The Top Stock to Buy With $30 for 2026

If you had only $30 to spend on a single share of a company, which one would you choose? Although price and value aren't the same thing on equity markets, the best stocks tend to attract enough attention and activity to bid up their share price. So, there is often a perception that a company whose shares look cheap is generally not worth investing in.

However, here is one stock trading below $30 that could be a great buy this year: Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), trading at just under $26 per share.

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The bad news first

Pfizer's financial performance has not been great in recent years. And that should continue to be the case through 2028 or so. Why? As management noted, the company is entering a period in which it will lose patent exclusivity for some key products. Among others, Pfizer will face a patent cliff for Eliquis, an anticoagulant that is one of its best-selling products. We won't see robust top-line growth as Pfizer deals with this challenge; quite the opposite. The company expects its revenue to decline in some years as a result of these obstacles. So, after several challenging years, Pfizer isn't out of the woods.

Now for the bull case

Shares of pharmaceutical companies tend to rise as a result of solid clinical and regulatory progress about as much as they do due to strong financial results. Over the next three years, we could see Pfizer making significant progress across several important programs that will jolt its share price, even as its revenue and earnings growth isn't strong. That's why investors shouldn't wait until Pfizer's results improve significantly before initiating positions. There is huge upside potential now. By then, it might be far more limited.

But which candidates might move the needle for Pfizer in the coming years? The two most promising could be MET-097i and PF-4404. The former is an investigational weight loss medicine that performed well in phase 2 studies. It could be administered once monthly -- rather than once weekly for current subcutaneous options -- and also seems to have lower rates of adverse reactions, giving it a strong tolerability profile.

With the weight loss market growing rapidly, it could be an important candidate for Pfizer. The second, PF-4404, is being investigated across several cancer types, potentially earning many indications down the line. CEO Albert Bourla believes that Wall Street hasn't factored in a lot of what is going on and could happen in the next year or so for the company, including the progress with MET-097i and PF-4404.

In my view, he is correct, and that creates a wonderful opportunity to buy the company's shares before the rest of the market catches up. Those who do so today could see tremendous returns in the next decade.

Prosper Junior Bakiny has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Pfizer. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.