In this analysis, S&P Global Market Intelligence considered major exchange-traded U.S. specialty lenders and investment companies trading in relation to mean one-year analyst price targets as of March 12. Only stocks with three or more analyst price targets and that were trading above $5 per share were included in this analysis.
The next 12 months could be rewarding for investors with interest in the specialty lender and investment company industries, as 11 stocks in the two sectors are projected to appreciate by at least 25% over the next year.
Only 14 of the 98 companies studied in this S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis were trading above their one-year mean price targets.
Sell-side analysts are most bullish on CAI International Inc. and expect the company's shares to appreciate by 70.1% over the next 12 months. The stock has already posted a return of 53.7% over the last year, but four out of five covering analysts still recommend buying the stock at current levels.
Alcentra Capital Corp. and Sallie Mae have the second- and third-highest implied upsides at 46.7% and 33.1%, respectively.
At the other end of the spectrum, specialty lender World Acceptance Corp. is trading 28.4% above its mean one-year price target, the most of any stock examined in the two sectors. World Acceptance's shares have more than doubled over the past year.
Prospect Capital Corp. and Credit Acceptance Corp. were the next two most-overvalued companies, trading at 12.6% and 10.8% above their respective mean price targets.

