Citi has initiated coverage on truckload carrier Werner Enterprises, rating it a "sell" with a target price about 7% below the current market price. This was part of a broader initiation on 19 transportation and logistics companies, with Werner receiving the only sell recommendation. 

Citi initiates on transportation company Werner Enterprises with a ‘sell’

Micro-cap real estate investor, developer, and manager Caliber has reached an <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/caliber-hospitality-trust-expands-roll-123000488.html">agreement</a> with the investment management firm Satori Collective in which Satori will contribute seven hotels to Caliber. The hotels, located in the Midwestern and Southern U.S., operate under global brands such as Marriott, Hilton, and IHG. The deal will more than double Caliber's assets under management (AUM). On Tuesday, October 8, the day of the announcement, Caliber shares <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/cwd">slid</a> over 11%. Meanwhile, analysts see <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/cwd/analystestimates?mod=mw_quote_tab">potential</a> for a sixfold increase in the share price.

Micro-cap Caliber acquires seven hotels under Marriott, Hilton, and IHG brands

For high returns, investors should <a href="https://kz.kursiv.media/2024-09-19/mrdr-smallcaps-2/">look for</a> small-cap investments with the potential to grow into the mid-cap or even large-cap segment. Georgiy Timoshin, a financial analyst at Freedom Finance Global, highlights two undervalued companies that he believes could do just that.

Freedom Finance analyst spotlights two small caps with big potential

On Monday, October 7, shares of the biotech company Scholar Rock soared close to 362% following the <a href="https://investors.scholarrock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/scholar-rock-reports-apitegromab-meets-primary-endpoint-phase-3">announcement</a> that its lead candidate, apitegromab, a treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), had demonstrated clinically significant results in the final, phase III trial. Currently, there are only three approved drugs for this genetic disease, with the SMA market <a href="https://www.biospace.com/spinal-muscular-atrophy-market-size-to-reach-us-13-0-billion-by-2034-impelled-by-increased-popularity-of-gene-therapy#:~:text=The%20spinal%20muscular%20atrophy%20market,14.28%25%20during%202024%2D2034.">estimated</a> at $3 billion in 2023.

Scholar Rock stock skyrockets on positive trial data for its SMA drug

Shares of fintech company DeFi Technologies rose around 6.0% on the Cboe Canada stock exchange and about 3.5% in <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/deftf">over-the-counter trading</a> in New York on Monday, October 7. The gains followed the <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/defi-technologies-completes-acquisition-of-leading-digital-asset-liquidity-provider-stillman-digital-302268494.html">announcement</a> that the company had completed the acquisition of Stillman Digital, a leading digital asset liquidity provider. Zacks Small-Cap Research (Zacks SCR) has said it believes DeFi is trading at about half its fair value.

Fintech DeFi buoyed by completed acquisition of digital asset liquidity provider

Now may be the right time to invest in small-cap stocks, says Antony Creighton, director and head of strategy for Asia ex-Japan at Lazard Asset Management, which oversees more than $205.2 billion in <a href="https://www.lazardassetmanagement.com/about">assets</a>. The segment has likely hit bottom in terms of relative valuation, but with the Fed easing cycle getting started, small caps are now at an "inflection point," Creighton explains. At the same time, he stresses the importance of carefully picking where in the segment to invest.

Lazard strategist says small caps at an ‘inflection point’ amid Fed pivot

The fair value of Soligenix, a micro-cap pharmaceutical company, is estimated to be 800% higher than the current share price, according to a recent report by Zacks Small-Cap Research (Zacks SCR). Soligenix is developing several products, chief among which is a vaccine for the deadly, hemorrhagic-fever-causing Marburg virus. It is in the spotlight following a recent outbreak in Rwanda.

Zacks SCR sees massive upside in vaccine maker Soligenix amid Marburg virus outbreak

Quotes on EVgo, a small U.S. company that builds charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs), <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/evgo">jumped</a> more than 60% on Thursday, October 3. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) <a href="https://www.energy.gov/lpo/articles/lpo-announces-conditional-commitment-evgo-deploy-nationwide-ev-fast-charging-network">announced</a> a conditional $1.05 billion loan guarantee for the company. The financing should allow EVgo to almost <a href="https://evgo.com/">double</a> its charging network and compete with Elon Musk's Tesla, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-offers-evgo-conditional-105-billion-loan-ev-chargers-2024-10-03/">notes</a>.

EVgo stock surges 60% after $1 billion loan commitment from U.S. energy agency

Quotes on Crescent Energy <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CRGY/">jumped</a> 11% on Wednesday, October 2. At the end of the week, the name is set to be <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crescent-energy-set-join-p-213000355.html">added</a> to the S&amp;P SmallCap 600 index, with index inclusion almost always bringing new long-term investors, <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/ingredients-of-index-construction">according</a> to a Nasdaq study.

Crescent Energy stock jumps on news of S&amp;P SmallCap inclusion

Small caps turned out to be some of the most profitable investments in the third quarter of 2024. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (which tracks the performance of the Russell 2000 index) reported an 8.87% return versus 5.43% for the large-cap S&amp;P 500, points out Georgiy Timoshin, a financial analyst at Freedom Finance Global. He has spotlighted five stocks from the Russell 2000 that delivered third-quarter returns of over 100%.

Freedom spotlights five small-cap stocks with third-quarter returns over 100%

Acurx Pharmaceuticals has <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/acurx-announces-results-of-its-pioneering-research-with-ibezapolstat-in-collaboration-with-leiden-university-medical-center-at-the-premier-international-c-difficile-symposium-302256562.html">released</a> promising trial results for its lead drug candidate, ibezapolstat, an antibiotic for difficult-to-treat bacterial infections. It was found to effectively target Gram-positive bacteria without causing cross resistance with other antibiotics — in other words, ibezapolstat may work where other antibiotics fail. Even though Acurx stock has almost halved since the start of the year, analysts are upbeat, seeing upside of about 500%.

Acurx reports positive trial results for new antibiotic

Shares of Lexaria Bioscience, a company using its patented technology to change the delivery of drugs made by other firms, <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/LEXX/">rose</a> more than 3% on Tuesday, October 1, following the <a href="https://ir.lexariabioscience.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/268/lexaria-appoints-michael-shankman-as-chief-financial-officer">announcement</a> of a new CFO. This comes on the heels of a CEO <a href="https://ir.lexariabioscience.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/265/lexaria-welcomes-industry-veteran-as-new-ceo">change</a>, which signaled a strategic <a href="https://ir.lexariabioscience.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/266/lexaria-releases-strategic-letter-from-the-outgoing-ceo">shift</a> as Lexaria focuses on commercializing its products in the weight-loss drug market, dominated by Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.