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 Cogent Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT) 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 group of scientists in a laboratory researching a sophisticated biotechnology drug.

Cogent Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT)

Share Price as of April 15: $4.58

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 38

Average Upside Potential as of April 15: 249.34%

Cogent Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT) is a biotech company that develops precision therapies for genetically defined diseases. Its lead product candidate is bezuclastinib (CGT9486), which is a selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor in a Phase 3 trial. It is designed to target mutations within the KIT receptor tyrosine kinase, which includes the KIT D816V mutation that drives systemic mastocytosis (SM), as well as other mutations found in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Cogent has a cash position worth $312 million, which will sustain its operations into late 2026. Its R&D expenses rose to $62 million in Q4 2024 and $232.7 million for the full year due to the accelerated development of Bezuclastinib and other research programs. In February, Cogent presented promising updates from the SUMMIT and APEX trials at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting. It showed improvements in non-advanced SM and encouraging results in advanced SM patients.

In the SUMMIT, patients on 100 mg of bezuclastinib showed a 56% average improvement in symptoms after 24 weeks. In the APEX trial, bezuclastinib achieved a 52% overall response rate (ORR) per mIWG criteria. Cogent Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT) expects top-line results from the SUMMIT trial in July 2025 and the APEX trial in H2 2025. It plans to submit the first NDA for bezuclastinib by the end of 2025.

Overall, COGT ranks 4th on our list of the most promising penny stocks according to analysts. While we acknowledge the growth potential of COGT, 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 COGT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this 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.