On August 14, Tony Kim, Centerview Partners co-president, joined CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell: Overtime’ to discuss the IPO market and the dealmaking environment. Looking at the broader M&A landscape, the past 2 months have seen some of the biggest deals of the year. There have been 38 deals valued at over $10 billion so far in 2025, which is the most at this point in any year. Turning towards the IPO market, Kim attributed the strong first-day trading performances of companies to the fact that the IPO market, which had been weak, is now making a comeback. He said that companies are pricing their IPOs conservatively to ensure that they land well. He also noted that over the last decade, there have been about a dozen IPOs that saw a first-day gain of more than 150%. Kim also pointed out that this pent-up demand is concentrated in specific sectors like defense tech, AI, and crypto, with less demand for other industries.
Kim also acknowledged that M&A seemed robust. He explained that activity had briefly seized up in April after post-liberation day due to uncertainty, but the market has since settled. The deal pipeline began to build in June, July, and August, leading to the recent deal announcements. He also clarified that the tech sector is doing things differently. He mentioned a couple of recent big M&A deals but noted that the bigger trillion-dollar tech companies are pivoting away from traditional M&A. Instead, they are engaging in LIFT (licensing, IP, founders, and talent) transactions. These deals are investment partnerships that allow big tech companies to gain access to what they want without buying the entire company.
That being said, we’re here with a list of the 13 best IPO stocks to buy according to Wall Street analysts.
A financial adviser looking over a portfolio of securities and stocks.
Methodology
We first sifted through the Finviz stock screener to compile a list of the top new stocks that went public in the last 2 years. We then selected the 13 stocks with an upside potential of over 25% as of August 15. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of their upside potential. We have also added the hedge fund sentiment for each stock, as of Q1 2025, which was sourced from Insider Monkey’s database.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
13 Best IPO Stocks to Buy According to Wall Street Analysts
13. OneStream Inc. (NASDAQ:OS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 22
Average Upside Potential as of August 15: 39.62%
OneStream Inc. (NASDAQ:OS) is one of the best IPO stocks to buy according to Wall Street analysts. On August 8, Baird lowered the firm’s price target on OneStream to $26 from $28, while keeping an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm updated its model following Q2 2025 results, which showed steady performance.
OneStream’s total revenue grew by 26% year-over-year in Q2, propelled by a 30% increase in subscription revenue. The international business expanded by 34% and contributed 33% to the total revenue. The total revenue came out to be $147.59 million. OneStream also saw a remarkable 281% increase in its free cash flow compared to the previous year.
The company introduced new AI innovations, including Sensible AI Studio and Sensible AI Agents, which have been well-received by customers. However, license revenue declined by $900K year-over-year, which the company attributed to the successful conversion of customers to SaaS.
OneStream Inc. (NASDAQ:OS) delivers a unified, AI-enabled, and extensible software platform in the US and internationally.
12. Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 41
Average Upside Potential as of August 15: 39.74%
Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) is one of the best IPO stocks to buy according to Wall Street analysts. On July 24, Waystar entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Iodine Software for an enterprise value of $1.25 billion. The deal is expected to be funded with an even split of cash and stock. Waystar shareholders will own ~92% of the new combined company, while Iodine equity holders will own about 8%.
Advent, which is the largest shareholder of Iodine, will receive Waystar shares and has agreed to an 18-month lock-up period post-closing. The acquisition is anticipated to close by the end of 2025, pending regulatory approvals. The acquisition aims to enhance Waystar’s cloud-based platform by integrating Iodine’s AI-powered clinical intelligence software.
The combined entity is projected to serve 17 of the 20 US News Best Hospitals and increase Waystar’s total addressable market by over 15%. The integration will use Iodine’s AI engine, called IodineIQ, which trains on patient encounters and clinical data to automate tasks. The companies anticipate more than $15 million in cost synergies within the first two years after the closing.
Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) is a company that develops a cloud-based software solution for healthcare payments.