Here, I’m going to highlight two exciting penny stocks that I believe are worth a closer look today. Currently, both are trading for less than 20p.

High-risk, high-return

First up, we have Poolbeg Pharma (LSE: POLB). It’s an under-the-radar biopharmaceutical company that’s developing drugs (with the help of artificial intelligence) to address unmet medical needs.

Now, this is a classic penny stock in that it’s a high risk, high reward play. You see, this company doesn’t have any revenues or earnings at all today so it’s a very speculative investment.

But things could change. Currently, the company’s working on a range of drugs including products to treat cancer immunotherapy-induced Cytokine Release Syndrome (a condition that develops when an immune system responds too aggressively to infection) and obesity (it’s working on an oral weight-loss product).

If it was able to bring any of these drugs to the market, its revenues could explode. And so could its share price.

Of course, investors shouldn’t assume successful market launches will happen. Drug development’s a notoriously challenging industry in which major setbacks are the norm.

I see a lot of potential here though. I think Poolbeg Pharma’s worth considering as a speculative investment.

A high-growth industry

The other penny stock I want to highlight today is Corero Network Security (LSE: CNS). It’s a small cybersecurity company that specialises in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection solutions.

I see this stock as a little less risky than Poolbeg Pharma. That’s because the company already has revenues. Last year, these came in at $22.3m. This year, analysts expect $28m (growth of an impressive 26%).

That said, it’s still a very risky stock as the company’s profits are small. For 2024, net profit and earnings per share are only expected to come in at around $375,000 and 0.1 cents respectively.

Again though, I’m excited about the potential here. Cybersecurity’s a rapidly growing industry and this company’s having a lot of success at present, having recently signed a number of contacts with firms of different shapes and sizes.

If it can continue to do this and grow its revenues and earnings in the years ahead, I think it could turn out to be a decent investment. It’s worth noting that in July, the company said that it continues to experience high demand for its SmartWall ONETM DDoS protection solutions and that its pipeline is at record levels.

Of course, cybercrime’s always evolving. So there’s guarantee this company will continue to be successful going forward.

As a speculative investment however, I believe it’s worth a look.

The post 2 exciting penny stocks under 20p to consider buying today appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

It’s Poolbeg Pharma (LSE: POLB), and it has a novel research model that’s light on cash, and offers the potential to develop multiple product lines at lower costs than traditional methods.

There’s artificial intelligence (AI) in there, and I find that both exciting and cause for concern. The potential for AI is huge, but any stock that merely mentions it seems to get a boost.

Poolbeg shares have been climbing since late 2022. But we’re still looking at a market cap of only £62m.

There’s no sign of profit yet, and that has to be the biggest risk. But when I look at a company with promising technology and that is valued so lowly, I see the cost of a takeover at just pocket money for a big pharma giant.

Even in terms of specific research products, the company talks about possible sales of the whole production at an early stage.

If I went for Poolbeg, it might be in the hope of a future buyout from a big company… and it would only be with a small amount of cash.

Lithium please

The Kodal Minerals (LSE: KOD) share price is only 0.44p. But it was as low as 0.27p in February, so that’s a gain of more than 60% already.

To be fair, it did briefly peak at nearly a full penny in early 2023. But that’s when a lithium stock boom was on, and it’s well down since then.

With a market cap of £89m, Kodal isn’t far under the usual limit for UK penny stocks of £100m.

The main risk is the lack of current profits. But analysts are tentatively forecasting modest positive earnings by 2026.

After its recent funding round, Kodal reported £11.2m in cash on the books. So its lithium development plans don’t seem to be under any financial threat right now.

Still, until we see profit, and know the extent of any shareholder dilution before we get there, there’s still a fair bit of risk.

Not a penny stock

I’m going to cheat now, and make a third pick. This one, Michelmersh Brick Holdings (LSE: MBH), is not quite a penny stock any more at 105p. But it was less than £1 very recently, and the market cap is still below the £100m mark.

For me, the investment case here is straightforward. We have profits, with forecast rising earnings. And there’s a forward dividend yield of 4.3%, expected to grow to 4.7% by 2027.

And that’s from a small-cap company with price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples that look set to drop below 10.

With its last FY results, the firm spoke of maintaining a well-balanced forward order book, after a decline in the market, and remaining resilient as it awaits new growth.

A lot depends on a UK property market and housebuilding recovery. And that could take longer than bullish investors like me might think. But it’s another possible long-term buy for me.

The post Penny stocks to consider buying while their prices are this cheap appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Here, I’m going to look at one of those – Poolbeg Pharma (LSE: POLB). Is this AIM-listed stock, which is currently trading for just 13.45p, worth buying for my portfolio as a high-risk, high-reward investment?

