Here are the top 50 small cap stocks for April — a month defined by numerous gold hopefuls, very few COVID-19 bandwagoners, and an inexplicable +3650 per cent run for one unexceptional oil and gas company.

In March, mounting COVID-19-led uncertainty saw Australian shares recording a broad-based 22 per cent decline.

The S&P/ASX Emerging Companies Index – which gauges the health of the microcap sector – dropped 30 per cent to all-time lows.

April was a month of tentative recovery. The S&P/ASX Emerging Companies Index was up 23.5 per cent, recapturing a big chunk of March’s losses.

 

HERE’S THE TOP 50 SMALL CAPS FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL >>>

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CODE NAME MONTHLY RETURN % MARKET CAP GICS Sector
JPR JUPITER ENERGY 3650 23.01M Energy
PDI PREDICTIVE DISCOVERY 900 44.33M Materials
SHO SPORTSHERO 767 8.53M Communication Services
SE1 SENSERA 600 6.76M Information Technology
GO2 GO2 PEOPLE 525 7.13M Industrials
IGN IGNITE 300 1.79M Industrials
SKN SKIN ELEMENTS 284 23.19M Consumer Staples
AVE AVECHO BIOTECHNOLOGY 250 11.18M Health Care
MTC METALSTECH 226 18.04M Materials
SIH SIHAYO GOLD 220 33.56M Materials
DAF DISCOVERY AFRICA 217 3.46M Materials
JXT JAXSTA 212 12.36M Information Technology
TMG TRIGG MINING 210 3.60M Materials
RXH REWARDLE HOLDINGS 200 1.82M Communication Services
SHH SHREE MINERALS 200 3.61M Materials
AO1 ASSETOWL 200 1.58M Information Technology
IP1 INTEGRATED PAYMENT TECHNOLOGIES 200 2.78M Information Technology
AUT AUTECO MINERALS 194 59.57M Materials
BNR BULLETIN RESOURCES 182 8.61M Materials
OKR OKAPI RESOURCES 177 4.69M Materials
TGA THORN GROUP 169 45.13M Consumer Discretionary
KGM KALNORTH GOLD MINES 167 7.15M Materials
M8S M8 SUSTAINABLE 162 25.66M Industrials
GTR GTI RESOURCES 160 6.04M Materials
NWC NEW WORLD RESOURCES 160 11.35M Materials
SDX SIENNA CANCER DIAGNOSTICS 150 21.73M Health Care
IDZ INDOOR SKYDIVING AUSTRALIA 150 1.68M Consumer Discretionary
TYM TYMLEZ GROUP 140 3.55M Information Technology
APH AUSTRALIAN PRIMARY HEMP 140 8.37M Health Care
TDY THEDOCYARD 138 25.22M Information Technology
HT8 HARRIS TECHNOLOGY GROUP 137 7.24M Consumer Discretionary
ARM AURORA MINERALS 133 3.28M Materials
DCL DOMACOM 132 10.78M Financials
GBP GLOBAL PETROLEUM 125 5.47M Energy
COY COPPERMOLY 125 19.14M Materials
ARS ALT RESOURCES 123 17.62M Materials
NCZ NEW CENTURY RESOURCES 122 132.84M Materials
DCC DIGITALX 121 18.77M Information Technology
HRR HERON RESOURCES 120 18.86M Materials
CHN CHALICE GOLD MINES 119 327.51M Materials
PTR PETRATHERM 117 10.85M Materials
ADR ADHERIUM 113 15.91M Health Care
TOU TLOU ENERGY 113 37.36M Energy
TNR TORIAN RESOURCES 113 7.13M Materials
GMV G MEDICAL INNOVATION 109 53.19M Health Care
CST CASTILE RESOURCES 108 29.96M Materials
LVH LIVEHIRE 108 81.64M Information Technology
CNB CARNABY RESOURCES 106 6.91M Materials
SWF SELFWEALTH 105 42.00M Financials
SZL SEZZLE 101 287.20M Financials
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The strange-ish tale of Jupiter Energy

The meteoric rise of oil and gas junior Jupiter Energy (ASX:JPR) remains a mystery, for now.

The Kazakhstan-focused oil and gas stock — which suffered a $918,000 loss in the March quarter and has $123,000 left in the bank — rocketed from 0.5c to highs of 34.5c on April 22 and 23.

That’s also about the time oil prices were hitting crazy lows.

On April 23, chairman and chief executive Geoffrey Gander sold his Jupiter shares for between 16.5c and 19.7c on market.

The company is now in voluntary suspension while it works with “the corporate regulators and other relevant parties to better understand the irregular trading in the company’s shares”.

It’s due to make an announcement to the ASX on or before May 6.

Gold’s time to shine

The long-term bullish outlook for gold has inspired a tsunami of ASX-listed explorers to pour into the space. Investors have followed – a impressive 12 of our top 50 movers for April were small cap gold plays.

Leading the pack was tiddler Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI), which went from 0.7c to 7c per share – a 900 per cent gain – on a promising discovery in West Africa.

READ: Barry FitzGerald — Investors pivot back to West African gold; these are the small caps to watch

MetalsTech (ASX:MTC), which now owns the advanced +1moz Sturec gold project in Slovakia, gained 225 per cent for the month. The former battery metals stock is now up 835 per cent since first announcing the acquisition in November last year.

Another ‘battery metals-turned-goldie’ success story is Auteco Minerals (ASX:AUT), which was up 194 per cent in April. That makes it a +430 per cent gain for Auteco since it dropped vanadium to buy a Canadian gold project in January this year.

 

Where have the ‘COVID-19 killers’ gone?

During February and March ‘nimble’ small caps pivoted towards selling hand sanitiser, virus testing kits, or just assessing an existing drug/compound in the treatment of COVID-19.

Investors loved it.

Their collective popularity may have waned in April, but a couple still made the top 50.

In March, Skin Elements (ASX:SKN) was questioned by the ASX about a vague statement it made in its half year report about a new product launch for an antimicrobial liquid dubbed ‘Invisi Shield’.

It didn’t stop the momentum of the stock, which went on to record a 284 per cent gain in April.

The company says the first production run of Invisi Shield Natural is now underway at its Perth facility in WA.

Online vendor Harris Technology (ASX:HT8) also made gains after announcing a “pro-hygiene range” of facemasks, hand sanitiser gels and alcohol wipes mid-month.

Harris Technology said it sold 30,000 face masks in March, while another shipment of 200,000 face masks (approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration) had just arrived.

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