Each week, Benzinga’s Stock Whisper Index uses a combination of proprietary data and pattern recognition to showcase five stocks that are just under the surface and deserve attention.
Investors are constantly on the hunt for undervalued, under-followed and emerging stocks. With countless methods available to retail traders, the challenge often lies in sifting through the abundance of information to uncover new opportunities and understand why certain stocks should be of interest.
Here’s a look at the Benzinga Stock Whisper Index for the week ending Sept. 11:
: Interest in the video game stock increased over the week, which comes with shares down 14% over the last month. The company has one of the biggest catalysts in its history coming soon with the release of the highly anticipated "GTA 6" game on Nov. 19. Shares have sold off recently on leaks, but interest in a Netflix special showing off the game was high and searches on Google Trends were hitting near all-time highs. The game is expected to sell well and investors may have taken profits too soon ahead of the release.
Xometry Inc (NASDAQ:XMTR): The AI-enabled manufacturing company saw strong interest from readers during the week. The company was recently highlighted as a favorite from JPMorgan with an Overweight rating and $120 price target. Analysts at JPMorgan turned bullish thanks to the company being well positioned to benefit from the digital shift of the manufacturing industry. Other items highlighted from the analysts were AI-driven product improvements, Xometry’s partnership with Siemens and international expansion. Shares were down 9% over the last five trading days, but remain up 37% year-to-date, offering a potential dip for investors.
Nu Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NU): The digital bank company with a strong presence in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia could get more attention from U.S. investors soon. The company recently launched U.S. operations on Sept. 10 with a goal of targeting young customers and Hispanic customers in the country initially. Nu Holdings also unveiled Nu Global, a new initiative to help customers hold and move money around the world, which could grow the company’s customer base outside its key countries. The company’s recent quarterly results were also strong for investors.
Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM): The precious metals company saw strong interest from readers during the week. The interest comes with minimal news and after a double miss against analyst estimates for revenue and earnings per share in the second quarter, which was reported last month. The key here is gold stocks becoming more favorable for investors based on potential Federal Reserve action on rates and the ongoing global uncertainties.
Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI): The communications stock saw strong interest from readers, which follows multiple analyst price target increases after recent quarterly results. Motorola also recently announced a $2 billion increase to its share buyback program, which could boost future earnings per share. The stock is up 0.8% year-to-date, offering an opportunity for investors who see future growth and earnings power.
Stay tuned for next week’s report, and follow Benzinga Pro for all the latest headlines and top market-moving stories here.
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Anthropic’s soaring private-market valuation may say as much about the scarcity of its shares and the broader frenzy around artificial intelligence as it does about the company’s underlying fundamentals, Coin Bureau founder and cross-asset analyst Nic Puckrin told Benzinga.
A Series H funding round in May valued Anthropic at $965 billion. Secondary-market transactions have reportedly pushed its implied valuation even higher. Estimates currently range from roughly $1.05 trillion to $1.5 trillion.
Puckrin questioned whether those secondary-market prices necessarily represent what investors would ultimately be willing to pay for Anthropic once it goes public. It’s akin to SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX)
; Limited share supply can drive private-market valuations for highly sought-after companies more than a fundamental reassessment of the business."In a similar fashion to SpaceX, the pre-IPO valuation is driven more by scarcity than fundamentals," Puckrin said.
With existing shareholders reluctant to sell and investors eager for exposure to one of the leading AI companies, limited share availability can push secondary-market prices higher. But that does not necessarily mean public-market investors will value Anthropic 25% to 50% above its latest funding round.
Puckrin said the current premium looks more like a bet on IPO-day momentum than a definitive signal of Anthropic’s long-term value.
That distinction could matter more after Anthropic lists publicly. While the company’s strong revenue growth supports a higher valuation, Puckrin said the real test of investor conviction will come after the initial public offering, when the stock begins trading with greater liquidity and faces broader public-market scrutiny.
"The weeks and months after the IPO will show what investors are really willing to pay for Anthropic," he said.
Puckrin also stopped short of comparing Anthropic’s valuation with the dot-com bubble, noting that the company has experienced rapid revenue growth. However, he questioned whether strong growth alone is enough to justify the increasingly elevated valuations being assigned to AI companies.
