Wall Street was a rough place to be this week, as volatility was significant throughout the week. Between the Fed’s announcement, the continuing drop in oil prices and a triple witching day on Friday, traders had a lot of price swings on their hands.
Fortunately, there were many sub-$5 stocks that seemed to be immune to the wild gyrations ongoing in the general market. Biotech small stocks were again prominent among the leaders. Here are five of the small fries that ripped higher this week on important news:
Best Stocks Under $5: Acasti Pharma Inc (ACST)
12/18/15 Closing Price: $2.91 (+63% for the week)
Acasti Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ACST), a biopharmaceutical company working on natural forms of treatments for cardiometabolic disorders, including omega-3 phospholipids, was the biggest sub-$5 winner this week. Its newest product is called CaPre (R), which is a treatment for high triglyceride levels in the body.
On Wednesday, Pierre Lemieux, PhD, the chief operating officer of Acasti, announced they had been given “encouraging comments from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)…indicating that the 505(b) (2) pathway ( a process to modify drugs that have already been approved to improve them) represents a course for regulatory review and approval”.
ACST stock lost about 60% of its value between August and early December, but has since bounced back to retrace much of that loss.
Best Stocks Under $5: Myos Corp (MYOS)
12/18/15 Closing Price: $2.30 (+43% for the week)
Myos Corp (NASDAQ:MYOS) is another biotech stock, one which works to develop treatments to improve muscular health and performance. This week, it reported a new collaboration with a subsidiary of RENS Agriculture Science & Technology Co Ltd in which RENS will acquire over 3.5 million shares of MYOS common stock, as well as 884,259 warrants. The deal should take approximately two years, and be exercised in three different allotments.
RENS is a company focused on food-freezing technology to preserve the wholesomeness of protein sources. MYOS intends to use the cash from the acquisition for further research and development.
MYOS stock has recently been quite volatile, trading within a range between $1.50 to $4.25 over the last three months, so investors are cautioned to enter long positions only after sufficient pullbacks.
Best Stocks Under $5: Enphase Energy Inc (ENPH)
12/18/15 Closing Price: $3.01 (+42% for the week)
It was a good week for the solar stocks, and that also helped Petaluma, CA-based Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) to surge higher.
Enphase designs and sells the microinverter systems for solar panels, and benefited from the news that the business and homeowner tax credit for installing solar energy had been extended another five years.
Although ENPH stock has been decimated over the past six months, this week’s action lifted it back across the 50 day moving average. ENPH was also recently identified as one of five stocks below $10 that is ready to soar.
With little overhead resistance until $5, ENPH could have some legs going forward from today’s closing price.
Best Stocks Under $5: Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc (ATNM)
12/18/15 Closing Price: $2.27 (+25% for the week)
Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc (NYSE:ATNM) is one of the many small biotech companies that are working on immunotherapies for advanced forms of cancer.
ATNM was a winner this week after announcing on Thursday that the FDA has approved Actinium’s application to begin Phase 3 clinical trials for lomab-B, a follow up to their lomab-A, which is a treatment for incurable blood cancers, such as Leukemia and Hodgkin’s Disease. The lomab-B allows older patients with these cancers to be able to tolerate difficult bone marrow transplants.
ATNM was a $13 stock in 2014, but has recently fallen into the $2 range. While the news this week that lifted the stock may be promising, investors should keep in mind that many treatments, even in Phase 3 clinical trials, often fail to deliver statistically significant results, or the FDA can delay approval pending further testing.
Best Stocks Under $5: Innovative Solutions & Support Inc (ISSC)
12/18/15 Closing Price: $2.92 (+11% for the week)
Innovative Solutions & Support Inc (NASDAQ:ISSC) designs, builds and sells flight guidance and display systems for airplane cockpits. On Wednesday, the Exton, PA-based company reported fourth-quarter earnings and full-fiscal-year results that lifted the stock higher for the first time in a while.
The company reported a loss of 8 cents a share, not great, but an improvement over the year ago quarter when it lost 12 cents a share. However, revenues for both the fourth quarter and full year were down from 2014.
In October, 2014, Innovative’s contract with Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL) to upgrade its cockpits on two different fleets was terminated, and the loss of revenue hurt the bottom line significantly and dropped the stock about 45%. But this week, Chairman and CEO Geoffrey Hedrick noted that in 2015, the company began to achieve success with increased new orders and filling backlogged orders.
ISSC stock traded near $8.50 at the onset of 2014, and recently touched a low of $2.27. The termination of the Delta deal left about $62 million in backlog up in the air (no pun intended), so going forward, part or all of that sum could come back to Innovative.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
