Investing in penny stocks can be a lucrative but also volatile endeavor. For those unfamiliar, “penny stocks” are typically defined as stocks under $5. They may seem like a risky investment, but cheap stocks can also offer significant upside potential for investors willing to take on the added risk.
As we approach the end of March 2023, the stock market is facing a lot of turbulence. That’s concerning Wednesday’s FOMC meeting and the latest rate hike decision. Many investors speculate that this decision will be pivotal in the fight against runaway inflation. The latest round of February CPI data and the recent PPI report from last month have also led market participants to weigh the potential for less aggressive hikes in 2023. This was further discussed during Fed Chair Powell’s press conference on Wednesday:
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While this is all happening, retail traders, focus on daily trends in small and nano-cap stocks. These penny stocks tend to move independently of broader market trends. That means some cheap stocks are rising even when the stock market is down.
But why do penny stocks climb when the stock market is down? The answer is speculation, which is a core driver of momentum. In most cases, the underlying companies are smaller start-ups or early-stage companies. They can also be companies that have fallen on hard times. Traders look to these beaten-down companies for potential signs of a turnaround. Whatever the source of speculation, it tends to be a reason for day traders and even swing traders to take notice.
Let’s take a closer look at a few cheap stocks that have been turning heads in the stock market today. This is also a continuation of the list of penny stocks in our article Penny Stocks To Buy Under $5? 3 To Watch This Week.
Penny Stocks To Watch
CXApp Inc. (CXAI)
Recently public CXApp has attempted to recover some of its losses since going public. Thursday’s action saw CXAI stock jump to its highest daily volumes to date. CXApp, which provides work experience solutions, went public via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company. It offers employee application, indoor mapping, augmented reality technologies, and AI-based analytics for the hybrid workplace market.
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Khurram Sheikh, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of KINS (the merger partner), said, “CXApp is a “category-maker” company that has developed the most engaging application for the hybrid workplace market – in reality, this is the Workplace SuperApp with over 150 native features and 100+ API integrations. We believe that with this unique value proposition and technology, leadership CXApp is well-positioned for substantial growth.
With the newly public status, CXAI stock has caught some of the attention of retail traders in the stock market today.
SoundHound AI Inc. (SOUN)
Like CXApp, SoundHound is another one of the companies with exposure to Artificial Intelligence (AI). These Artificial Intelligence stocks (AI stocks) have been a monthly mainstay on traders’ watchlists.
Thanks to the excitement stemming from breakthrough tech, like ChatGPT, any company working on or involved with this industry has gained attention. SoundHound is one of the names that exemplifies this trend’s ups and downs during the stint of speculation. The penny stock exploded to over $4.90 last month and has since dropped to the $2 level.
This week, the trend for AI stock continues, and so does newsflow from SoundHound. The company announced that it launched SoundHound Chat AI. This voice platform is designed to give brands and customers access to a multimodal voice assistant.
“SoundHound Chat AI ushers in a new phase of voice-enabled, conversational AI that used to only exist in science fiction,” explained Keyvan Mohajer, CEO and Co-Founder of SoundHound. “By combining the power of software engineering and machine learning with Generative AI, we can finally deliver the digital assistant experience users have been desiring for decades.”
With this news, attention has returned to SOUN stock in a more favorable light.
PLBY Group Inc. (PLBY)
One of the notable companies that went public and significantly underperformed since has been PLBY Group. Last May, we wrote an article titled Will PLBY Group, Inc. (PLBY) Be On Your List Of Penny Stocks In 2022? Of course, there was a bit of blowback from staunch supporters of the stock itself. However, events surrounding the company’s business, including analyst sentiment, suggested a bearish tone. When the article was published, PLBY stock traded at around $7. Today, shares are hovering around $2. The question now is, has this lower price attracted more retail interest?
If you look at the action in the stock market today, you’ll notice an increase in intra-day volume during the morning session. The addition of a new CFO and COO seems to have boosted sentiment during the second half of the week. There was also a series of new Form 4s filed on March 23rd that also seem to have generated some bullish speculation.
Whether or not this is finally the turning point for PLBY stock is to be seen. There may also be a focus on the PLBY stock short interest. Fintel data shows a short float percentage of 12.3%. Meanwhile, TD Ameritrade has this figure sitting around 20.3%.
Generation Bio (GBIO)
Shares of GBIO stock have gained attention in the stock market today. Both price and volume have increased at above-average rates. Meanwhile, the company’s latest update has become a cause for interest during the second half of the week.
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Generation Bio and Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) entered a strategic collaboration to combine Moderna’s biological and technical expertise with the tech of Generation Bio’s non-viral genetic medicine platform. The goal is to expand the application of each platform to develop nucleic acid therapeutics capable of reaching immune cells.
Phillip Samayoa, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officer of Generation Bio, explained, “This collaboration represents a foundational investment in our platform science, both deepening our pipeline of rare and prevalent liver disease programs beyond hemophilia A and accelerating our work to reach outside of the liver with nucleic acid therapies.
List Of Penny Stocks
- CXApp Inc. (NASDAQ: CXAI)
- SoundHound AI Inc. (NASDAQ: SOUN)
- PLBY Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PLBY)
- Generation Bio (NASDAQ: GBIO)
- T2 Biosystems Inc. (NASDAQ: TTOO)
- CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ: CLSK)
- Proterra Inc. (NASDAQ: PTRA)