His concerns extend beyond Anthropic to the financing ecosystem surrounding the AI boom.
Puckrin pointed to Nvidia’s partnerships with BlackRock and financing for companies purchasing Nvidia chips, arguing that such arrangements raise questions about whether capital is circulating through the AI ecosystem in ways that can reinforce valuations.
"What also makes me doubt the valuation numbers is the circular financing that appears to be propping up AI valuations, not only for Anthropic," Puckrin said.
For Anthropic, that leaves investors weighing whether its rising private-market valuation reflects its business economics or the enormous amount of capital chasing exposure to AI. If scarcity and expectations for IPO-day gains are doing much of the work, Anthropic could face a tougher valuation test once its shares begin trading publicly.
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Truflation CEO Stefan Rust told Benzinga on Monday that Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s hawkishness is a "distraction from his dovishness," predicting no rate hike at next week’s meeting.
Asked what could force Warsh to raise rates, Rust pointed to oil, which was trading around $97.
"Oil prices are definitely going to drive the decision," Rust said. "If it goes above 110 or something like that, it’s very likely we’ll see an interest rate hike."
Since Monday, hostilities in the Middle East have escalated and Brent has surged above $104. Thursday’s producer-price report showed annual producer-price inflation accelerating from 4.8% to 5.4%, while energy prices jumped 4.2% from July.
Polymarket traders put the chance of a September hike at roughly 50% when Benzinga spoke to Rust. The odds jumped as high as 64% after Thursday’s PPI release.
CPI provides the next test Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Truflation expects official headline inflation to come in at 3.4%.
Rust said Warsh’s hawkish rhetoric masks more dovish instincts. The clue, he argued, lies in the data Warsh watches.
Rust pointed to Warsh’s interest in trimmed-mean inflation, the Taylor rule and timely data. When paired with Truflation’s lower inflation readings, he argues those tools weaken the case for a hike.
Rust also believes Warsh is closer to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s preference for lower rates than their public comments suggest.
He expects Warsh to provide markets with less guidance, characterizing his message as: "Grow up, make your own decisions, get your own data."
"Scott Bessent will never allow rates to go up," Rust said.
Asked what a quarter-point hike would mean, Rust said the impact would be "huge."
"It would be really hard for the Treasury to make sure that the budget deficit gets to 3% of GDP," he said. "The war has already made it nearly impossible to do. And how is he going to do that if interest rates go up?"
Rust also dismissed the idea that Bessent and Warsh are genuinely at odds. He pointed to their shared ties to Stanley Druckenmiller, describing any public friction as competition between people who know each other rather than a deep policy split.
He then went further, calling the Treasury secretary "the ultimate boss" and arguing that Treasury has "more influence and power" than the Federal Reserve chair.
Truflation’s real-time inflation measures have been running below official government readings. The firm argues that faster-moving price data give policymakers a better picture of current inflation than backward-looking official reports.
Its Sept. 8 report says its CPI measure has historically led official CPI by around 41 days. But the report also warns that inflation is becoming "less benign beneath the headline," with energy now the largest upside risk.
Rust’s argument is not that inflation pressure has disappeared. He says current inflation data do not justify a hike, while a much larger oil shock could change that view.
The AI boom is already adding to inflation, Rust said, as data-center construction increases demand for electricians, construction workers, electricity and equipment.
"It’s inflationary," he said. "Already today, you can’t get the turbines you need for the data centers."
Rust said demand from AI, new factories and other projects could leave the U.S. about 15 gigawatts short of the power it needs next year. GE Vernova (NYSE:GEV)
said in July it had 116 gigawatts of gas turbines on order or reserved, and its CEO told analysts the company is now taking reservations for 2031 delivery.Rust expects AI-driven productivity gains to begin outweighing those costs over the next three to nine months, becoming much more significant next year.
"We’ll see amazing productivity gains already next year in the economy," he said.
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U.S. civil aviation has treated Mach 1 over land as a hard boundary for more than five decades, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) now wants to judge supersonic flight by what reaches the ground and not simply by speed. Its proposed interim standard would permit overland operations if sonic-boom overpressure stays at or below 0.11 pounds per square foot under an FAA-approved compliance method.
