The stock market volatility has made many investors nervous and they’ve started rotating away from growth stocks into defensive stocks. Small and mid-cap stocks have also declined due to investors de-risking their portfolios. However, this is a good time to buy up some promising cheap stocks with triple-digit upside potential.
Many people focus on the big names or just pull back entirely but you should always keep a look at these high-upside stocks. Remember 2022? A recession seemed like a done deal back then. Everyone braced for the worst, but it never came. I’m not saying a downturn can’t happen this time around. It could.
The point is that betting everything on one outcome leaves you vulnerable. Spreading your investments across industries and including a few of these high-potential small and mid-cap stocks could be a smart move. They might only make up a small slice of your portfolio, but if they take off, they could turbocharge your gains.
Here are two stocks under $20 to look into with triple-digit upside potential:
Gold Royalty Corp (NYSEAMERICAN:GROY) is a precious metals royalty and streaming company. It doesn’t operate like traditional miners as it provides financing to mining companies in exchange for royalties or streams on their projects.
It earns a percentage of the revenue or metal produced without bearing any operational risks or costs of running a mine, but it does benefit from surging gold and precious metals prices. It had a breakout year in 2024, but those gains were wiped out by the second half of the year. It is now up 12.9% year-to-date, but I believe a triple-digit upside could be around the corner as gold surges.
Gold Royalty had a solid full-year 2024, though Q4 was a stumble as it missed revenue estimates, though it still grew by 230.2%. The company is making losses as it is still in its growth stage. Analysts expect operating cash flow to grow significantly as Côté Gold ramps up to full capacity and Borborema starts production. The company also upsized its credit facility to $75 million in February 2025 for more acquisitions at a lower cost.
Côté Gold and Borborema alone could double revenue in the next two years, and the portfolio’s diversification means more positive catalysts are likely. GROY’s margins improve as production scales, and it avoids the capex sinkhole miners face.
Analysts expect positive EPS in 2026 and expect revenue to grow from $17.4 million in 2025 to $45.9 million in 2027. The consensus price target of $3.67 implies 161% upside from here.
PodcastOne (NASDAQ:PODC) is a podcast platform based in California. It is a subsidiary of LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO). The risk-off sentiment is driving both stocks down after the tariff announcement. The Russell 2000 is nearing bear market territory, so it’s not surprising that the stock has declined. However, I am bullish here for the long run. It’s a higher-risk investment due to how podcasts are, but the potential here is solid.
The company expects FY2025 revenue to grow to at least 17% to $51 million. It also expects positive adjusted EBITDA and has expanded its programming slate to 196 shows with 3.9 billion network downloads. Revenue in Q3 Fiscal 2025 increased 22% to $12.7 million.
The global podcast market is growing rapidly, and the company is catching tailwinds from it. The product lineup has heavyweights that could become a lot more popular in the coming years.
The consensus price target at $5 implies 201.2% upside potential.
