5 Stocks Under $10

If you've got 10 bucks, I have some stock ideas for you.

Sure, you will technically need more than a Hamilton. You have stock commissions to deal with. Investors will also want to buy in bigger lots. However, there is certainly plenty of volatility present in stocks with low price tags -- and smart investors can do well here as long as they're cognizant of the heavy risks.

I've been singling out attractive opportunities in low-priced stocks since my original "5 Stocks Under $10" column nine years ago, and I've seen plenty of stocks with pocket change prices generate incredible gains.

There are risks, and they are readily apparent given the recent volatility. There are often good reasons for stocks to be ignored or beaten down. However, a market rally can work wonders for the unloved with positive catalysts in their pockets.

Let's go over my five picks from March of last year to prove my point.

Company	9/17/10	3/13/09	Gain
Sirius XM Radio	$1.13	$0.198	471%
Bare Escentuals*	$18.20	$3.66	397%
Focus Media	$21.88	$5.74	281%
Geron	$5.09	$4.36	17%
Ford	$12.49	$2.19	470%

*Bare Escentuals was acquired for $18.20 a share earlier this year.

The average gain of 327% in just 18 months is remarkable. Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI  ) had braced investors for the possibility of a bankruptcy filing a month earlier. Now it's a thriving media giant with four quarters of breakeven results under its belt. Ford (NYSE: F  ) may have been the better positioned stateside automaker, but no one was buying cars at the time, but the water's so fine that even GM is ready to go public.

Let's go over this month's picks.

TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO  ) -- $9.48
The digital video recorder (DVR) pioneer is patent-rich but share price-poor. Despite its ability to land cable and satellite television heavies as licensing partners, the sheer number of TiVo subscribers continues to shrink.

TiVo will also face an onslaught this holiday season, as tech darlings roll out new set-top solutions.

Yes, these are challenging times for TiVo, but the couch-potato buddy is also one of the few companies in this niche that's been cultivating relationships with cable providers and the content creators. The stock could also pop if it reaches a long-awaited settlement with DirecTV, a move that would pad its coffers as well as validate its revolutionary patents.

JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO  ) -- $7.32
I singled out JA Solar in this list back in April, and the solar energy play has gone to appreciate by 25%.

I think this is just the beginning. Solar stocks are bouncing back after a pitiful 2009, and JA is no exception. Analysts see the company earning $0.96 a share this year, so the stock is attractively priced at less than eight times this year's projected profitability.

New orders for the company's mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline solar cells continue to pour in, giving JA a "bright" near-term future.

Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL  ) -- $4.00
Upstart biotechs are a lot like lottery tickets, so this is my riskiest pick this month. Exelixis has spent years toiling away on cancer treatments, and was dealt a blow earlier this year when partner Bristol-Myers Squibb ended its collaboration on XL-184 -- even as the treatment was in the final phase of clinical trials.

The good news here is that Exelixis has a rich pipeline of potentially promising compounds in different phases of development, and it's been trimming its overhead to make sure that it can see them through the process.

Live Nation (NYSE: LYV  ) -- $9.65
Shares of concert promoter Live Nation have fallen 30% since my springtime bash, but I'm ready to take a bullish turn.

Armed with its purchase of Ticketmaster, Live Nation is the undisputed champ when it comes to event promotion and ticketing. Naturally, this is a tough business to be in when discretionary income is melting like an afternoon snow cone. Live Nation has had to deal with tour cancellations, resorting to discounts to fill seats at other shows.

However, I really like some of Live Nation's initiatives to milk even more out of the concertgoer experience. It's no longer cheap concessions and mangy t-shirts. Live Nation is teaming up with artists to upsell premium VIP admissions and offer products like live-event CDs that weren't feasible in the past.

Between social media initiatives that will bear fruit in the future and the $40 million in annual synergies that Live Nation is on track to realize after the close of the Ticketmaster deal in January, Live Nation's future is a lot more promising than its present.

Book it!

A123 Systems (Nasdaq: AONE  ) -- $9.17
Lithium-ion battery maker A123 was one of last year's hottest IPOs, soaring 66% last year on the allure of its role in sustainable transportation.

It's been a bumpier road this year, as short-sighted investors are growing impatient with negative gross margins and A123's tendency to burn through cash.

However, the applications for A123's rechargeable battery packs are real given the volume of eco-friendly automobiles slated to hit the market. A123 isn't presently profitable, but analysts still see revenue surging from $120 million this year to $270 million next year. By the time it gets there, the stock is unlikely to remain in the single digits.

Five for the road
These five stocks aren't trading in the single digits by accident. If I'm right about the catalysts, though, they may not be trading in the single digits for too much longer.

Finding promising stocks while they're still cutting their baby teeth is at the heart of the Rule Breakers newsletter that I write for. You can check it out for free this month with a 30-day trial subscription. There are nearly a dozen active stock recommendations in the growth stock research service trading for less than $10 at the moment, including Exelixis. Check those out, and I'll be back with more on the third Monday of next month.