"It is obvious that regulators want more data, which means they need more test flights," Franta told Benzinga in an exclusive interview. "Overall, the new rules are a positive signal that supersonic transport businesses won’t be overly constrained by regulation."
The FAA still has another major piece to write. A separate proposal covering takeoff and landing noise is expected later this year, with the agency targeting completion of both standards by mid-2027.
"It remains to be seen how regulators will measure and qualify different boom-mitigation approaches," Franta said, including possible weather, atmospheric and altitude restrictions.
Boom Supersonic has demonstrated one such approach. Its XB-1 test aircraft broke the sound barrier in 2025, reaching Mach 1.122, and later demonstrated flights using "Mach cutoff," where speed, altitude and atmospheric conditions keep an audible boom from reaching the ground.
But Boom has yet to fly a full-scale Overture airliner, while its purpose-built Symphony engine remains in development, with a fully operational engine-core prototype test planned for 2026.
That gap is why Grant Holve, director and lead analyst for commercial aerospace at Forecast International, sees a narrower immediate opportunity.
"Testing and certification is the only plausible near-term application," Holve said in an interview. He expects the civil market over the next 10 to 15 years to remain "a niche sector with the potential for a few operators."
North America nevertheless has perhaps the strongest underlying demand case. A NASA-sponsored study published in February 2021, modeling a 60-seat, Mach 1.6 aircraft for 2035, found 36% of projected global supersonic operations would serve North America, the largest regional share.
Researchers linked that concentration to high-income markets and a premium estimated at $185 to $281 for each hour of travel time saved. The study found that restricting supersonic flight over land could eliminate access to 78% to 100% of the potential unrestricted market.
That makes the FAA shift commercially significant. It could eventually open U.S. domestic city pairs instead of confining the business case largely to ocean crossings.
But quieter booms do not solve the economics. An International Council on Clean Transportation study in January 2022 modeled future supersonic aircraft consuming roughly seven to nine times more fuel per seat-kilometer than its subsonic baseline, putting pressure on fuel costs and emissions even if noise barriers fall.
Boom remains the clearest U.S. passenger-aircraft contender. The company says Overture has 130 orders and pre-orders from American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL), United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL) and Japan Airlines (OTC:JAPSY)(OTC:JPNRF). American says it paid a non-refundable deposit on its initial 20 aircraft, although deliveries remain conditional on Boom meeting operating, performance and safety requirements.
Holve says investors should focus deeper in the development cycle. "Financing relative to certification progress is the single most critical aspect to evaluate," he said.
The sector already carries warning signs. Exosonic, which pursued a quiet supersonic airliner and military drones, shut down in 2024 after failing to secure enough customer support to sustain its cash requirements. Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA)-backed Aerion met a similar fate in 2021 when it could not raise the capital required to move its AS2 business jet into production. Holve argues broader adoption would likely require Boeing, Airbus SE (OTC:EADSY) or Embraer (NYSE:EMBJ) to invest directly in a new supersonic airliner, something he does not see happening today.
Franta sees the nearer opportunity one step earlier. He wants a U.S. supersonic and hypersonic test corridor through low-density airspace that could boost flight cadence while letting regulators test how high-speed aircraft coexist with subsonic traffic.
"The corridor approach would allow high cadence flight tests," Franta said.
Starfighters is positioning its Mach 2-plus F-104 fleet around precisely that demand through its ‘Wind Tunnel in the Sky’ testing platform. "Since February we have seen a consistent increase in interest from government and commercial organizations wanting access to the high-speed environment," Franta said.
His passenger forecast is aggressive but clear. "I foresee supersonic business jets flying in the NAS (National Airspace System) within five years, and airline-owned jets breaking the sound barrier within 10 years."
According to a press release earlier this month, NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft has now completed 25 test flights and is preparing to enter acoustic-validation testing. The regulatory science is catching up. The harder question for commercial supersonic flight is whether certification, financing and operating economics can catch up with it.
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Hyperion DeFi holds a long-term strategic treasury of the native token of the Hyperliquid Layer-1 blockchain, specifically built for trading perpetual futures, spot assets and other financial derivatives.
