Best-Performing Stocks Under $5 in 2011

5. Echo Therapeutics (ECTE)

Company Profile: Echo Therapeutics is a medical device and pharmaceutical company that is developing a non-invasive, wireless, transdermal glucose monitoring system for use in clinical settings and for people with diabetes.

Shares of Echo Therapeutics were trading around $1.50 to start the year but doubled by the end of January after the company announced it received a $3 million funding commitment from its largest shareholder, Platinum Montaur Life Sciences. The company also announced that it has raised $2.5 million through a series of private placements of stock and warrants. Echo CEO Patrick Mooney said in January that the deals provided sufficient funds to substantially complete product development, clinical studies and manufacturing of both the company's skin permeation platform technology and its needle-free continuous glucose monitoring system.

Current Share Price: $3.70 (Aug. 30)

2011 Total Return: 131%

Analyst Ratings: Echo Therapeutics garners six "buy" ratings from Wall Street research firms, including JMP Securities and Stifel Nicolaus. The average price target of $6.33 represents potential upside of 71%.

TheStreet Ratings rates Echo Therapeutics a "sell," calling attention to the company's "deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and feeble growth in its earnings per share."

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4. Interphase (INPH)

Company Profile: Interphase is a telecom-equipment maker. The company provides services for LTE and WiMAX, interworking gateways, packet processing, network connectivity, and security for key applications for the communications and enterprise markets.

Interphase shares more than doubled on Feb. 11, a day after the company reported fourth-quarter financial results. The company said revenue in the quarter jumped 24% to $5.8 million as it swung to a quarterly profit. The stock hit a high of $7.59 in March but has been steadily pulling back since.

Current Share Price: $4.60 (Aug. 30)

2011 Total Return: 155%

Analyst Ratings: There are no research firms covering Interphase currently.

TheStreet Ratings has a "sell" rating on the stock, which it has maintained since downgrading the stock from "hold" in July 2009. The latest report says Interphase's primary weakness is "feeble growth in its earnings per share."

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