During a week that saw the major indices struggle against a slew of geopolitical problems, rising dollar and bond yields as well as mixed economic data, many stocks priced at less than $5 per share performed well.
There was a renewal of prominence and activity among the low-priced biotech companies as well after several weeks of tepid performance.
Here then are five of the best performing little stocks this week:
Best Stocks Under $5: One Horizon Group Inc (OHGI)
5/29/15 Closing Price: $3.68 (+118.3%)
One Horizon Group Inc (NASDAQ:OHGI) was the top-performing little stock this week. OHGI is an Irish-based software solutions company that works with major telecommunication companies throughout the world.
OHGI was in the news quite a bit this week. On Wednesday, the company announced it will present at the 2015 Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York.
More importantly, on Thursday, OHGI announced that Aishuo, its Chinese retail VoIP service, can now support all of the major mobile payment platforms in China. Aishuo has surpassed 3.5 million downloads on its way to a goal of acquiring 15 million subscribers on its mobile VoIP service by 2017.
While OHGI looks promising over the long term, the stock has doubled this week, so investors would be prudent to wait for a pullback before entering long positions.
Best Stocks Under $5: Ceres Inc (CERE)
5/29/15 Closing Price: $2.37 (+35.5%)
Ceres, Inc (NASDAQ:CERE) stock moved higher this week after the agricultural biotechnology company was awarded a patent for a soybean-derived genetic sequence that can be used in research, product development and plant transformation.
Ceres is involved in biotechnological research to increase crop productivity, raise the quality of crops and improve soil cultivation where land has been depleted by weather conditions and greater demand for high-yielding crops.
CERE stock has been quite volatile this year with its price ranging between $1.50 to $4.25. However, CERE stock peaked at just over $4 on Wednesday and has since pulled back nicely, perhaps setting up a new entry point.
Best Stocks Under $5: Oncothyreon Inc (USA) (ONTY)
5/29/15 Closing Price: $3.41 (+35%)
Oncothyreon Inc (USA) (NASDAQ:ONTY) is a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for enabling the human immune system to attack cancerous cells.
Early this week, Oncothyreon announced that its president and CEO, Robert Kirkman, will present at the Jefferies 2015 Healthcare Conference in New York on June 3. News about the presentation led to speculation that a major announcement may be forthcoming, propelling ONTY stock higher.
ONTY is in clinical development of two anti-cancer drugs, ONT-10, and ONT-380. Both work to inhibit the growth of tumors in various forms of cancer.
Best Stocks Under $5: Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (CBLI)
5/29/15 Closing Price: $2.89 (+37.3%)
Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBLI) is another biotechnology company that is developing clinical treatments to fight cancer. It will be presenting at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) 51st annual meeting in Chicago.
CBLI was up strongly this week on news that it will share results from clinical trials of entolimod, a drug derived from almonella flagellin and a possible treatment for various types of resilient solid-tumor cancers.
Entolimod works by activating toll-like receptors that generate immune responses against a number of cancers, such as colorectal, non-small cell lung and bladder tumors.
CBLI stock began the year touching $7, but has recently seen its price holding support at $2. This week was its best week in many months.
Best Stocks Under $5: Sterling Construction Company, Inc (STRL)
5/29/15 Closing Price: $3.96 (+10.4%)
Sterling Construction Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL) is a company that has been featured in this space before as one of the top sub-$5 stocks.
Sterling is a transportation and water systems construction company with infrastructure projects throughout the western and southwestern areas of the U.S. Its projects include highways, light railway and bridges.
STRL stock got a boost this week when coverage was initiated by Maxim Group with a “buy” rating. No price target was given. You have to go all the way back to 2010 to find the last time that coverage was initiated on STRL stock.
Since that time there have been four downgrades and one upgrade. So perhaps STRL stock, which Blue Chip Growth Editor Louis Navellier has rated a strong sell, is about to turn its fortunes around.
Even with an 8% selloff today, STRL still had a solid week.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
