Whether you’re trading penny stocks or stocks over $100, it’s hard to miss that the stock market is up today. That’s in stark contrast to last week, when markets appeared to be heading toward another downtrend.
A mix of Israel-Hamas War headlines and an upbeat sentiment heading into earnings season have helped lift stocks so far this week. More than 10% of the S&P 500 companies are set to report financial results this week.
Tesla, Johnson & Johnson, and Netflix are among the headliners. The results come after the start of Q3 earnings season launched on Friday with strong reports from banks like JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Charles Schwab.
This doesn’t mean the Israel-Hamas conflict is entirely out of the news. The weekend saw Israel’s military push residents to leave the northern Gaza region. Military aid packages are being prepared aiming to help Israel fight Hamas. The geopolitical news that rocked markets last week has not had the same impact on the stock market today to start the week.
However, with the slew of earnings and economic data set to come out, traders have remained cautious when developing their longer-term strategy. This hasn’t stopped them from focusing on short-term opportunities with things like finding their own penny stock picks. Today, we look at some of the hot penny stocks to watch with the stock market up on October 16th.
Penny Stocks To Watch
- Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE)
- JetBlue Airways Inc. (NASDAQ: JBLU)
- Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS)
- FuboTV (NYSE: FUBO)
Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE)
Space stocks were once a popular topic, but the trend cooled off significantly with the shift in market sentiment. The latest risk-on environment, however, has brought interest back to companies in the niche. Virgin Galactic most notably has taken an appeal from investors as the company continues launching civilians into space.
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Earlier this month, the company completed its fifth successful human space mission in the last five months. Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said: “Our teams in New Mexico and California have delivered on our monthly spaceflight objectives. Three new astronauts journeyed to space today and brought back incredible memories and stories of their experience above the Earth. These early missions with our initial ship, VSS Unity, have informed and confirmed the design and maintenance objectives for our Delta class spaceships, and the production tooling for those ships is on track to commence later in the fourth quarter.”
This week, as the market has risen, so have shares of SPCE stock. While it’s a positive for the company following a long stint of selling, Virgin is still hovering around 52-week lows.
JetBlue Airways Inc. (JBLU)
We wrote about JBLU stock (See: Will JetBlue (JBLU) Be On Your List Of Penny Stocks In 2023?) before gracing the penny stock stage and as share prices took a nosedive last quarter. Now, it may seem that some hope for the penny stock to finally take flight. As share prices rebound, options action has picked up. More than 5,800 contracts have traded in the 10/20 $5.50 Calls in the stock market today, which is where the bulk of the action appears.
Last week, JetBlue announced the record and payment dates for October’s prepayment to Spirit stockholders. This is related to the plan of merger with Spirit Airlines. The end of September saw JetBlue announcing it would raise flight attendant pay next year and provide other bonuses, which appealed to the unions. Flight attendants will get 5% raises starting in November. A JetBlue spokesman said, “Because our inflight crewmembers play a significant role in delivering the JetBlue experience, it’s important that we’re able to attract and retain high-quality crewmembers with competitive pay and benefits.”
With this, JBLU stock has slowly clawed back some of its losses over the last month but is still trading significantly lower than in June.
Momentus Inc. (MNTS)
Shares of Momentus are starting to live up to their name over the last week. Shares of MNTS stock have now rallied from $1.03 on October 6 to highs this week of $5.50. One of the catalysts that seems to have helped the second space stock on this list is news of its latest contract.
Momentus announced that it signed a deal for orbital delivery services with C35, a repeat customer of the company. C3S CEO Gyula Horváth said, “This solution allows further optimization of the satellite’s profit-generating phase during its lifespan, complemented well by our platform’s high availability. In this regard, the solution of Momentus can provide great assistance, which we had the opportunity to try in the spring.”
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The company also inked a deal late last week with RIDE! Space for transportation and orbital delivery services starting in Q1 of 2024.RIDE! Space will fly its Gaindesat and Djibouti payloads on a single mission.
FuboTV ( FUBO)
Sports entertainment stocks are gaining ground as the latest professional seasons continue. FuboTV is an online pay-TV service offering traditional channels without a cable subscription. The company’s platform also provides a level of interactivity as a sports-first outlet.
It allows viewers to engage with the content they’re watching through features like FanView, which lists stats and scores in real-time. It also allows streaming four separate channels simultaneously and in 4K HDR resolution.
FUBO stock has maintained strong trading levels over the last few months compared to earlier this year. This week, prices hover around the 50-day moving average, $2.42, with the market shaking off most of the concern from last month’s Disney-Charter news. Meanwhile, short interest has attracted attention from some searching for short-squeeze penny stocks. According to TD Ameritrade, the short float percentage on FUBO stock is around 18%.
Thanks to the kick-off of earnings season, there will be plenty to pay attention to. Fubo announced it will deliver its results at the beginning of November. So, if FUBO stock is on your watch list, keep November 3 in mind.
