Quest Resource Holding Corp. QRHC

A number of stocks traded up in the afternoon session after Treasury yields eased and crude oil prices fell amid U.S. and Iranian talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Stocks trading in the $1-10 range are generally smaller players with less risk than their penny stock counterparts. But that doesn’t mean the underlying businesses are cheap, and we advise caution as many have questionable fundamentals.

Even if they go mostly unnoticed, industrial businesses are the backbone of our country. Still, their generally high capital requirements expose them to the ups and downs of economic cycles, and the industry’s six-month return of 4.5% has fallen short of the S&P 500’s 14% rise.