Mid-cap stocks have the best odds of scaling into $100 billion corporations thanks to their tested business models and large addressable markets. But the many opportunities in front of them attract significant competition, spanning from industry behemoths with seemingly infinite resources to small, nimble players with chips on their shoulders.
Luckily for you, our mission at StockStory is to help you make money and avoid losses by sorting the winners from the losers. Keeping that in mind, here are three mid-cap stocks to swipe left on and some alternatives you should look into instead.
Twilio (TWLO)
Market Cap: $16.98 billion
Founded in 2008 by Jeff Lawson, a former engineer at Amazon, Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) is a software as a service platform that makes it really easy for software developers to use text messaging, voice calls and other forms of communication in their apps.
Why Does TWLO Worry Us?
- Products, pricing, or go-to-market strategy may need some adjustments as its 9.4% average billings growth over the last year was weak
- Estimated sales growth of 7.1% for the next 12 months implies demand will slow from its three-year trend
- Gross margin of 50.6% reflects its high servicing costs
Twilio is trading at $110.90 per share, or 3.7x forward price-to-sales. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why TWLO doesn’t pass our bar.
Akamai (AKAM)
Market Cap: $11.52 billion
Founded in 1999 by two engineers from MIT, Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) provides software for organizations to efficiently deliver web content to their customers.
Why Should You Sell AKAM?
- Annual revenue growth of 4.5% over the last three years was well below our standards for the software sector
- Bad unit economics and steep infrastructure costs are reflected in its gross margin of 59.1%, one of the worst among software companies
- Competitive market means the company must spend more on sales and marketing to stand out even if the return on investment is low
At $78.90 per share, Akamai trades at 2.8x forward price-to-sales. To fully understand why you should be careful with AKAM, check out our full research report (it’s free).
Amdocs (DOX)
Market Cap: $10.35 billion
Powering the digital experiences of approximately 400 communications companies worldwide, Amdocs (NASDAQ: DOX) provides software and services that help telecommunications and media companies manage customer relationships, monetize services, and automate network operations.
Why Should You Dump DOX?
- Backlog growth averaged a weak 1.6% over the past two years, suggesting it may need to tweak its product roadmap or go-to-market strategy
- Estimated sales decline of 3.5% for the next 12 months implies an even more challenging demand environment
- Free cash flow margin shrank by 4.6 percentage points over the last five years, suggesting the company is consuming more capital to stay competitive
Amdocs’s stock price of $92.30 implies a valuation ratio of 12.6x forward P/E. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including DOX in your portfolio.
High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election sent major indices to all-time highs, but stocks have retraced as investors debate the health of the economy and the potential impact of tariffs.
While this leaves much uncertainty around 2025, a few companies are poised for long-term gains regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate, like 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 176% over the last five years.
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.
