Penny Stocks To Watch: January 2023 Edition
This week has already been wild, and we aren’t even halfway there yet. Despite what broader markets have done, penny stocks continue performing for traders. The unique makeup of these cheap stocks tends to see company-specific speculation influence price versus broader market moves.
Even when the stock market is down, you can find at least a few penny stocks making new highs. Look at popular meme stocks like Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) and others in recent weeks. While the S&P 500 flip-flopped, many memes ultimately climbed back from recent lows.
Does this mean significant developments or major economic events can’t influence stocks under $5? No, but with a keen sense of navigating volatility and daily trends, these high-risk assets can be well worth it. In this article, we look at a handful of cheap stocks to watch after premarket momentum has helped raise eyebrows in the stock market today.
Remember that the premarket session doesn’t include all market participants. The vast majority of traders have yet to participate. It’s that reason why many bullish stocks stumble once the market officially opens at 9:30 AM ET.
Penny Stocks To Watch
Eaton Pharmaceuticals (ETON)
Although it’s one of the lower-volume penny stocks on this list, Eaton Pharmaceuticals has performed significantly better than the broader market over the last few months. Since September 2022, shares of ETON stock have climbed from lows of $1.95 to highs of over $3.20. Wednesday’s premarket session even saw shares of the biotechnology company rise to highs of $3.92. A more robust Q3 performance, beating analyst estimates for earnings per share and revenue, and reporting significant milestones have helped boost sentiment.
– Penny Stocks To Buy? 3 With High Short Interest To Watch This Week
Right before the end of 2022, Eaton announced that it submitted a New Drug Application response for its dehydrated alcohol injection product candidate for methanol poisoning to the FDA. Fast-forward to this week, and even bigger news has surfaced. Eaton announced that the FDA accepted the NDA response and provided a new Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of June 27th.
The platform also gained Orphan Drug status. If approved, the company said it anticipates the FDA granting the application seven years of orphan drug exclusivity. With the official PDUFA date in hand, the market is already placing bets on what it could mean for ETON stock. Time will tell, but it could be one of the reasons for Eaton Pharmaceuticals being on watch lists this week.
Aprea Therapeutics Inc. (APRE)
Another one of the biotechnology penny stocks on the watch list this week is Aprea Therapeutics. The company is developing cancer drugs targeting DNA damage response or “DDR” pathways. Its pipeline includes a lead program, ATRN-119, a small molecule ATR inhibitor. The treatment is under development for solid tumor indications.
This week APRE stock continued with its volatile trend for 2023 after releasing news of its latest milestone. Aprea dosed its first patient in a Phase 1/2a clinical trial of ATRN-119.
“Initiating clinical evaluation of ATRN-119 marks a significant milestone in our efforts to advance the development of our growing pipeline of DDR inhibitors,” said Oren Gilad, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Aprea Therapeutics.
Gilad also explained that the company is “committed to developing and advancing next-generation, synthetic lethality-based therapies to address the unmet medical needs of patients with genetically defined cancers.”
Preliminary data from this study is expected to get published throughout 2023. Something else that may be worth noting is the trend focused on penny stocks under $1. Lately, traders have searched for some of the cheapest penny stocks to buy, which has turned attention to stocks trading for literal pennies. The high-volatility environment lends itself to the potential for quick percentage moves from small moves in price. Whether or not that impacts APRE is yet to be seen. But the latest headlines from the company have helped turn the attention to the micro-cap biotech.
Fresh Tracks Therapeutics (FRTX)
This week, the list of penny stocks with news in the biotech sector continues growing. Fresh Tracks Therapeutics is the latest to make headlines with news of preclinical data recently published in a peer-reviewed Journal of Translational Autoimmunity. Fresh Tracks focuses on prescription therapeutics for treating inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, among others.
This week, the company announced data from its FRTX-02 trial were published in the Journal mentioned above. FRTX-02 is Fresh Tracks Therapeutics’ platform designed to restore immune homeostasis and is being studied in mouse models of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.
Monica Luchi, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Fresh Tracks, mentioned, “These data provide preclinical characterization of FRTX-02 and evidence supporting its role in modulating chronic inflammatory and autoimmune responses, which helped pave the way for this drug candidate to enter a Phase 1 clinical trial in 2022. FRTX-02, to our knowledge, is the first and only clinical-stage, oral DYRK1A inhibitor being developed for patients with autoimmune diseases.”
What may be more important is what Dr. Luchi said later in the update. She stated Fresh Tracks anticipates reporting topline results from Part 1 of the Phase 1 study “by the end of this quarter.”
Bionano Genomics Inc. (BNGO)
Biotech penny stock Bionano Genomics is no stranger to big moves in the stock market. Last year it exploded from around $1.50 to highs of $4.35 during late summer. The move came whileBionano was announcing key milestones. These milestones included its first publication using the company’s optical genome mapping (OGM) platform.
– Can Penny Stocks Make You Money Right Now?
Fast-forward a few weeks, and BNGO stock has retraced back down to levels around $1.60. Even with this as the case, it remains focused on advancing its OGM platform. Bionano announced the publication from the Institut Curie. It showed the use of OGM to detect homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) in breast cancer samples.
CEO Erik Holmlin, Ph.D. stated in a press release, “We believe this study shows that OGM can help overcome the limitations of traditional methods and may capture greater numbers of genomic events reflective of HRD, which we believe may translate into more patients being qualified for life-saving treatments, such as PARP inhibitors.”
There are several upcoming dates to keep in mind if BNGO stock is on your list. Later this month, Bionano hoses a four-day symposium of OGM presentations and panel discussions. Then in early February, Bionano hosts its Strategy Day in New York on the 2nd.
List Of Penny Stocks To Watch
- Eaton Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ETON)
- Aprea Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: APRE)
- Fresh Tracks Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FRTX)
- Bionano Genomics Inc. (NASDAQ: BNGO)
