Yelp Inc (YELP) CEO Jeremy Stoppelman Sold $10.4 million of Shares

TipRanks

2 “Strong Buy” Penny Stocks That Could Deliver Massive Returns

There’s a strong feeling growing among investors – of relief – that the new year will feature lower volatility than 2020. That along would be enough to boost spirits, but better yet, there is also a perception that the markets are going to drive higher in the new year.Marko Kolanovic, JPMorgan’s well-known quant expert, sees the initial stages of a positive feedback loop, with lower volatility and systematic investment strategies coming together to drive gains, attracting more investors – and, in Kolanovic’s view, pushing the S&P 500 to 4,600 by year’s end. That will be a 25% increase for the index.A general market environment like that is bound to produce plenty of stock winners, and Wall Street’s analysts are busy pointing them out. Among other things, they are tapping penny stocks, equities priced at less than $5 per share. Their rock-bottom starting price makes pennies the logical place to look for huge returns on investment. Although their risk factor is high, even a small gain in absolute numbers will turn into a massive percentage gain in share price.Using TipRanks’ database, we identified two penny stocks the pros believe could see explosive gains in the coming months. Not to mention each one gets a “Strong Buy” consensus rating from the analyst community.9 Meters Biopharma (NMTR)Some biopharma companies take a broad-based approach, while others focus on a niche. 9 Meters is one of the latter, taking aim at unmet needs for gastrointestinal patients. The company’s development pipeline features drug candidates under investigation as treatments for short bowel syndrome (SBS) and celiac disease (CeD), two conditions that are both dangerous and difficult to treat.Drilling down to pipeline details, 9 Meters’ flagship product, Larazotide, is in Phase 3 development for the treatment of CeD. CeD affects about 1% of the population, yet there are no approved therapies. Top-line data from the study is expected in the second half of 2021.Furthermore, this past December, the company announced that it had entered an agreement with EBRIS, the European Biomedical Research Institute of Salerno, to investigate Larazotide as a potential treatment for respiratory complications due to COVID-19.The other major drug in the company’s pipeline is NM-002, for SBS. The company has recently announced positive Phase 1b/2a results, with a measurable impact on disease symptoms from a compound that was well-tolerated by patients.NMTR’s strong pipeline and $0.89 share price have scored it substantial praise from the pros on Wall Street.One of these NMTR bulls is Truist’s Srikripa Devarakonda. Citing Larazotide as a key component of his bullish thesis, the analyst noted, “We acknowledge investors are likely to see a pivotal trial in a tough-to-crack Celiac disease program as high risk despite encouraging Ph2b data. We model $705M/$353M in peak unadjusted/adjusted…