We recently published a list of the 11 Most Promising Penny Stocks According to Analysts. In this article, we are going to take a look at where NexGen Energy Ltd. (NYSE:NXE) stands against other promising penny stocks.

Solus’ Dan Greenhaus, and Invesco’s Brian Levitt together appeared on CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell’ on April 15 to talk about tariffs, market uncertainty, and risk concerns. The discussion started with Dan Greenhaus expressing his belief that many worst-case scenarios are already priced into the market. He acknowledged that he’s cautious but not overly worried. He pointed out recent events, like the exemptions on auto part imports and the 90-day delay on tariff implementation, as evidence that President Trump is listening to advisors and avoiding pushing toward extreme outcomes. Greenhaus attributed these actions to the rebound seen in the stock market. At the same time, he agreed that the administration has been rather inconsistent, in the context of Morgan Stanley’s comment that investors should prepare for more inconsistencies. But he argued that many investors are assuming scenarios closer to the worst rather than the best. He emphasized that while frightening predictions about skyrocketing prices are taking over media right now, these scenarios are unlikely to materialize.

Brian Levitt built on Greenhaus’ optimism while acknowledging the ongoing uncertainty as well. He attributed this uncertainty to the reliance on decisions from the White House rather than traditional policy mechanisms. He compared the current situation to 2018 when markets fell 20% in a quarter before rebounding due to trade pauses and Fed intervention. He cautioned that the current S&P 500 multiples are not at recession levels so there are potential downside risks if uncertainty remains. While Levitt thinks that business investment and consumer confidence metrics show signs of prolonged volatility, Greenhaus further emphasizes that periods of heightened uncertainty often end up presenting long-term investment opportunities. He acknowledged risks such as sudden tariff increases but also encouraged investors to take advantage of these moments when risk premiums rise.

Our Methodology

We sifted through the Finviz stock screener to compile a list of the top penny stocks that were trading below $5 and had the highest analysts’ upside potential (at least 40%). The stocks are ranked in ascending order of their upside potential. We have also added the hedge fund sentiment for each stock, as of Q4 2024, which was sourced from Insider Monkey’s database.

Note: All data was sourced on April 15.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

A miner in a hard hat and apron holding a piece of uranium ore in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan.

NexGen Energy Ltd. (NYSE:NXE)

Share Price as of April 15: $4.61

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37

Average Upside Potential as of April 15: 90.92%

NexGen Energy Ltd. (NYSE:NXE) is an exploration and development stage company. It acquires, explores, evaluates, and develops uranium properties in Canada. It holds a 100% interest in the Rook I project which consists of 32 contiguous mineral claims that total an area of ~35,065 hectares located in the southwestern Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan.

NexGen’s flagship Rook I Project is being developed into the largest low-cost producing uranium mine globally. The Rook I Project is built under the most elite environmental and social governance standards. Notably, the company’s Arrow Deposit, which is a part of the Rook I project, has seen a 70% jump in pre-production cost, from CAD$1.3 billion to CAD$2.2 billion, causing its IRR to fall from 71.5% to 39.6%.

In December 2024, NexGen signed its first agreements with US utility companies to supply 5 million pounds of the nuclear fuel ingredient. NexGen Energy Ltd. (NYSE:NXE) also announced the beginning of a 43,000-meter exploration drill program at Patterson Corridor East, which lies in the world-class Arrow deposit. This program will be one of the largest drill programs in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan in 2025. The company anticipates annual delivery of about 1 million pounds of uranium from 2029 to 2033.

L1 Long Short Fund stated the following regarding NexGen Energy Ltd. (NYSE:NXE) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“NexGen Energy Ltd. (NYSE:NXE) (Long -10%) weakened as uranium prices fell -7% over the quarter. We continue to see the uranium market as having positive fundamental supply/demand tailwinds over the medium to long term. NexGen is preparing to develop the world’s largest undeveloped uranium deposit, Arrow, located in Saskatchewan, Canada. This would be a major, new, strategic Western source to address the anticipated uranium market deficit. We anticipate that NexGen will have completed all regulatory requirements over the course of 2024, providing a clear pathway to full scale construction of the project. Arrow has the potential to generate more than C$2b of cash flow annually, once developed (2028) – a highly attractive proposition given NexGen’s current market cap of ~C$5.5b.”

Overall, NXE ranks 8th on our list of the most promising penny stocks according to analysts. While we acknowledge the growth potential of NXE, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NXE but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.