5 Must-Buy Small Cap Stocks to Buy

2. Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ZNTL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 22

Year-To-Date Performance: 271.85%

Market Capitalization: $356.07 million

Stock Upside: 64.34%

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ZNTL) is one of the must-buy small cap stocks to buy. On April 10, Jefferies raised its price target on Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ZNTL) from $2.50 to $6.00 and left the Hold rating unchanged. This decision came after Zentalis said it had selected the optimal dose of its lead cancer drug azenosertib based on interim data from an ongoing clinical trial.

Zentalis announced in an April 9 press release that it had selected 400mg once daily on a five-days-on, two-days-off schedule as the optimal monotherapy dose of azenosertib for patients with Cyclin E1-positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. The company explained that this dose was arrived at after a prespecified interim data analysis from the DENALI Part 2a study.

Zentalis CEO Julie Eastland described the confirmation of azenosertib’s monotherapy dose as a pivotal milestone that puts the company firmly on track toward regulatory approval. She noted that the company is already moving beyond the clinical trials themselves. They are building out its commercial team, expanding manufacturing capacity, and developing the companion diagnostic needed to identify eligible patients.

With dose selection now confirmed, Jefferies is watching two near-term data points that could shift the story further. The first is Phase 2 efficacy data from the full DENALI trial, which Zentalis expects to share by year-end 2026. The second data point is the confirmatory Phase 3 study, ASPENOVA, which is on track to begin enrolling patients in Q2 2026.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ZNTL) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company. It focuses on developing small-molecule therapies targeting key biological pathways in cancer. Its lead candidate is azenosertib, a WEE1 inhibitor currently in late-stage clinical development for ovarian cancer and other tumor types.