1 Mid-Cap Stock on Our Watchlist and 2 That Underwhelm

October 10, 2025 at 00:51 AM EDT

JLL Cover Image

Mid-cap stocks have the best odds of scaling into $100 billion corporations thanks to their tested business models and large addressable markets. But the many opportunities in front of them attract significant competition, spanning from industry behemoths with seemingly infinite resources to small, nimble players with chips on their shoulders.

These dynamics can rattle even the most seasoned professionals, which is why we started StockStory - to help you separate the good companies from the bad. Keeping that in mind, here is one mid-cap stock with massive growth potential and two best left ignored.

Two Mid-Cap Stocks to Sell:

JLL (JLL)

Market Cap: $13.64 billion

Founded in 1999 through the merger of Jones Lang Wootton and LaSalle Partners, JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a company specializing in real estate advisory and investment management services.

Why Do We Avoid JLL?

Scale is a double-edged sword because it limits the company’s growth potential compared to its smaller competitors, as reflected in its below-average annual revenue increases of 6.9% for the last five years
Ability to fund investments or reward shareholders with increased buybacks or dividends is restricted by its weak free cash flow margin of 2.2% for the last two years
Underwhelming 7.8% return on capital reflects management’s difficulties in finding profitable growth opportunities, and its decreasing returns suggest its historical profit centers are aging

JLL’s stock price of $287.91 implies a valuation ratio of 16x forward P/E. If you’re considering JLL for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more.

Northern Trust (NTRS)

Market Cap: $24.78 billion

Founded in 1889 during Chicago's post-Great Fire rebuilding boom, Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS) provides wealth management, asset servicing, and banking solutions to corporations, institutions, families, and high-net-worth individuals globally.

Why Does NTRS Give Us Pause?

Sales trends were unexciting over the last five years as its 4.9% annual growth was below the typical financials company
Earnings growth over the last five years fell short of the peer group average as its EPS only increased by 5.1% annually

Northern Trust is trading at $131.43 per share, or 14.5x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with NTRS, check out our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members).

One Mid-Cap Stock to Watch:

Curtiss-Wright (CW)

Market Cap: $20.9 billion

Formed from a merger of 12 companies, Curtiss-Wright (NYSE: CW) provides a range of products and services to the aerospace, industrial, electronic, and maritime industries.

Why Do We Watch CW?

Solid 10.2% annual revenue growth over the last two years indicates its offering’s solve complex business issues
Disciplined cost controls and effective management resulted in a strong long-term operating margin of 16.3%, and its profits increased over the last five years as it scaled
Share repurchases over the last two years enabled its annual earnings per share growth of 19.1% to outpace its revenue gains

At $554.83 per share, Curtiss-Wright trades at 41.4x forward P/E. Is now a good time to buy? See for yourself in our in-depth research report, it’s free for active Edge members.

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 Strong Momentum Stocks for this week. 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. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today

StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here.

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