5 Stocks Under $5 With Gigantic Potential Upside

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By Lee Jackson Published
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While for the most part Wall Street tends to keep away from stocks priced in the single digits, sometimes the best opportunities, for aggressive investors, lie there. Typically, stocks priced under $5 are not margin-able, and they are rarely on the top picks at the major firms we cover. Nevertheless, they can offer significant upside and are priced low enough that smaller investors can own a larger number of shares.

We scanned our 24/7 Wall St. research data base for stocks priced under $5 with a Buy or Outperform rating, and the potential for large gains to the target price established by the firm with the research coverage. Here are five stocks priced under $5 with big upside potential.

FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) spiked up huge in the early spring of 2014, but it has battled against sellers and short-sellers since. The company is a global leader in providing ultra-clean baseload distributed generation to utilities, industrial operations, universities, municipal water treatment facilities, government installations and other customers around the world. Fuel Cell’s power plants have generated more than 3 billion kilowatt hours of ultra-clean power using a variety of fuels, including renewable biogas from wastewater treatment and food processing, as well as clean natural gas.

Cowen has an Outperform rating on the stock, with a $3 price target. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $2.88. The stock ended trading on Friday at $1.12.

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GasStar Exploration Inc. (NYSEMKT: GST) is an energy stock that includes the legendary T. Boone Pickens among its fans. He has purchased almost 200,000 shares of the stock and may be looking to buy more. GasStar is a Houston-based independent exploration and production company engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas and oil in the United States.

Wunderlich has a Buy rating and a $5 target on the stock. The consensus price target is just lower at $4.85. Shares were trading at $2.34 on Friday’s close.

MeetMe Inc. (NASDAQ: MEET) is the leading social network for meeting new people in the United States, and the public market leader for social discovery. MeetMe makes it easy to discover new people to chat with on mobile devices. With approximately 80% of traffic coming from mobile and more than a million total daily active users, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation.

Wunderlich puts a Buy rating on the stock, with a large $4.50 price target. The consensus target is $3.83, and the stock ended the week at $1.57.

Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NM) is a global, vertically integrated seaborne shipping and logistics company focused on the transport and transshipment of drybulk commodities, including iron ore, coal and grain. The company’s fleet consists of 66 vessels, totaling 6.3 million dead-weight tons. It operates in North America, Europe, Asia, South America and internationally. The company is based in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Stifel has the stock rated at Buy, with a huge $11.50 price target. The consensus estimate is a hefty $9.25. Shares were trading on Friday’s close at $3.96.

SFX Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: SFXE) is the largest global producer of live events and digital entertainment content focused exclusively on electronic music culture and other world-class festivals. It is also a stock that insiders of have buying a ton of recently, which is a very positive change for the better, as the stock was down huge in trading last year. Since going public in the fall of 2013, shares have dropped a gigantic 70%.

Stifel likes this stock, rating it at Buy, and have a massive $12 target. The consensus target is up there as well, at $10.25. Shares closed on Friday at $3.40.

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Despite the big potential in these stocks, they are only suitable for very aggressive trading accounts. In many cases, stocks trading under $5 do so for a reason, so it makes sense to take a very close look before investing.

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About the Author Lee Jackson →

Lee Jackson has covered Wall Street analysts' equity and debt research and equity strategy daily for 24/7 Wall St. since 2012. His broad and diverse career, which included a stint as the creative services director at the NBC affiliate in Austin, Texas, gives him unique insight into the financial industry and world.

Lee Jackson's journey in the financial industry spans over 30 years, with nearly two decades as an institutional equity salesperson at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Morgan Stanley. His career was marked by his presence on the sell side during pivotal Wall Street events, from the dot.com rise and bubble to the Long Term Capital Management debacle, 9/11, and the Great Recession of 2008. This is a testament to his resilience and adaptability in the face of market volatility.

Lee Jackson’s practical financial industry experience, acquired from a career at some of the biggest banks and brokerage firms, is complemented by a lifetime of writing on various platforms. This unique combination allows him to shed light on the intricacies and workings of Wall Street in a way that only someone with deep insider experience and knowledge can. Moreover, his extensive network across Wall Street continues to provide direct access for him and 24/7 Wall St., a privilege few firms enjoy.

Since 2012, Jackson’s work for 24/7 Wall St. has been featured in Barron’s, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Business Insider, TradingView, Real Money, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Benzinga, and other media outlets. He attended the prestigious Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and has a degree in broadcasting from the Specs Howard School of Media Arts.

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