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Oppenheimer: These 3 Stocks Could Spike Over 80%

Wall Street’s best firms don’t just look at the stocks, they look at the big picture, too. And Oppenheimer’s chief investment strategist, John Stoltzfus, is particularly adept at showing us the macro view. In his first note of the new year, Stoltzfus notes a series of factors that are going to impact the markets. The big news, of course, the 800-pound gorilla that cannot be ignored, is the ongoing COVID epidemic. The disease is coming back strong now that we’re well into winter – which was somewhat expected, as it’s typical behavior for flu-like respiratory viruses. With the winter virus surge, we also must contend with a new round of lockdown policies, imposed from state or local levels. It’s hoped that the newly available COVID vaccines will, by springtime, start to put a damper on the novel coronavirus.”The length of time that households and economies have been negatively impacted by the spread of the virus across the world in our view will likely result in less resistance to inoculation against Covid-19 than many experts had feared early on in the pandemic. We expect that equity markets will remain sensitive to developments tied to the pandemic that have held the US and global economy hostage for nearly a year,” Stoltzfus said.The second-biggest news, but the one most likely, in Stoltzfus’ view, to make an impression on the market, is the Georgia election. Both Democratic candidates won Senate seats, giving the incoming Biden Administration the ability to push policies through Congress over any opposition – at least for the next two years.This Democrat victory, ensuring short-term one-party control of the Presidency and Congress, has Stoltzfus worried. In his campaign, Joe Biden promised to roll back Trump’s tax policies, and to enact a series of large spending initiatives. Should he now follow through, Biden’s stated policy is likely to raise both taxes and Federal spending. And in Stoltzfus’ view, that will probably cost the markets; Stoltzfus believes that unfettered progressive/Democrat policy enactments will leave the S&P 500 vulnerable to losses on the order of 6% to 10%.Before rushing to sell-off holdings, Oppenheimer’s stock analysts remind investors that compelling opportunities can still be found. The firm’s analysts have tagged three stocks that they see gaining upwards of 80% for the year ahead. Using TipRanks’ database, we learned that the rest of the Street is in agreement, as all three boast a “Strong Buy” analyst consensus.  miRagen Therapeutics (MGEN)miRagen Therapeutics aims to develop new treatment options for diseases that today’s therapies cannot adequately ameliorate. The company’s flagship drug candidate is VRDN-001, an anti-IGF-1R monoclonal antibody in clinical-stage research as a treatment for thyroid eye disease (TED). miRagen acquired the rights to VRDN-001 late last year, after its October acquisition of Veridian…