Five names sit at the top of Benzinga's healthcare penny stock list, per analyst Chris Davis: Revive Therapeutics Ltd., Antares Pharma Inc., Medical Marijuana Inc., BIMI International Medical Inc., and Stem Cell Authority Ltd. Davis frames the picks around an aging-population thesis and a separate claim that the coronavirus period created buying opportunities by depressing healthcare stock prices broadly.
The source divides the healthcare market into two segments: healthcare equipment and services, and pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and related life sciences. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Merck and Co. (NYSE: MRK) are cited as names that hold value during recessions. Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) and Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO) attracted investor attention during the coronavirus period on vaccine-development activity. The smaller penny stocks on the list, Davis argues, piggybacked on that sector attention and drew new capital.
The mechanism worth examining before the price: when institutional money flows into large-cap biotech on a macro demographic thesis, smaller names in the same sector tend to collect spillover dollars from retail traders chasing percentage moves. Penny stocks are, per Benzinga's own framing, shares of low-value companies. The upside is real in some cases. So is the distance between what a motivated promoter holds and what a retail buyer reads in a summarized list. Benzinga acknowledges that profitability in this category "can come at the expense of unprepared investors."
Broker selection and execution costs
Davis names five brokers suited to this category: Interactive Brokers, Plus500, Public.com, Robinhood, and TradeZero. The baseline issue: not every broker accepts penny stock trades, and those that do may charge additional commissions depending on how difficult the stock is to source. For active short-term traders, Davis points to execution quality, interface design, and a real-time news feed as the key selection criteria.
Benzinga describes healthcare as a sector "always in demand." The macro premise is separate from the per-name risk. TradeZero enforces a minimum daily equity balance of $25,000 for pattern day traders. Plus500 carries its own regulatory disclosure: 81 percent of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with that provider.