It currently holds roughly 1.93 million HYPE, worth over $166 million, on its balance sheet, according to CoinGecko, making it the second-largest HYPE treasury company after Hyperliquid Strategies Inc. (NASDAQ:PURR).
In an email interview with Benzinga, Jung said the company plans to “consistently accumulate” HYPE over time, funded by revenue from expanding business lines and “accretive purchases” through access to public markets.
“We believe that more HYPE ownership is beneficial, given the trend that future new primitives on Hyperliquid will require some quantity of HYPE stake,” Jung added.
That said, Jung clarified that Hyperion DeFi is not solely focused on accumulating HYPE.
The company runs institutional-grade validators to generate native staking rewards through its HYPE holdings, while also allocating HYPE to core DeFi primitives such as lending, borrowing, and vault strategies.
The Hyperliquid ecosystem has kicked into high gear after President Donald Trump said at a White House summit that the administration is “working hard” to bring the decentralized exchange to the U.S. market "in a fully compliant and legal fashion."
The HYPD stock is up 37% in a month, while the HYPE token has surged 58%.
“It’s extremely positive to see Hyperliquid acknowledged at that level, and to see support from key agencies like the CFTC clearing the way for Hyperliquid to be available in the U.S.,” Jung said.
Hyperion DeFi raised its full-year 2026 adjusted gross profit guidance to $7 million-$8 million on Tuesday, up from $5 million-$7 million. The Nasdaq-listed company also authorized a $20 million share repurchase program.
Price Action: At the time of writing, HYPE was exchanging hands at $85.74, up 1.92% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Hyperion DeFi shares fell 0.84% in after-hours trading. The stock closed 8.48% higher at $3.58 during Tuesday’s regular trading session.
According to Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, HYPD maintains stronger short- and medium-term price trends while lagging in the long term.
See More: Top Momentum Stocks
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For decades, defense investors have relied on familiar yardsticks—contract wins, order backlogs and the number of platforms delivered—to judge which companies are pulling ahead. Xtend AI Robotics, Inc.(NYSE:XTND)
CEO Aviv Shapira says artificial intelligence is making those metrics less predictive.As defense increasingly becomes software-defined, he argues the industry’s biggest winners will be those that learn and adapt the fastest, not necessarily those that build the most hardware.
Asked what metric investors should prioritize five years from now, Shapira didn’t point to revenue, production capacity or contract value. Instead, he named a metric most investors have never heard of.
“Five years from now, the most important metric will be operational learning velocity,” Shapira told Benzinga in an exclusive email interview. “This means how quickly a company can turn field feedback into a verified, deployable capability update across an operational fleet.”
The idea reflects a broader shift unfolding across the defense industry. Rather than viewing military platforms as largely fixed assets that receive occasional upgrades, companies are increasingly building AI-enabled systems that can continuously improve through software updates. That changes what creates long-term competitive advantage.
Shapira contrasted this emerging framework with the metrics investors traditionally emphasize.
“The defense market still focuses on contract value, backlog, number of platforms delivered and the performance of an individual system,” he said. “These metrics will remain important, but they do not fully capture adaptability.”
Shapira’s argument builds on a broader thesis that software—not hardware—is becoming the defining differentiator in modern defense programs. He described XTEND’s XOS platform as a hardware-agnostic operating layer that allows capabilities to improve across an entire fleet instead of resetting whenever new equipment is introduced.
That evolution, according to management, means investors may need to look beyond production scale and toward a company’s ability to rapidly translate operational feedback into software improvements. That resembles how software companies compound value through continuous product updates, even though defense manufacturers have historically been evaluated on manufacturing metrics.
Shapira cautioned that relying on technological superiority alone is becoming increasingly risky. “A static technological advantage can disappear quickly,” he said, pointing to a battlefield where inexpensive drones, electronic warfare and evolving countermeasures can rapidly erode an incumbent’s edge.
Shapira’s comments suggest the next generation of defense leaders may be distinguished less by the size of their backlog than by the speed of their software improvement cycle.
If AI continues reshaping military procurement and operations, investors may increasingly evaluate defense companies not just on what they deliver today, but on how quickly they can improve what is already in the field.
Image courtesy XTEND
