4 High-Risk Stocks Built for Big Returns

High-risk stocks do what they say on the tin. They offer investors high return potential, but investors always need to appreciate the risk. That said, constructing a diversified portfolio and spreading stock-specific risk around to try to hit a few big winners is a viable strategy. That includes stocks like electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) maker Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY), weight loss drug company Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX), Navitas Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NVTS), and Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AGIO).

Agios Pharmaceuticals

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is undertaking a priority review of Agios's oral pyruvate kinase (PK) activator, mitapivat. It is set to respond to Agios's supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for mitapivat to treat sickle cell disease (SCD) by Nov. 1.

Agios already had mitapivat approved to treat pyruvate kinase deficiency and adult thalassemia. An approval would expand Agios's total addressable market for a drug that's already established in the market for other indications. Given that the Wall Street consensus, according to Visible Alpha, is for mitapivat (SCD) to contribute about a third of total company revenue by 2030, it's clear that an approval will provide upside potential for the stock.

Navitas Semiconductor

This company has transformed itself in recent years, from a power chip technology company focused on relatively low-margin, low-power solutions for consumer electronics (including mobile) toward higher-margin, higher-power chips for AI data centers, high-performance computing (HPC), and grid and energy infrastructure. This strategic shift includes partnering with Nvidia to develop power chips for the next-generation high-power 800-volt direct current (VDC) data center architecture, set to launch in 2027.

Nvidia, AI data centers, HPC, grid -- it reads like a list of buzzwords for what investors have fallen in love with this year. Still, there's a reason for that, and it comes down to the massive scale of investment underway to build out AI infrastructure. Management believes its serviceable addressable market (SAM) will grow to $3.5 billion in 2030, which should give Navitas plenty of opportunity to increase revenue from less than $50 million in 2026. Navitas has huge potential (as does its peer, ON Semiconductor), but it will take a few years before Navitas hits profitability, and investors need to be patient.

Joby Aviation

This eVTOL company has big ambitions. While peers like Archer Aviation are more focused on becoming original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and selling their eVTOLs to third parties, Joby's primary aim is to become a transportation-as-a-service (TaaS) company that manufactures, owns, and operates its own eVTOL as part of a vertically integrated business model.

While the lack of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification hit Joby and Archer in 2026, Joby continues to make progress by building FAA-compliant aircraft. Moreover, in a nod to the future of eVTOL services, Joby recently announced that it had flown an aircraft (a converted Cessna) using its autonomous technology.

It's an important development because if Joby's TaaS model is successful, the natural evolution will be to turn into an autonomous service to reduce costs and improve its commercial appeal. Joby is loss-making and burning cash, but if it can gain certification and start demonstrating the potential of its model, investors will waste no time pricing a long-term stream of profitable, recurring income from a company with its own transportation network.

Image source: Getty Images.

Viking Therapeutics

Viking is a small player in an increasingly crowded and competitive market for obesity drugs. It doesn't have its lead drug, VK2735, approved or advanced to phase 3 clinical trials yet. That's the "bad" news out of the way.

The good news is that Viking doesn't need a large share of the weight loss treatment market to be successful. Moreover, it already has VK2735 in phase 3 trials in subcutaneous (injectable) form. It's produced data from a phase 2 trial suggesting it can produce a steeper velocity of weight loss than its most similar peer, Eli Lilly's blockbuster weight loss drug tirzepatide (Zepbound and Mounjaro). Viking is also set to begin phase 3 trials of the oral formulation of VK2735 as the company continues to develop the drug as part of a dual-formulation strategy.

To that end, Viking recently reported positive results from a maintenance trial involving an initial subcutaneous dose followed by a subcutaneous maintenance dose, and is now undertaking the second part (subcutaneous plus oral maintenance).

VK2735 probably won't be a blockbuster drug. Still, even a small share of the $80 billion in sales that analysts believe tirzepatide will generate in 2030 will be enough to send this $3.6 billion market-cap stock higher.

Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Eli Lilly and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends ON Semiconductor and Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.