Most stocks trading under $5 a share are cheap for a reason. The Securities and Exchange Commission defines a penny stock as any share priced below $5, and the category is packed with failing companies, dilution machines, and outright scams. But the same screen that surfaces the junk also turns up a handful of real businesses. Some are billion-dollar companies whose shares just happen to price low in dollars. The best penny stocks to watch right now include Ambev, Banco Bradesco, Grab Holdings, Gerdau, B2Gold, Denison Mines, and Kosmos Energy. Each trades under $5 on a major US exchange, and all but one already generate real revenue.
How We Picked These Stocks
Thousands of stocks trade under $5, most of them on over-the-counter markets with thin disclosure. We started by cutting all of that. Every name here trades on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq, or NYSE American, which forces stricter reporting and listing standards than the OTC pink sheets. From there we filtered for companies with actual operating revenue (with one clearly labeled exception), enough daily trading volume to get in and out, and a business a reader can understand in a sentence. We excluded pre-revenue story stocks, reverse-split survivors, and anything whose main product is a press release. What remains is seven companies that trade like penny stocks but do not act like them.
Ambev (NYSE: ABEV)
Why it made the list: Ambev is the largest beverage company in Latin America and is majority owned by global brewer AB InBev. It brews Brahma, Skol, and Antarctica, and bottles PepsiCo drinks across Brazil. This is a multibillion-dollar business whose shares happen to trade near the price of a cup of coffee.
The bull case: Ambev controls roughly two-thirds of the Brazilian beer market and carries almost no net debt. It throws off steady cash and returns most of it to shareholders through dividends and interest-on-capital payments, a Brazilian form of shareholder distribution.
The risk: The stock is priced in US dollars but the profits are earned in Brazilian reais, so a weak real drags on the reported result even when the underlying business is fine.
Key number: Roughly two out of every three beers sold in Brazil come from an Ambev brand.
Banco Bradesco (NYSE: BBD)
Why it made the list: Banco Bradesco is one of Brazil's largest private-sector banks, with tens of millions of customers across retail banking, insurance, and asset management. Like Ambev, it is a large, established company whose US-listed shares simply price low.
The bull case: Bradesco is working through a turnaround, cleaning up its loan book and rebuilding return on equity, which measures how much profit a bank earns on shareholder money. It pays a regular dividend and has traded around the value of its own book of assets.
The risk: Brazilian interest rates and loan defaults drive the whole story. A fresh spike in bad loans or a slowing economy would hit earnings quickly.
Key number: Bradesco serves more than 70 million customers across Brazil.
Grab Holdings (Nasdaq: GRAB)
Why it made the list: Grab is the dominant ride-hailing, food-delivery, and digital-payments app across Southeast Asia. It runs one "super-app" that ties all three services together in eight countries. Revenue has been growing at a double-digit annual pace.
The bull case: Grab has crossed into adjusted profitability after years of losses, and its financial-services arm gives it a second engine beyond rides and deliveries. It holds a large net cash position, which buys it time to keep scaling.
The risk: The company is still thinly profitable on a bottom-line basis, and it competes hard on price in every market it serves.
Key number: Grab operates across eight Southeast Asian countries with hundreds of millions of potential users.
Gerdau (NYSE: GGB)
Why it made the list: Gerdau is the largest steel producer in Brazil and one of the biggest makers of long steel in the Americas, with major mini-mill operations inside the United States. Mini-mills melt scrap in electric furnaces, a lower-cost method than traditional blast furnaces.
The bull case: Gerdau's US business is tied to construction and infrastructure demand, and domestic steel has been shielded by tariffs on imports. The company is profitable and pays a dividend. For investors hunting cheap cyclical names, our guide to the best value stocks covers the same playbook.
The risk: Steel is deeply cyclical. When construction slows or cheap imports flood in, prices and margins fall fast.
Key number: Gerdau runs steel mills across North and South America, spanning US infrastructure and Brazilian construction.
B2Gold (NYSE American: BTG)
Why it made the list: B2Gold is an intermediate gold miner producing roughly a million ounces a year from mines in Mali, Namibia, and the Philippines, with a new mine ramping up in northern Canada. With gold near record highs, a producing miner under $4 is unusual.
The bull case: B2Gold runs at a competitive all-in sustaining cost, the total cost to mine and sell an ounce of gold. It pays a dividend, and its new Canadian mine shifts production toward a lower-risk country. For a broader view of the sector, see our guide to the best gold stocks.
