Benzinga's 'Stock Whisper' Index: 5 Stocks Investors Are Secretly Monitoring But Not Talking About Yet

Investors are on the hunt for undervalued, underfollowed and emerging stocks, and retail traders have countless methods at their disposal to uncover new information.

For some, this may be overwhelming.

Benzinga’s Stock Whisper Index uses a combination of proprietary data and pattern recognition to showcase five stocks each week that are just under the surface and warrant attention.

The index layers editorial commentary to help make sense of why these stocks should be of interest and whether investors and casual readers should watch them.

Here is a look at the Benzinga Stock Whisper Index for the week of Aug. 25, 2023.

VCI Global Ltd VCIG: The business consultancy company saw shares soar this week after announcing a partnership with Microsoft Corp MSFT for use of the Azure OpenAI platform. The partnership will see VCI Global boost its artificial intelligence consulting efforts.

“This partnership will accelerate our growth in the AI industry, further strengthening our capabilities to transform the businesses of our clients,” VCI Global CEO Victor Hoo said.

Shares of VCI Global are up 44% in the last month. The stock was previously flagged by Benzinga as a short squeeze stock to watch, moving up 710 places on the Fintel short squeeze leaderboard in July. VCI Global currently ranks 16th on the leaderboard with 5.4% of the float short and a cost to borrow of 404.5%, one of the highest of all companies currently.

Related Link: Johnson & Johnson Investors Pounce On Oversubscribed Kenvue Deal, How You Can Still Earn $500 A Month

Electriq Power Holdings ELIQ: The energy storage company saw shares up over 100% in Thursday’s trading session. The company recently completed a SPAC merger to go public. As a result of the merger, the company’s float has decreased, leading Electriq to be categorized by traders as a low float stock. Since going public, shares have been highly volatile.

Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology FMST: Exploration stage lithium company Foremost completed an IPO in the U.S. in the past week. The company sold 800,000 units at $5 each. Each unit is good for one common share and one warrant at an exercise price of $6.25.

With automotive companies looking for additional lithium for electric vehicle batteries, Foremost could see more interest as it looks to sign partnerships.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc APLS: Commercial-stage biotechnology company Apellis saw shares jump on the heels of and update for its treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The company also saw several analysts share updates on their ratings for the stock and updated price targets.

Kenvue Inc KVUE: A carryover from last week’s Stock Whisper Index, Kenvue was among the most searched tickers on Benzinga.

The owner of brands like Tylenol, Listerine, Johnson’s, Aveeno and Neutrogena was spun off from Johnson & Johnson JNJ earlier this year. As of this week, Kenvue is now a fully independent company and saw high interest from Johnson & Johnson shareholders who could exchange their JNJ shares for KVUE shares.

Following the transition to an independent company, Kenvue was named as a new component for the S&P 500 Index, effective Aug. 25.

Analysts have been out with mostly positive ratings since the spinoff occurred. Goldman Sachs upgraded shares to Buy earlier this week.

Check out the most recent Stock Whisper reports here:
Aug. 4
Aug. 11
Aug. 18

Stay tuned for next week’s report, and follow Benzinga Pro for all the latest headlines and top market-moving stories here.

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