As a result, analysts appear to be taking a cautious, wait-and-see approach while they look for clearer evidence the turnaround can produce consistent growth. Target currently carries a consensus Hold rating based on 33 analyst opinions: 19 Holds, 11 Buys and three Sells.
Until investors see more proof the strategy can deliver sustained growth, the stock may struggle to move significantly higher from current levels.
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