The risk: A large share of production still comes from Mali, where the government has clashed with foreign miners over taxes and control.
Key number: B2Gold produces close to one million ounces of gold per year.
Denison Mines (NYSE American: DNN)
Why it made the list: Denison Mines is the one pure speculation on this list. It is a uranium developer, not yet a producer, advancing its Wheeler River project in Canada's Athabasca Basin toward a construction decision. It also holds a stake in physical uranium alongside the project.
The bull case: The world faces a widening uranium supply deficit as reactors restart and new ones get built, and Wheeler River is a high-grade, low-cost deposit. If it reaches production, the economics could be strong. Our best uranium stocks guide covers the wider supply story.
The risk: Denison earns almost no revenue today. The stock lives or dies on the uranium price, permits, and financing, and any of those going wrong would hurt.
Key number: Wheeler River sits in the Athabasca Basin, home to the highest-grade uranium deposits on Earth.
Kosmos Energy (NYSE: KOS)
Why it made the list: Kosmos Energy is a US-based offshore oil and gas producer with assets off Ghana and Equatorial Guinea and in the Gulf of Mexico, plus a large liquefied natural gas project between Mauritania and Senegal. It is the highest-risk producer here, but it pumps real barrels and books real revenue. See our best oil stocks guide for lower-risk energy names.
The bull case: Kosmos is counting on its West African gas project to lift cash flow and pay down debt. If oil and gas prices hold and the debt comes down, the stock has room to re-rate.
The risk: Kosmos carries heavy debt for its size, which magnifies both the upside and the downside when energy prices move.
Key number: Kosmos operates producing oil fields across three basins on two continents.
What Is Really Trading Under $5
The lesson of this screen is that "penny stock" describes a share price, not a company size. Four of these seven names carry market values in the billions of dollars. They land under $5 because they are foreign companies whose shares are simply priced low in dollar terms, or because their share counts are enormous. That is a very different animal from a 20-cent microcap with no revenue and a story about the next big thing.
That distinction matters for risk. A large, profitable company trading under $5 can still fall hard, but it has a real business, real cash flow, and real disclosure behind it. A true microcap penny stock often has none of those, which is why the category earned its reputation. Investors hunting under $5 are usually better served by the first group than the second. For companies that are small but still substantial, our best small cap stocks guide screens by market value rather than share price.
What to watch:
- The uranium price: A continued rise would lift Denison and could pull its Wheeler River project closer to a construction decision.
- Brazilian rates and the real: Where the Brazilian central bank takes interest rates, and where the real trades against the dollar, will move Ambev, Bradesco, and Gerdau together.
- Gold near record highs: If gold holds its recent levels, B2Gold's cash flow and dividend look increasingly secure.
Bottom Line
The best penny stocks to watch are not lottery tickets. They are real companies that happen to trade under $5, screened for actual revenue and a major-exchange listing. This list suits investors who want low-priced exposure to beer, banking, steel, gold, and energy without wandering into the OTC swamp. Denison aside, these are businesses, not bets. Position sizes should still be small, because low share prices swing hard.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a penny stock?
The Securities and Exchange Commission defines a penny stock as any share that trades below $5. That is a price test, not a size test. Some companies trading under $5 are worth billions of dollars, while others are tiny shells worth almost nothing. The price alone tells you very little about the business behind it.
Are penny stocks a good investment?
Most penny stocks are risky and many lose money for investors, because the category is full of unprofitable companies, heavy share dilution, and manipulation. The safer approach is to ignore the price tag and judge the business. A profitable, established company trading under $5, like Ambev or Grab, is very different from a no-revenue microcap on the over-the-counter market.
Can you buy penny stocks on the NYSE and Nasdaq?
Yes. Plenty of stocks trading under $5 are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq, and NYSE American, not just on over-the-counter markets. Exchange-listed penny stocks must meet stricter reporting and listing rules, which gives investors far more disclosure than a typical OTC penny stock provides.
Which penny stock on this list is the riskiest?
Denison Mines is the highest-risk name on this list. It is a uranium developer that does not yet produce meaningful revenue, so its share price depends almost entirely on the uranium price, project permits, and financing. Kosmos Energy is the next riskiest, mainly because it carries heavy debt relative to its size.
How much should you invest in penny stocks?
There is no single right amount, but low-priced stocks swing sharply in both directions, so most investors keep individual positions small relative to the overall portfolio. Treating each penny stock as a small, high-risk slice rather than a core holding limits the damage if one goes wrong.
