Each week, Benzinga’s Stock Whisper Index uses a combination of proprietary data and pattern recognition to showcase five stocks that are just under the surface and deserve attention.
Investors are constantly on the hunt for undervalued, under-followed and emerging stocks. With countless methods available to retail traders, the challenge often lies in sifting through the abundance of information to uncover new opportunities and understand why certain stocks should be of interest.
Here's a look at the Benzinga Stock Whisper Index for the week of Sept. 13:
AST SpaceMobile Inc ASTS: The satellite and space-related company rejoins the Stock Whisper Index with a huge boost in interest from Benzinga readers during the week. The increase is likely attributable to the company launching its first five commercial satellites during the week. The Bluebird satellites will help the company's plan of providing coverage from space in the United States and select global markets.
The launch was part of a collaboration with AT&T T, which is one of several key partners with AST SpaceMobile.
"This is an exciting next step to a future where our customers will only be hard to reach if they choose to be – giving them the power to go anywhere and the possibility to do anything while staying connected with just an everyday cell phone," AT&T COO Jeff McElfresh said.
In 2024, AST SpaceMobile has secured additional investments from AT&T, Verizon, Google and Vodafone and signed new contract awards with the U.S. Government. The company has over 45 mobile network operator deals signed globally.
Shares of AST SpaceMobile were down 6.6% over the last week, with news of a share offering of up to $400 million in stock sending shares lower. While the Benzinga Pro chart below highlights the weekly move, shares are up over 450% year-to-date in 2024.
Snap Inc SNAP: The social networking company saw an increase in interest from Benzinga readers, which may be related to both good and bad news. New Mexico's attorney general filed a suit against the company alleging child sexual extortion, saying Snap's site design and policies allow bad practices to happen. The lawsuit also alleges the company promotes child trafficking, drugs and guns through its Snapchat platform.
"Snap has misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on their platform will disappear, but predators can permanently capture this content and they have created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that are traded, sold, and stored indefinitely," New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said.
The potential negative headline and future headwind for the company comes after Snap's CEO Evan Spiegel announced a new focus on the company's advertising business and augmented reality to beat competitors. Spiegel acknowledged that the company's advertising business is growing more slowly than its competitors, making it a key focus for improving the company's financials and boosting its share price.
Snap shares were up over 5% over the last week, as seen on the chart below, but shares remain down over 40% year-to-date.
MicroStrategy Inc MSTR: The software company and major Bitcoin BTC/USD holder is no stranger to the Stock Whisper Index, with investor interest often rising in the name throughout the year. One reason for the company's potential boosted interest is that company chairman Michael Saylor highlighted MicroStrategy's outperformance against every company in the S&P 500 since 2020, including NVIDIA.
"We beat every single company in the S&P Index using Bitcoin strategy," Saylor said on CNBC.
The comment from Saylor follows his commentary in July, when he shared a chart that showed MicroStrategy's outperformance against key stocks since the company began investing in Bitcoin back in August 2020.
"To outperform $NVDA – get on the #Bitcoin Standard," Saylor said at the time.
The company announced Friday morning that it had acquired an additional 18,300 BTC for around $1.11 billion, bringing its total holdings to 244,800 Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy shares are up over 6% over the last week and up over 90% year-to-date in 2024.
American Tower Corporation AMT: The telecommunications real estate investment trust makes an appearance on the Stock Whisper Index with a large surge in interest. The company, which owns over 200,000 cell towers and data centers globally, made headlines during the week with the sale of its India business to Data Infrastructure Trust, an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management. The deal brings in around $2.5 billion to American Tower, which will be used to pay down debt.
The company is expected to report third-quarter financial results in October. American Tower has beat analyst revenue estimates in 13 straight quarters. Several analysts have raised their price targets on the stock ahead of the third-quarter earnings report.
American Tower CEO Steven Vondran highlighted the company's organic tenant billings growth and strong new business for data centers, leading to a guidance increase after second-quarter results.
Visionary Holdings GV: The smallest company on the list for the week is also the biggest gainer. Visionary Holdings shares saw strong interest after the company announced the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) backed the company with up to a $120 million investment.
The memorandum of understanding will help support several projects for the company, including acquisitions, upgrades, debt optimization and more. The two parties have also said they will collaborate on technology, life sciences and AI education initiatives. Visionary Holdings is a private educator in Canada and has market partners in China.
The stock has been highly volatile over the last week, with shares halted Thursday on the news. Investors should be aware that the company is small, with a market capitalization of $16 million.
Visionary Holdings shares were up 98% over the last week.
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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