Insiders Step in on These 2 ‘Strong Buy’ Stocks — And Analysts Are on the Same Page

One of the clearest signals retail investors can watch comes not from headlines or hype, but from corporate insiders themselves. Executives and board members don’t trade on whispers – they trade on record. Every purchase is documented, public, and impossible to spin. So when insiders reach into their own pockets to buy shares, it’s a signal worth paying attention to.

Insiders live inside the business – they see demand trends forming, cost pressures easing or worsening, and strategic moves well before they appear on earnings calls. While in some cases their vision might be narrow, it can also be unusually sharp. And unlike outside investors, they carry direct responsibility for execution, reputation, and shareholder outcomes. That tends to make insider buying selective, deliberate, and tied to moments when confidence outweighs uncertainty.

Regulators make sure these transactions are disclosed, turning what could be an unfair edge into a public signal. Where things get especially interesting is when insider buying lines up with outside conviction – Strong Buy ratings, supportive analyst commentary, and improving fundamentals. When both sides of the wall lean the same way, it can be a serious signal that goes far beyond just hype.

Against this backdrop, we’ve opened up the Insiders’ Hot Stocks tool at TipRanks to look up two stocks that show exactly that profile. Let’s give them a closer look.

Navan (NAVN)

Few areas of corporate operations are as fragmented as business travel and expenses, and that’s exactly the problem Navan set out to solve. Based in Silicon Valley, with its headquarters in Palo Alto, California, the company has built a unified platform that brings travel booking, expense management, payments, and cost controls into one place. The approach has gained traction with large enterprises, including companies such as Lyft, among others.

Navan’s platform is described as more than just a booking tool, but an all-in-one, one-stop shop for business travel needs. Companies can tap into a global inventory of airlines and hotels, including major carriers like Delta, United, and Air France, as well as smaller carriers like RyanAir and Easy Jet, supplemented by such names as Marriot hotels and Budget car rentals. The platform also allows users to select their hotels and control their hotel spending, keeping their travel expenses on target.

This tech firm was founded in 2015, and in October of this year it took the leap and went public through an IPO. Navan put an aggregate total of 36,924,406 shares on the market, a figure that included 6,924,406 sold by existing shareholders. The offering closed on October 31 and generated ~$923 million in gross proceeds, including shares sold by existing shareholders.

On the insider track, we find that Anre Williams, from the Board of Directors, made a purchase of 100,000 shares on December 17. Williams was appointed to the Board in August of this year, and the December share purchase cost him $1.27 million.

Navan announced its fiscal 3Q26 results earlier this month, its first quarterly report as a public company. The company had revenues of $195 million, up 29% year-over-year, and beat the forecast by $13 million. At the bottom line, Navan reported a non-GAAP EPS of 14 cents, 31 cents per share better than expected and a sharp turnaround from the 31-cent EPS loss reported in the prior-year period.

For Morgan Stanley analyst Chris Quintero, the keys here are Navan’s business momentum and its potential for upside. He writes, “The business momentum is clearly building and management’s execution has been strong out of the gate. With the stock now trading down to 3X CY27 Sales after hours, well below peers at 5X, we believe this dislocation presents an attractive opportunity to own a category-leading 20%+ grower. As we had previewed in our initiation, there was a solid amount of upside to the IPO model’s estimate for Q3 and we continue to believe there will be upside to Q4’s guidance, which should act as a catalyst for the stock to re-rate toward our new price target of $20 as our estimates move higher.”

Those views underpin Quintero’s Overweight (i.e., Buy) rating, with his $20 target implying ~26% upside over the next year. (To watch Quintero’s track record, click here)

Zooming out, Wall Street’s conviction looks even stronger. All 11 analysts covering Navan are bullish, giving the stock a unanimous Strong Buy consensus. With shares trading at $15.90, the Street’s $23.64 average price target points to a ~49% gain over the next 12 months. (See NAVN stock forecast)

HeartFlow (HTFL)

Next on our list is a medical tech firm that aims to reshape coronary care. HeartFlow has developed a platform to transform the way that physicians can analyze and use diagnostic imaging of the heart and its arteries. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and according to the CDC, its most common type, coronary artery disease (CAD), was responsible for 371,506 deaths in 2022. About 5% of U.S. adults age 20 and over have CAD, making this condition a significant factor in deaths across the U.S.

HeartFlow’s products use computational fluid dynamics to develop color-coded digital maps based on simulated blood flow in the coronary arteries. The aim is to let doctors see how the blockages are stopping blood supply to the heart – an investigation that previously required invasive testing procedures. HeartFlow makes it possible to get this level of diagnosis from a standard coronary CT scan, or CCTA.

The company went public in August, raising about $364.2 million. A few months later, a board member stepped in as a buyer: Jeffrey Lightcap picked up 40,000 shares on December 17, spending $1.05 million.

Like Navan above, HeartFlow has released one quarterly report since its IPO. The report, released in November for 3Q25, showed total revenue of $46.3 million, representing a 41% year-over-year jump and beating the forecast by $4.3 million. Like many cutting-edge tech firms, HeartFlow operates at a net loss; in Q3, that loss came to 27 cents per share in non-GAAP measures, missing the estimates by 3 cents per share.

This new stock has caught the attention of Piper Sandler analyst Matt O’Brien, who likes the firm’s momentum and the quality of its products.

“Business momentum continues on a solid trajectory with the install base improving meaningfully and utilization at new and existing centers coming in ahead of the company’s expectations. We anticipate both of these pillars will remain solid contributors to growth in the coming years. Furthermore, HeartFlow is getting closer to 70% reimbursement coverage for plaque analysis (now at 57%) at which point management anticipates plaque will become a more material revenue contributor (and provide nice upside to GM too). Overall, we believe the company operates in a healthy end-market and will continue to deliver some of the best growth and GM across medtech, which reinforces our OW rating,” O’Brien noted.

That Overweight (i.e., Buy) rating is accompanied by a $38 price target, suggesting a one-year upside potential of ~25%. (To watch O’Brien’s track record, click here)

Overall, there are 5 analyst reviews here, with a 4 to 1 split favoring Buy over Hold to support the Strong Buy consensus rating. The stock is currently priced at $31.25, and its $38.60 average target price implies that it will gain 23.5% by the end of next year. (See HTFL stock forecast)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.