The top stocks that Mizuho will select in 2026 are vaccine manufacturers that have a significant advantage over their competitors. CNBC Pro obtained a list of the top stocks offered to clients by major sell-side brokerages such as Mizuho and looked for stocks that analysts see as having the most upside potential. For Mizuho, the stock with the most potential to rise is vaccine developer Vaxyte. Vaxcyte, which currently has a market capitalization of nearly $6 billion, has fallen 47% this year. However, Mizuho’s price target of $163 implies an upside of more than 250% from Friday’s closing price of Vaxcyte at $46.42. PCVX YTD Mountain 2025 PCVX Stock Mizuho analyst Salim Saeed currently rates the stock as Outperform. He emphasized that vaccines against pneumococcal disease, which is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, are the catalyst. “With clear VAX-31 Ph2 study results in adults advancing VAX-31 to Phase 3 in adults and Phase 2 in infants, Vaxcyte’s pneumococcal conjugate vaccine platform appears broadly risk-free,” he wrote, citing Phase 2 and Phase 3 drug trials. Said noted that the vaccine market for pneumococcal diseases is currently valued at approximately $8 billion and growing, with demographic revenue split between one-third adults and two-thirds infants. He added that Vaxcyte’s competitors are currently lagging behind in development, which gives the company a big advantage. The analyst believes Vaxcyte’s adult vaccine could become the market leader. “This positive data from VAX-31 in adults represents the broadest serotype coverage we have from a (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) and is potentially best-in-class,” Said wrote. Results for the infant-focused vaccine have been less positive, but analysts noted that Vaxcyte is taking steps to reduce risk. “While the interim data readout after the third and fourth doses of VAX-24 Ph2 in infants was incomplete (which should have been expected), it was still positive and acceptable to us and may have reset our expectations for a topline readout in infants of VAX31 (i.e., it is reasonable to expect some missed serotypes and still covers a wider range than PCV20),” he wrote. “We believe that modifying the ongoing Phase 2 VAX-31 infant trial to include a pediatric-optimized dose group will likely further reduce the risk of this top-line outcome (i.e., infant doses originally designed based on adult data, VAX-24 infant doses based on informed dosing may increase the PoS of VAX-31 infant outcomes).”
