The stock market will always have good investment opportunities. As investors, it’s our job to establish filtering criteria that we utilize for weeding out the duds. Consider analyzing and potentially adding these three penny stocks to your first-quarter portfolio. Let’s take a quick look.

Blink Charging (BLNK)

Blink Charging (NASDAQ:BLNK) is booming in the electric vehicle (EV) charging sector. Its operations around the world are also having a significant impact, making it a great choice in penny stocks.

The company recently set ambitious financial targets, with 2023 revenue between $128 million and $133 million. It also set a goal to break even on adjusted EBITDA by December 2024. The third quarter of 2023 showed impressive growth, with total revenues soaring 152% to $43.4 million. This was driven by an increase in gross profit as well as product and service revenues.

An exciting development for Blink is its collaboration with Grupo Q, the official Porsche (OTCMKTS:DRPRY) dealer of El Salvador. The goal of this partnership is to deploy five state-of-the-art electric vehicle charging stations strategically located in high-demand locations. This is in line with Porsche’s global initiative to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure. These stations will be of great assistance to EV drivers exploring the picturesque Salvadoran landscapes.

In addition, Blink Charging has been selected as a full-service EV infrastructure provider for Volvo’s (OTCMKTS:VLVLY) Mack Trucks, marking a significant achievement in its fleet electrification efforts. The partnership highlights Blink’s expertise in scalable EV equipment and its commitment to providing end-to-end solutions for Mack Trucks. On-site chargers are already being deployed at multiple Volvo and Mack facilities across the country.

Altice (ATUS)

Altice (NYSE:ATUS) is a telecommunications and media company that offers internet, mobile, television and telephone services. It is attracting attention as a top penny stock to buy due to its positive operational highlights and financial performance.

In the third quarter of 2023, it demonstrated improvements, including a 13,000 reduction in broadband net losses and the addition of 295,000 fiber customers, marking its best quarter for fiber net additions. Optimum Mobile, a segment of Altice USA, experienced significant growth with 24,000 mobile net additions, reaching 288,000 lines.

The company is actively improving the customer experience. This is evidenced by notable improvements in metrics such as tNPS and a substantial decrease in inbound and outbound calls. Altice’s commitment to creating a world-class network experience is evidenced by the launch of Optimum 8 Gigabit symmetric fiber.

Despite a 3.2% YOY decline in total revenue, the company posted revenue growth in business services, news and advertising. Financially, it recorded net revenues of $66.8 million and net cash flows from operating activities of $474.5 million in Q3 2023. The September 2023 balance sheet review revealed consolidated net debt of $24.499 billion, representing net leverage of 6.7x.

The company recently announced internet speed improvements in Texas. It also committed $1 million to DonorsChoose to support classroom projects, further underscoring Altice’s commitment to innovation and community engagement.

Qurate Retail (QRTEA)

Qurate Retail (NASDAQ:QRTEA) is a diverse retail company that is attracting attention as one of the promising penny stocks. In the third quarter of 2023, it faced a slight 3% drop in revenue at $2.5 billion. Despite this, the company impressively increased its adjusted OIBDA by 35% in constant currency. The bottom line showed reported diluted EPS of $0.00 and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.10.

Quarate’s financials showed a regular quarterly cash dividend of $2.00 per share for its 8% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, payable on December 15, 2023, was declared. In addition, a semi-annual interest payment of $20.00 per $1,000 original principal amount was announced for the 4% exchangeable senior notes due 2029.

It is crucial to note that the principal amount of the Debentures are subject to reductions linked to Extraordinary Additional Distributions. One such distribution, arising from the merger of Sprint Nextel and SoftBank (OTCMKTS:SFTBY) in 2013, amounted to $63,096 per $1,000 original principal amount of the Debentures.

On Penny Stocks and Low-Volume Stocks: With only the rarest exceptions, InvestorPlace does not publish commentary about companies that have a market cap of less than $100 million or trade less than 100,000 shares each day. That’s because these “penny stocks” are frequently the playground for scam artists and market manipulators. If we ever do publish commentary on a low-volume stock that may be affected by our commentary, we demand that InvestorPlace.com’s writers disclose this fact and warn readers of the risks.

As of this writing, Gabriel Osorio-Mazzilli did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines (no position)