You probably know most of these names. In fact, you may be surprised by the corporations on our list, which either have traded or are trading as penny stocks.
Ford Motor Company and General Motors
Ford Motor Company (F) is a surprising one, but it did in fact trade for less than $2 per share, about three months before General Motors (GM) filed for bankruptcy in June 2009. Ford is not a corporation that comes to mind when most people think about penny stocks. Nevertheless, it had slipped into penny stock territory. Since then, it returned to more appropriate valuations over $20 per share in November 2021.
Pier 1 Imports
For the shoppers among us, Pier 1 Imports (PIR) is a name they know. What is not typically known is that shares of PIR traded as low as 10 cents on March 13, 2009, and there were several days before and after that saw this penny stock bouncing around under 50 cents. Of course, this was at a time when the entire business was at risk of folding, but for those gutsy investors who believed in the company, their rewards have been a four-year rise toward $25 per share, in May 2013. Unfortunately, Pier 1 Imports was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Later that year, Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) acquired the Pier 1 trademark name and assets, retained senior buyers and personnel, and relaunched the brand as an online retailer.
Sirius XM
Once trading in the $30-$40 range, Sirius XM (SIRI) satellite radio was a penny stock, with a share price below $5 from 2008 through 2017. The company has managed to keep its shares afloat over the $5 mark, briefly exceeding $7 in early 2020 and consistently above $6 since then, as of February 2022.
Xerox, RadioShack, and Eastman Kodak
Xerox (XRX) was one of those companies that slid into penny stock territory as their business plummeted in 2000. The price per share, which had reached a high of $168.48 in May 1999, tanked to under $10 per share within two years. Xerox ultimately regained health, trading in the $17 to $26 range as of March 2022. Less fortunate fates awaited a few others you may recognize, such as Radio Shack (RSHCQ) and Eastman Kodak (EKDKQ).
LoJack, Second Cup, and Alcatel-Lucent
Also from the “names you know” files, companies from LoJack (LOJN) to Second Cup (SCU, well-known in Canada) to Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) previously hung around the penny stock world. Interestingly, all three have now been delisted. In 2021, LoJack was acquired and relaunched by Spireon, a vehicle intelligence company, and Foodtastic, a restaurant concept franchisor, acquired Second Cup.
Monster Beverage Corp. and BlackBerry
To contrast one another, two former penny stocks going in different directions are Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST) and BlackBerry (BB on the NYSE, formerly known as Research in Motion). MNST was consistently trading under $1 all the way up until 2005, but it has been roaring strongly higher and could be considered a tenbagger stock with an August 2021 high share price of $99 and 52-week range above $76 as of March 2022. BB, on the other hand, has been struggling with massive competition from many major players in the smartphone industry. Having gone to college in the town where Research in Motion started, several personal friends landed early jobs there. They would agree that the trend of stock option millionaires has now been replaced by a few rounds of significant layoffs and several operational obstacles. As the business deals with its headwinds, they have been able to bring BB shares back up. The price briefly topped $20 per share in 2021 before settling to around $7 as of March 2022.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) descended to the penny stock realm after the 2008 financial crisis. They picked themselves up from near-zero valuations and climbed toward more respectable prices in subsequent years. They temporarily escaped penny stock territory at one point in 2014, by rising above the $5 share price level. That strength turned out to be short-lived, as their shares have fallen back below $1, as of March 2022.