An innovative biopharmaceutical business

Poolbeg Pharma is an under-the-radar biopharmaceutical company that’s developing medicines to address unmet medical needs.

Areas of focus include cancer immunotherapy-induced Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS), infectious disease, and metabolic conditions like obesity (it’s currently developing an oral weight-loss drug).

On its website, Poolbeg notes that it leverages innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to accelerate drug discovery.

This all sounds interesting to me, especially the AI side of things.

I’m also really interested in the obesity drug angle. Recently, I have bought a few weight-loss drug stocks for my portfolio as I believe this is likely to be a huge investment theme over the next decade.

Huge share price gains

Now recently, this stock has been on fire. Over the last six months, it has risen about 50%.

Most of these gains have been down to news around the company’s POLB 001 drug, which has been shown to reduce cancer immunotherapy-induced CRS in an in vivo model.

Earlier this month, the company announced it had received approval from the US Patent Office for its product. This should strengthen the company’s intellectual property, enhancing the value and attractiveness of POLB 001 to potential pharma partners.

We believe POLB 001 holds immense promise in addressing unmet medical needs in cancer immunotherapy-induced cytokine release syndrome and severe influenza, positively impacting patients and healthcare systems alike. Its impressive data package and strong patent portfolio, coupled with the promising $10bn+ market opportunity in cancer immunotherapy-induced CRS alone, strengthens our confidence in its potential to positively impact global health and generate value for our shareholders.

Poolbeg Pharma CEO Jeremy Skillington

Another factor that’s helped the share price is the appointment of co-founder and substantial shareholder Cathal Friel as Executive Chairman. Friel has an excellent track record in the capital markets, having previously been a co-founder of hVIVO (which is having a lot of success today) and Amryt Pharma, which was acquired for $1.5bn in 2023.

Should I buy?

Looking at recent developments here, my view is this is an exciting company. I think it has lots of potential.

Having said that, it’s really risky from an investment perspective. Today, the company doesn’t have revenues or profits. And there are no guarantees it ever will. That’s the thing about drug development. It’s notoriously unpredictable.

For me personally, the penny stock’s a bit too risky right now. So I won’t be buying it.

But I will be keeping it on my watchlist. When there’s a bit more clarity on the viability of its drugs, and its producing revenues and earnings, I could be interested in investing here.

The post This 13p penny stock’s on fire! Should I buy it? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Might it keep going – and should I buy some now?

Strong performer

While the recent gain looks good, that is not all. Since September 2022, the share price has more than tripled.

That is certainly the stuff of investor dreams!

Since listing as an independent company in 2021, the track record of the penny share in question has been more modest, but it is still 29% higher than when it started trading.

The company in question is Poolbeg Pharma (LSE: POLB). Prior to its listing, Poolbeg was part of Open Orphan, now rather daftly named hViVO.  

What’s behind the surge

So, why has Poolbeg been doing so well lately?

One reason has been a positive set of results from a human challenge trial of one of the group’s products, POLB 001. Poolbeg has extended its patent portfolio around the drug and is expanding its possible application as a preventative therapy for cancer immunotherapy-induced Cytokine Release Syndrome. Last week it announced new US patent protections related to the POLB 001 programme.

The company has also been working in other areas, with AI-led programmes identifying potential treatment candidates for its offerings.

Could things get better from here?

The executive chairman and chief executive both bought shares in the company using their own money in February.

I think there could be significant gains still ahead for the penny share depending on how well its drug development programme proceeds and whether it can commercialise it. The main attraction for now is POLB 001, but Poolbeg’s wider portfolio could yet turn out to do well.

Currently, though, we do not know. Developing drugs and bringing them to the market, with or without AI, is an expensive business. The loss-making firm booked a post-tax loss of £4m last year. Meanwhile, it continues to generate zero revenues.

That is not uncommon in the early stages of a drug development company. First the research and commercialisation needs to happen, which costs money. Only then, if successful, do revenues typically start to come.

When they do, though, the economics of such a pharma business can be transformed.

Wait and see

That explains why my approach is to keep an eye on this penny share without buying it, for now.

If the drug development programme continues to look promising and the company moves closer to generating meaningful revenues, I think the share price could rise. But that is fine by me.

Yes, I might be able to buy cheaper now than later. But that depends on how the business moves forward. I would rather wait for more evidence of a viable business model before buying this penny share, even if that means I end up paying a higher price for it down the road.

The post Up over 50% in 2024, could this penny share keep going? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.