Kodal Minerals & Open Orphan: Should you buy these 2 AIM stocks?

Carefully selecting the right stock and identifying strong fundamentals and growth prospects can improve an investor’s stock picking within the AIM submarket of the LSE. A market that comprises of smaller companies with a growth potential albeit a riskier option.

Let us take a deep dive into 2 FTSE AIM All-Share index stocks and explore the investment prospect in them:

1. Kodal Minerals PLC (LON: KOD)

Kodal Minerals is a metal and mining company with a large focus on lithium.

The company announced that its mining license for the Bougouni Lithium Project in Mali is now in the last license approval stage. Kodal said its application had been forwarded from the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Resources to the office of the Secretary-General for a final review.

Kodal also announced its drill results from its Nielle Gold Project in Côte d'Ivoire, noting findings of 2m at 675ppb gold from 26 meter end of the hole in drill hole NLAC295.

(Image Source: Refinitiv)

Kodal’s shares were trading at GBX 0.34, up by 1.49 per cent on 25 August at 09:51 AM GMT+1. Comparatively, the FTSE AIM All-Share Index was trading at 1,277.30, up by 0.39 per cent.

The company has a market cap of £52.97 million and its one-year return is at 756.41 per cent as of 25 August.

Related Article: What is the significant progress made by Kodal Minerals for the Nielle gold exploration project? 

2. Open Orphan PLC (LON: ORPH)

Open Orphan is a specialist contract research organisation (CRO) pharmaceutical company involved in vaccine and antiviral testing.

The company announced that its subsidiary hVIVO won an £8.1m contract with a leading multinational pharma company for an asthma human challenge antiviral study. The study is expected to start in H1 2022.

(Image Source: Refinitiv)

Open Orphan’s shares were trading at GBX 25.50, up by 4.51per cent on 25 August at 10:29 AM GMT+1. Comparatively, the healthcare and related services sector Index was trading at 7,747.14, up by 0.19 per cent.

The company has a market cap of £163.69 million as of 25 August, and its one-year return is at 96.23 per cent.

Bottom Line

Shares in the metals and mining sector have surged on the back of a rise in commodity prices. Moreover, Lithium focused stocks are expected to be in high demand as the Li-ion battery run electric vehicles in the auto industry are set to boom in coming years, thus making Kodal a stock to watch in the sector.

At the same time, pharma stocks involved in covid-19 vaccines testing have gained since 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic. As Open Orphan is looking to develop the world’s maiden covid-19 human challenge study model, its shares hold a good prospect, based on its study results.