Benzinga's 'Stock Whisper' Index: 5 Stocks Investors Secretly Monitor But Don't Talk About Yet

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 ending Jan. 31:

Pacific Gas & Electric Co PCG: The utility company saw strong interest from readers during the week, which comes as fourth-quarter financial results are approaching. The company is set to report Q4 results on Feb. 13. Analysts expect the company to report earnings per share of 31 cents, down from 47 cents in the prior year's fourth quarter and revenue of $7.11 billion, up from $7.04 billion in the comparable period. The company has beaten analyst earnings per share estimates in four straight quarters. On the revenue side, the company has beaten analyst estimates in only four of the last 10 quarters. Several analysts kept bullish ratings on the stock while lowering price targets.

The stock was down over 5% for the week and shares are down over 7% over the last year.

Interactive Brokers Group IBKR: The online trading company saw strong interest from readers, which could be related to several analyst ratings in recent weeks. UBS maintained a Buy rating and raised the price target from $225 to $265. Interactive Brokers will also be presenting at the UBS Financial Services Conference on Feb. 10. Goldman Sachs analyst James Yaro maintained a Buy rating on Interactive Brokers and raised the price target from $214 to $226. The analyst said Interactive Brokers' fourth-quarter financial results showed the company was "well-rounded."

"Looking ahead, the company expects to conduct a number of new programming projects, and plans to increase the marketing budget, both of which should support strong account growth, around which management sounded a constructive tone," Yaro said.

Mercury Systems MRCY: The aerospace and defense stock saw strong interest from readers, which comes ahead of second-quarter financial results set for Feb. 4. Analysts expect the company to report a loss of 4 cents per share and revenue of $182.4 million in the quarter. After struggling in past quarters, the company has beaten analyst estimates for both revenue and earnings per share in the last two quarters. The stock may have seen increased interest from readers as the company announced a new $24.5 million contract for data processing in the U.S. Satellite Program.

"We are proud to support this critical U.S. national security mission," Mercury Systems Vice President of Mercy's Advanced Concepts Group Joe Plunkett said. "The Mercury Processing Platform has an incredible breadth of capabilities that can be integrated in virtually limitless ways to enable mission-critical processing at the edge."

The stock was down 2% on the week and is up around 40% over the last year.

Xometry Inc XMTR: The AI-enabled manufacturing company saw strong interest from readers during the week. The interest comes as several analysts have shared updates on the small-cap stock in recent weeks and with a new executive announcement. The company added Sanjeev Singh Sahni, a former Wayfair executive, in the newly created President role. In the role, Sahni will lead global operations, product, technology and supplier services. JMP Securities maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a $42 price target recently. Earlier this month, JPMorgan analyst Cory Carpenter shared a $45 price target on the stock, highlighting the company as a small-cap darling.

"We like XMTR in 2025 as a play on manufacturing under Trump," Carpenter said.

The analyst said the company has catalysts that include international expansion and a "number of ways to win in 2025."

Costco Wholesale Corporation COST: Rounding out this week's Stock Whisper Index is retailer Costco, which continues to see strong interest from readers with shares near all-time highs. The company reported strong December net sales of $27.52 billion, up 9.9% year-over-year recently. Costco also made headlines for replacing Pepsi fountain drinks in its stores with Coca-Cola while committing to keep the price of the famous $1.50 hot dog combo in place. The company is also making headlines for defending its DEI policies and increasing non-union worker wages to $30 per hour for most U.S. store workers.