Wall Street’s top stock picks for 2026: Mizuho’s under-the-radar name
Mizuho’s top stock pick for 2026 is a vaccine maker that has a major leg up over its competitors. CNBC Pro obtained the lists of top stock picks that major sell-side brokerages, such as Mizuho, give clients, and searched for those names where analysts see the most upside. For Mizuho, the stock with the highest potential appreciation is vaccine developer Vaxcyte . Vaxcyte, which currently has a market capitalization of nearly $6 billion, has slumped 47% this year. But Mizuho’s price target of $163 implies upside of more than 250% from Vaxcyte’s closing price of $46.42 Friday. PCVX YTD mountain PCVX shares in 2025 Mizuho analyst Salim Syed currently has an outperform rating on the stock. He highlighted its vaccine against pneumococcal diseases, caused by the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae, as a catalyst. “With a clean study readout of VAX-31 Ph2 in adults, advancing VAX-31 to Ph3 in adults and Ph2 in infants, Vaxcyte’s pneumococcal conjugate vaccine platform appears broadly de-risked, in our view,” he wrote, referring to Phase 2 and Phase 3 drug trials. Syed noted that the market for vaccines against pneumococcal disease currently totals about $8 billion and is growing, with a demographic revenue split of 1/3 adults and 2/3 infants. Vaxcyte’s competitors are currently behind in development, providing the company a major advantage, he added. The analyst believes that Vaxcyte’s adult-catered vaccine could be a market leader. “This positive data from VAX-31 in adults is the broadest serotype coverage data we have seen from a [Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine] and has the potential to be best-in-class,” Syed wrote. While results for its infant-focused vaccine are less positive, the analyst noted that Vaxcyte has taken steps to mitigate risks. “VAX-24 Ph2 post-dose 3 and interim post-dose 4 data readout in infants was imperfect (which should have been the expectation), but still looks positive and approvable to us and may have reset expectations for the VAX31 infants topline readout (i.e., reasonable to expect miss on a few serotypes, still broader coverage than PCV20),” he wrote. “Modification of the ongoing Ph2 VAX-31 infants trial to include a pediatric-optimized dose arm arguably further de-risks this topline readout, we think (i.e., infant dosing originally designed on adult data, VAX-24 infants readout informed dosing could increase PoS of VAX-31 infants readout).”
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