The 10 Top Penny Stocks of March 2017

These are the top penny stocks of March 2017 so far...

Penny Stock Current Share Price March 2017 Return
Ocera Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: OCRX) $1.37 +122.5%
Highpower International Inc. (Nasdaq: HPJ) $3.72 +53.6%
Internap Corp. (Nasdaq: INAP) $3.48 +52.4%
CIBER Inc. (NYSE: CBR) $0.49 +50.2%
Strongbridge Biopharma Plc. (Nasdaq: SBBP) $4.40 +43.3%
Rocket Fuel Inc. (Nasdaq: FUEL) $4.06 +35.8%
Safe Bulkers Inc. (NYSE: SB) $1.86 +34.8%
QuickLogic Corp. (Nasdaq: QUIK) $2.14 +31.8%
Everi Holdings Inc. (NYSE: EVRI) $4.31 +30.8%
Ruby Tuesday Inc. (NYSE: RT) $2.40 +27.7%

The best penny stock of the month by performance - Ocera Therapeutics Inc. - is the only triple-digit gainer trading below $5 on the NYSE and Nasdaq.

top penny stocks of march 2017As a reminder, the above chart is just a tracking metric for penny stocks on those two exchanges. We only mention companies on the NYSE and Nasdaq because they're regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

And although that means these top 10 penny stocks are safer than those trading over the counter or on the pink sheets, you shouldn't buy them without doing extensive research.

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That's why Money Morning Chief Research Analyst Sid Riggs has done the research for you and found one of the best small-cap stocks to buy in 2017.

Riggs - whose last small-cap recommendation has netted Money Morning members a 19.8% return since February - likes this company because it's one of the leading data security firms in the United States. It boasts over 10,000 customers across several industries like healthcare and banking.

While the share price is down 0.5% this year, analysts see it surging as much as 47.3% by March 2018.

Here's one of the best stocks to buy right now...

This Small-Cap Stock Could Rally 47.3% in the Next 12 Months

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The small-cap stock Riggs likes now is VASCO Data Security International Inc. (Nasdaq: VDSI).

Shares of VDSI stock currently trade at $13.55. Although that's nearly triple the standard maximum penny stock price of $5, Riggs thinks this stock is worth the extra money. That's because it's one of the most dominant players in the financial cybersecurity sector.

VASCO designs and develops technology that lets people make their digital banking transactions safer. It offers two-factor authentication, mobile application security, and electronic signature capabilities for over 10,000 companies. These include over half of the 100 largest banks in the world, as well as some of the biggest government agencies and healthcare companies.

What many investors don't realize is how much growth potential VASCO's niche industry has...

According to Riggs - a noted expert in identifying the massive potential of small-cap markets - roughly 2 billion people worldwide could be using mobile devices for banking transactions by 2019. That means there could be upwards of 285.7 million mobile transactions every day by then if each person performs a minimum of one transaction a week.

"That comes out to 11.9 million transactions an hour," Riggs said. "That's a whole lot of opportunities for hackers to intercept your banking information as it travels through 'secure' networks."

The explosive growth of mobile banking will give VASCO a massive opportunity to get more customers and grow its profits. Analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance expect VASCO's annual revenue to increase 6.4% from a projected $185.9 million this year to $197.8 million in 2018.

Those same analysts give VASCO stock a high one-year target of $20 per share. That's a strong 47.3% gain from today's price of $13.55.

The Bottom Line: Although the VDSI stock price has fallen a slight 0.5% in 2017, it has stunning long-term growth potential. That's because the firm boasts rising revenue projections and a leading position in the growing mobile banking industry.

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