Nelson, first congrats on AXTI. Traded as high as $3.99 this morning.
As far as IB, the dinky stocks are the ones you will run into trouble with. The key is to trade in and out of them quickly. I don't think they have ever restricted me on the same day I bought the stock. The trouble happens when you're holding the position.
I have seen lots of $1 stocks with strong earnings and solid balance sheets triple, quadruple and more, but I have yet to see one go below zero.