Hot Penny Stocks To Add To Your Reopening Watch List

Are Reopening Penny Stocks Still Popular in March?

As March comes to a close, reopening penny stocks are popular. If you're not familiar with this term, it refers to stocks that could benefit from the economy reopening following the pandemic. These can be companies ranging from airlines to entertainment and even financial institutions.

As you can see, this term is quite broad and could relate to many different penny stocks of interest. While some are more pure-play reopening penny stocks, others are on the speculative side of how a post-covid economy could benefit an individual company. 

As of March 29th, almost 30% of the U.S. population has had their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. In tandem, the 7-day average of cases is hovering at around 60,000. These are the lowest levels of Covid transmission that we've seen since July of last year. While this is positive news, we still have a long way to go before the pandemic is over. This means that now could be the time to find interesting reopening penny stocks for your list.

Reopening Penny Stocks to Watch 

While this area of the stock market can fluctuate off of speculation, volatility seems to remain high across the board. Because of this, it's important to research, and understand what role a company could play in the reopening of the economy. With all of this considered, here are three reopening penny stocks to watch right now. 

• Allied Esports Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: AESE) 
• Lion Group Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: LGHL) 
• Muscle Maker Inc. (NASDAQ: GRIL) 

Allied Esports Entertainment Inc. AESE 

While it may be difficult to view AESE as a reopening penny stock at first, there a few aspects that could categorize it as such. Allied Esports is, as its name suggests, an Esports entertainment provider. For those not familiar, Esports involves online gaming competitions that occur in both physical and digital settings. Allied offers a large range of infrastructure built to support the Esports marketplace.

This includes multi-platform content. Ahead of its fourth-quarter financials, which will be released on March 31st, let's take a look at what AESE is up to. In the past few months, Allied Esports has been working on selling the World Poker Tour and related assets. This came as it had struck an initial agreement with Element Partners to sell the WPT for a little over $78 million. Before the deal had fully cemented, Allied received a better offer from Bally's Corp. (NYSE: BALY) worth $100 million. Thus began the bidding war. Element came back, offering $90.5 million with Bally’s recent counter of $105 million. As of now, this has been determined as the superior offer.

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Now the clock is ticking for Element. It has until March 29th to come back with any counter. Aside from the bidding war, the positioning as an Esports entertainment company could get wrapped into the reopening trend. Entertainment has certainly changed thanks to the pandemic, and this gaming industry continues growing. As a relatively unique penny stock, AESE could be one to watch right now. 

Lion Group Holding Ltd. ADR LGHL 

Lion Group Holding is another reopening stock that may not seem like one at first. But, its exposure to the fintech market means that it could benefit from any economic reopening. For some context, Lion Group Holdings operates a trading platform that allows investors to purchase many different products.

Additionally, it has a large focus on the Chinese investor base, which has grown significantly in the past few years. Its services include CFD trading, insurance brokerage, futures and securities brokerage, and more. It states that it works with both retail and institutional investors to maximize its customer base. Earlier in March, Lion Group announced the formation of a new SPAC company to engage in several key business goals moving forward.

Mr. Chunning Wilson, CEO of Lion states that "as one of the first SPACs to originate from the Asia region, Lion has first hand experience with SPAC mergers and sufficient financial resources. Our board and management team have broad connections in various industry circles in Asia, such as internet technology, software, fintech, and other areas.”

A few weeks earlier, LGHL announced a strategic partnership with Grandshores Technology Group Ltd. as a consultant to help with blockchain-related business opportunities. This includes tech support, advice on blockchain operations, consulting, and the needs of blockchain-based trading programs.

Lion states that it is in the process of setting up an $800 million blockchain-focused fund to invest in digital currencies. With cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin enjoying large bullish momentum as economies begin reopening, LGHL could be worth watching. 

Muscle Maker Inc. GRIL 

Muscle Maker Inc. is a reopening penny stock that we've been talking about for several months. It is arguably the most pure-play reopening penny stock on this list. The reason for this is that Muscle Maker is the owner of several brick-and-mortar restaurant locations. These include Muscle Maker Grill, Healthy Joe's, and MMG Burger Bar.

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Its restaurants are aimed at the healthy fast food market, which has grown substantially in the past five years. A few months ago, Muscle Maker announced its business expansion through four different sub-brands, all launching in 2021. This includes both brick and mortar restaurants as well as ghost kitchens. The term ghost kitchen applies to kitchens that produce food purely for delivery with no sit-down dining. This has become a popular fad during the pandemic as it eases costs and promotes the potential for profitability. 

Mike Roper, CEO of Muscle Maker Grill, stated that “we're thrilled to kick off the new year with some new brands and offerings. Burger Joe's provides a "healthier for you" burger and a "cheat day" option for those who want a more decadent burger…We can launch these brands from our already existing brick and mortar and ghost kitchen locations quickly with little cost associated making them a win for our non-traditional growth plans.”

As you see, Muscle Maker’s success depends on both its ability to continue growing during the pandemic and its potential once the pandemic is over. Considering this, GRIL could be on the list of penny stocks to watch as the economy begins reopening.