5 Pharmaceutical Penny Stocks to Watch for August 2017

The top-performing pharmaceutical penny stocks to watch in August have posted gains as high as 49.51% per share over the past 30 days. All of the stocks on today's list are up at least 20% in the same time.

In addition to this list of penny stocks, we're also sharing a pharmaceutical profit play with Money Morning readers that could potentially double your money in the next 12 months.

Here are the top-performing pharmaceutical penny stocks of the past 30 days...

Company July Performance Price
MEI Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: MEIP) 49.51% $3.08
Amarin Corp. Plc. (Nasdaq: AMRN) 37.33% $4.12
DURECT Corp. (Nasdaq: DRRX) 33.21% $1.87
Prana Biotechnology Ltd. (Nasdaq: PRAN) 27.37% $2.75
Cardiome Pharma Corp. (Nasdaq: CRME) 20.36% $4.67

Source: Finviz
While these 30-day, double-digit gains are tempting, they are unlikely to last. Because of this, Money Morning doesn't recommend penny stocks for most investors.

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You see, penny stocks typically have low trading volumes. This increases your risk because it is hard to get into and out of a stock quickly. If a stock tanks 30% in one day, you may have a hard time finding a buyer. That also makes penny stocks much more volatile than stocks with higher market capitalizations.

The pharmaceutical stock we are recommending today trades for just under $13, above the typical $5 penny stock threshold. It is still a small-cap stock (market cap under $2 billion), giving it a lot of room for large price gains.

This stock is also more liquid than some of the stocks listed above, with an average trading volume of nearly 700,000 shares a day. The highest-priced stock above, CRME, only has an average trading volume of 62,127 shares per day.

This pharmaceutical stock that we are recommending today could even double your money in the next 12 months...

Double Your Money with This Small-Cap Pharmaceutical Stock

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Insys Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: INSY) has gained 38.6% so far this year, while the Dow has only gained 9.4% year to date.

And these market-beating gains are expected to continue...

Insys has a new drug, Syndros, which received final approval from the FDA back in May. The drug will be available starting in August, according to the company, and will treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

But there's an even bigger reason Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon likes Insys' Sydnros.

Dronabinol, the drug's active ingredient, has been proven effective in treating pain, according to Patalon.

The pain industry is huge. The global pain treatment industry was worth about $60 billion in 2015, according to Transparency Market Research. That number is expected to grow to $83 billion by 2024.

Even better, Syndros puts the company at the convergence of two major trends in the industry: non-opioid pain killers and medical marijuana.

"Insys has big upside because it's trying (and, so far, succeeding with flying colors) to work at the 'convergence' of those two powerful trends," said Patalon.

Analysts agree. The one-year consensus target price of the five analysts that follow INSY is $16.40. That's a 28.8% gain from its current trading price of $12.72.

One analyst thinks INSY could hit $26.00 in the next year. That would be a gain of 104%, more than doubling your money.

The Bottom Line: While we don't recommend penny stocks for most investors, small-cap stocks can still offer huge growth potential. Insys is a small-cap stock that could see the convergence of non-opioid pain killers and medical marijuana work in its favor, allowing INSY to potentially double your money.

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