A highly volatile stock can deliver big gains - or just as easily wipe out a portfolio if things go south. While some investors embrace risk, mistakes can be costly for those who aren’t prepared.

At StockStory, our job is to help you avoid costly mistakes and stay on the right side of the trade. Keeping that in mind, here is one volatile stock with massive upside potential and two that could just as easily collapse.

Two Stocks to Sell:

Amazon (AMZN)

Rolling One-Year Beta: 1.35

Founded by Jeff Bezos after quitting his stock-picking job at D.E. Shaw, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is the world’s largest online retailer and provider of cloud computing services.

Why Are We Wary of AMZN?

1. Amazon revolutionized the way consumers shop. But its capital-intensive online retail business caps its profitability, leading to margins that lag behind its Magnificent 7 peers.
2. Although Amazon Web Services is a gold mine producing mission-critical infrastructure, its outsized scale limits its growth rate compared to smaller peers such as Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
3. Returns on invested capital are well below their pre-COVID peak as the company is in the middle of an investment cycle. Will Amazon ever harvest profits or keep pushing them to the future?

Amazon is trading at $231.69 per share, or 36.3x forward price-to-earnings. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than AMZN.

MicroStrategy (MSTR)

Rolling One-Year Beta: 1.28

Founded in 1989 with an initial contract with DuPoint, MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) started as a data mining and business intelligence software platform, but in 2020, the company made waves by investing heavily in Bitcoin.

Why Do We Avoid MSTR?

1. MicroStrategy’s core analytics software has been eclipsed by its all-in Bitcoin strategy, leaving product innovation and enterprise deals starved for attention
2. The company’s debt-financed Bitcoin buying ties shareholder fortunes to crypto swings and interest rates, amplifying downside risk and uncertainty
3. On the bright side, its vast Bitcoin treasury gives Executive Chairman Michael Saylor a unique springboard to capture crypto upside and court investors seeking leveraged exposure to digital assets

At $407.76 per share, MicroStrategy trades at 223x forward price-to-sales. To fully understand why you should be careful with MSTR, check out our full research report (it’s free).

One Stock to Watch:

Toast (TOST)

Rolling One-Year Beta: 1.42

Founded by three MIT engineers at a local Cambridge bar, Toast (NYSE: TOST) provides integrated point-of-sale (POS) hardware, software, and payments solutions for restaurants.

Why Are We Fans of TOST?

1. ARR trends over the last year show it’s maintaining a steady flow of long-term contracts that contribute positively to its revenue predictability
2. Forecasted revenue growth of 20.7% for the next 12 months indicates its momentum over the last three years is sustainable
3. Operating profits increased over the last year as the company gained some leverage on its fixed costs and became more efficient

Toast’s stock price of $48.77 implies a valuation ratio of 4.7x forward price-to-sales. Is now the time to initiate a position? Find out in our full research report, it’s free.

Stocks We Like Even More

When Trump unveiled his aggressive tariff plan in April 2025, markets tanked as investors feared a full-blown trade war. But those who panicked and sold missed the subsequent rebound that’s already erased most losses.

Don’t let fear keep you from great opportunities and take a look at Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).

Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.

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