Finding the Best Cheap Stocks to Buy Now

The stock market hit new highs to start the week as Wall Street celebrates the upbeat opening to second-quarter earnings season. Market-moving companies are beating suppressed, tariff-diminished estimates.See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.More importantly, management commentary about current business trends has been very favorable, helping firm up earnings expectations for Q3 and beyond.The improving earnings outlook, coupled with projections that the Fed will lower rates again in the second half of the year, provides a bullish runway that extends far beyond July.Investors who want to keep buying stocks now and throughout the second half of 2025 might consider adding exposure to highly-ranked cheap stocks that trade for $10 a share or less.Along with their cheap price tags, the stocks we learn to screen for earn great Zacks Ranks (#1 Strong Buys or #2 Buys), driven by improving earnings outlooks. Wall Street is also very high on these cheap, under $10 stocks investors might want to buy.Penny StocksOne dollar or less used to be the common threshold for what we call “penny stocks.” Today, the SEC has expanded penny stocks to securities that trade for less than $5 a share. Many investors avoid these stocks because they are speculative in nature.Meanwhile, penny stocks often trade infrequently and hold wide bid/ask spreads. These stocks also carry many other traits that, in many cases, cause excessive volatility. With that said, some penny stocks perform incredibly well, which helps them remain attractive.Stocks Under $10Moving on, let’s briefly discuss the next class of cheap stocks. Stocks that trade in the $5 to $10 range are generally less risky than their penny stock counterparts. Investors might be more likely to have heard of these companies or seen the tickers. They are, however, still inherently more speculative than many other higher-priced stocks.Investors can obviously find winning stocks for under $10 if they are extremely selective. So today, we narrowed the list of thousands of these more speculative stocks down to a more manageable group of $10 and under stocks that might help boost your portfolio.Screen Parameters• Price less than or equal to $10• Volume greater than or equal to 1,000,000• Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2(No Holds, Sells or Strong Sells.)• Average Broker Rating less than or equal to 3.5(Average Broker Rating of a Hold or Better.)• # of Analysts in Rating greater than or equal to 2(Minimum of at least two analysts covering the stock.)• % Change F1 Earnings Estimate Revisions -- 12 Weeks greater than or equal to 0(Preferably upward earnings estimate revisions, but definitely no downward revisions.)Here is one stock out of the 60 highly-ranked names trading under $10 a share that made it through the screen today…Buy Cheap, Soaring FinTech Stock PAYS for Huge Growth UpsidePaySign, Inc. (PAYS) is a fintech firm specializing in prepaid card programs, patient affordability solutions, digital banking, and payment processing for corporate, consumer, and government clients. PAYS specializes in niche markets like pharmaceutical co-pay assistance, plasma donation payments, and corporate rewards, managing the full prepaid card lifecycle.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchThe fintech firm averaged 25% sales expansion in the past four years, with it projected to boost its revenue by another 24% in 2025 and 11% next year. Better yet, PaySign is projected to grow its adjusted earnings by 400% in 2025 from $0.07 to $0.35 and then climb to $0.47 next year. PaySign’s upbeat earnings revisions land it a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), and all five brokerage recommendations Zacks has are “Strong Buys.”PaySign stock has soared 270% in the past three months to fresh three-year highs. At roughly $8.05 a share, PAYS trades 5% below its early July peaks and 55% under its summer 2019 all-time highs. The stock trades at a 15% discount to its Financial Transaction Services industry at 18.6X forward 12-month earnings and 75% below its highs.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchThe chart above shows that PaySign is on the verge of breaking above a potentially critical technical range. The skyrocketing fintech stock might face some selling pressure if more investors start taking profits on soaring stocks after the massive rally. Yet, both investors and traders might want to consider buying PAYS stock as a home-run bet for around $8 a share. Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start looking for the newest companies that fit these criteria. It's easy to do. And it could help you find your next big winner. Start screening for these companies today with a free trial to the Research Wizard. You can do it.Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.Want more articles from this author? Scroll up to the top of this article and click the FOLLOW AUTHOR button to get an email each time a new article is published.Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: www.zacks.com/performance_disclosureToday's Stocks from Zacks' Best ScreensStarting today, you can get instant access to the latest picks from our time-proven screens which since 2000 have soared far above the market. While the S&P 500 averaged +7.0% per year, we saw results like these: Small-Cap Growth +44.9%, Filtered Zacks Rank5 +48.4%, and Big Money Zacks +55.2%.You're invited to screen the latest stocks in seconds by trying Zacks' Research Wizard stock-picking program. Or use the Wizard to create your own market-beating strategies. No credit card needed, no cost or obligation.Try it for 2 weeks free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Paysign, Inc. (PAYS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks