It's the question that haunts investor dreams and dominates Reddit forums: what stock might multiply tenfold in the next five years? I've spent enough time watching hopeful investors chase these unicorns to recognize the pattern—it's financial mountaineering where everyone wants the summit photo but few are willing to carry their own gear.
Let's be real about what we're discussing here. A 10X return means 900% growth when the S&P historically delivers about 50% over the same timeframe. We're talking about locating the proverbial needle in a haystack... that's also on fire... while blindfolded.
The Usual Suspects Won't Cut It
Look, I could easily point you toward some pre-revenue biotech firm with promises of curing cancer or an AI startup burning cash while "figuring out monetization." But those aren't investments—they're lottery tickets with glossy investor decks attached.
What interests me (and should interest you) are companies with actual functioning business models that still have exponential growth potential. These are rare beasts indeed.
The first thing to understand about genuine 10X candidates? They're hiding in plain sight. When Netflix was shipping DVDs in red envelopes, who saw the streaming giant it would become? While Tesla was struggling to produce cars in a tent, who foresaw its trillion-dollar valuation? (OK, besides Cathie Wood.)
What Makes a Real Moonshot?
Having tracked high-growth companies for years, I've noticed legitimate 10X candidates typically share several traits:
- They're playing in massive, expanding markets
- They've built genuine competitive moats (not just temporary advantages)
- Their business models demonstrate significant operating leverage
- Wall Street fundamentally misunderstands or undervalues them
- Management has skin in the game and a history of delivering results
With these filters in mind, let me offer a few possibilities that—and I cannot stress this enough—might deliver that elusive 10X by 2029.
Three Contenders Worth Your Attention
Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA) hovers around $1 these days, a far cry from its SPAC-fueled heights. At a $2 billion market cap, this synthetic biology platform company has been absolutely hammered. But here's what makes it interesting: Ginkgo is essentially building the programming infrastructure for biology—attempting to make cell programming as accessible as computer programming.
The market currently values them on near-term revenue, completely missing the forest for the trees. If biological manufacturing becomes the next major technological revolution (a big "if," admittedly), their platform approach could put them at the center of it all. It's high-risk, high-reward in its purest form.
Rocket Lab (RKLB) sits at roughly $5 with a $2.5B market cap. They've established themselves as the clear number two in commercial space launch behind SpaceX—not a bad position considering the alternative is, well, nowhere.
They've got a proven small launch vehicle in Electron and are developing the larger Neutron rocket. But what's particularly compelling is their expansion beyond just launches into satellites and components. If space truly becomes the next economic frontier (another big "if"), Rocket Lab could ride that wave to a valuation 10 times its current level.
SoFi Technologies (SOFI) trades around $7 with an $8B market cap. The company has successfully pivoted from its student loan refinancing roots to become a full-stack digital bank. They've also built a robust technology platform they license to other financial institutions—a nice little side hustle that could eventually become the main show.
Banking is an enormous market, and if SoFi continues its customer acquisition momentum while expanding products per customer... well, you can do the math. The stock has been beaten down on interest rate concerns, but a normalized rate environment might reveal the true economics of their model.
The Irony of the Hunt
The funniest thing about searching for 10X returns? The most likely candidates probably aren't even on our collective radar yet.
Think about it. Five years ago, who was pounding the table for Nvidia to become one of the world's most valuable companies? Tesla was widely considered overvalued and flirting with bankruptcy. AMD was perpetually in Intel's shadow.
The best 10X candidates often look risky, face significant skepticism, or are simply too boring for most investors to have connected the dots on their growth trajectory. By the time consensus recognizes their potential, much of the outsized return has already materialized.
A Reality Check (Because Someone Has To Do It)
Here's the cold, hard truth that financial TikTokers won't tell you: identifying a genuine 10X stock in advance is extraordinarily difficult. For every NVIDIA there are dozens of promising companies that crashed and burned.
I've watched enough "surefire winners" turn into smoldering craters to know that humility is the only reasonable approach here. The wiser move isn't betting everything on finding a single 10X winner, but constructing a portfolio with exposure to multiple high-potential companies alongside more stable investments.
After all, even the best venture capitalists with their portfolios of early-stage companies typically only hit one true home run for every twenty swings. The odds aren't much better for public market investors hunting for moonshots.
But isn't that half the fun? The thrill of the hunt keeps us engaged, reading financial statements at midnight and parsing conference call transcripts for hints of greatness. Just remember that in the 10X game, the journey itself—what you learn along the way—might ultimately prove more valuable than the destination.
