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DJIMSTOCKS- since 2006 - Toronto, Canada/ London, U.K

· Daily stock market color and insight before every U.S market-open, 'INTO THE TRADING DAY', 5X a week before 8:30 am/est. Follow our extensive trading desk experience and lead in recognizing daily event upside/ downside risks ahead of each trading day.

· DJIM bridges the gap between the retail-investor / trader and the institutional players by filtering out the noise, abundance of information (good or bad) generated through the media/ Internet.

· Our daily Journals encompass our trading methodology allowing you to interconnect with us by ‘Shadowing’ our trading platform watchlist. A 'Shadow'list of 50-75 stocks is tailored and fragmented (outperforming SECTORS, MID-SMALL CAPS, EARNINGS/ GROWTH (EPS) linked stocks, IBD 50, MOMENTUM STOCKS) to gauge single stock action and the broad underlying market for SP 500 direction to go long or short. New plays (stock/sector) are added, especially during earnings season through Journal updates.

· A simple to follow package allowing any investor class to save time and enhance returns!.

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Tuesday
Jan022007

DJIM 1st Edition, 2007

First of all, we'd like to wish every one of our DJIM members a Happy New Year.     As we are kicking off this new year with our first DJIM weekend edition, we'd also like to thank each one of our members for their continued support of DJIM and making it a very unique and special place to be.

Toward the end of last week, we had a little pullback from some of the momentum favourites from the early part of the week, especially Friday from Thursdays runners. We'd think it has had a lot to do with the fact we were heading into this weekend with a 4 day rest, and also the fact that some of those runners just had a way too big of a run-up in such a short period of time.  This was actually widespread come Friday in the markets.   As you are familiar with us, you know we've been very vocal and adamant about taking profits. This is especially true starting off the year, as it is now about 'new' points and adding them up through 2007.   Some of these plays such as FFHL GROW, just cannot continue their run-up without pauses, assuming they are still in play.    Nothing goes straight up, so bear that in mind, we take profits as the play pauses.     If we don't take profits when they pause, we might be looking at a 10 to 15% pullback and a very useless alert that was once very profitable.  This is very common when dealing with small caps and momentum plays.    Because we never assign any artificial price target or predict long term direction, we never have to worry about catching the top, nor we have to worry about making a perfect trade.    What we are really trying to achieve here,  is to capture every trading opportunity that is presented to us, early, and sometimes very very early!     When you start trading those potential 25%+ gainers early, you are almost ensured some good gains even if your trading skill isn't as experienced as some of the others.   In time though, the more trading you do, a more improved trader you'll  become and better you'd be at mastering this game.

here are some stocks of interest from last week.....

FFHL, in our opinion, this play last week really highlighted what DJIM is sometimes all about, catching the momo early and often.  Most of you have seen it through 2004-2006.  A couple of these plays a year, if attacked properly can make your entire year or at least give you a nice cushion to trade/invest off.    This is not saying that we'd be getting a play like this every week, but when it comes, we'd be there first to give members a heads up.    From the look of its action near the end of the week, we'd be looking for another entry point next week.   At this point, we are looking for $17.50 as potential b/o point with good volume for a possible entry.   So you'd ask why not buy it now if we think it's gonna go back to mid $17s?   The point is, we don't know when it'll happen or if it's going to happen.  Last week, we couldn't wait for the entry we were looking for as all the stars lined up at a lower price.   We just want to make sure when it happens, with a crystal clear sign, we'd be there and play it again.   Judging by its prior move, when it moves, it just doesn't settle for a buck or two.     At this point, we don't want to risk anything and only want to play the "sure" or "high probability" money.   This can be either viewed as stubbornness or discipline, but we just like to think of it as a smart way to play these momo stocks.

HMIN, this one gave us a good pop last week and it looks like it wants to consolidate for a bit.   Unlike FFHL, we think HMIN is definitely a more legit play which has alot more staying power.    You can say that HMIN is a pure China economy play and we like the sound of it.   As long as the trend is pointing up and shows no sign of reversing, we'd be buying on dips.

The Asian markets, ones that are open today were hitting new highs today. The Shanghai(China) is closed but the chance it might play a little catch up is probable when it opens. In this case, DJIMS Pacific-Asia stocks like the above and JST, MR, EDU still might catch a bid early tomorrow.

FSYS, the increase in volume last week, and with corresponding price action, caught us with a slight surprise and we are definitely giving it more attention in the coming days.  

Most DJIM stocks you can review in charts are in the 'hub', they've flown long haul and now are back on the ground waiting for a flight plan to continue on. Basically, most have seen some distribution, profit taking yet look no worse off as most are near their highs.  It is best we let the market find a remedy for the hangover from late 2006.  In the meantime, we will seek out new plays if these are not ready to lift off again.

Wednesday
Jan032007

A sign of things to come?...

First trading day of the year, it sure was rocky, to say the least.    What began as a all out rosy day turned into a scary moment in the afternoon but only to be saved by an uptick during the last half hour.    Volatility is in the air and we can smell it.   Some of the momentum stocks reversed intraday and got hit hard and some struggled hard to hold their ground.    Boys and girls, welcome to the new year!   One thing that we are sure of, regardless which sector is working today and which sector is not, the action we've seen from the market today is caused by the exact same players that were playing these same sectors a few days ago, or a few weeks ago, or a few months ago.    Blame on the Fed Minute, blame on the oil, or we can simply blame ourselves for creating such big volatility.

When it comes to trading stocks, what we are really doing is not trading the stocks themselves, but rather we are trading against the people behind those stocks.   It's a competition and it's a game and majority ALWAYS have the right saying in a stock.   We have to accept it.    So when the market turns intraday today and even the mighty FXI could not hold its ground,  we have to accept the fact of what's happening and act accordingly.  SELL..   How many times have we seen a +100 Dow day reversed into a -40?   Not many times!   This of course raises our caution level considerably and therefore we have to act accordingly.    There's no pride in this game, it's just about survival.   When you can actively survive in this game for a long time, it means that you have done something right and it also means you probably have won a lot.  Ok enough of this philosophical crap and lets move on to some real actions... lol

China stocks, namely the ones we track, HMIN EDU MR and BIDU (more for the trader) all had a relatively good day.    Even though MR and HMIN did not finish near their high of the day but given how bullish we were on those stocks last week, we all should have had some to lock in for some profit and /or if you played our idea off yesterdays Journal that these might catch a bid, especially with the FXI gapping up 3+ points premarket and these not far off Fridays close.  EDU was still left behind 15 minutes into the trading day and so we tossed out this idea at $34.20's.  We still like HMIN alot and think this one is definitely in play, given the recent surge in volume.    We are very much in the camp of buying aggressively on dips for HMIN while adding lightly on strength.   Why?  Well it seems this is how this thing has been rewarding us so far and there's no reason to change the strategy.    MR, some dude's been putting an iron lid  on this thing at $26.    When so much firepower has been absorbed at $26 and stock wouldn't go any higher, we think it would've dropped even without the index help.    Give it some more room to work, buying dip also works well with this one.   Both EDU and BIDU looked pretty good at the close and both showed that they are busting their respective downtrend.   We are definitely keeping a close  eye on all these four stocks and looking for opportunity to add.     One word of caution though, we are only playing the quality China stocks at this point and there's really no need to spend our time or capital onto other " wannabe runners".    We do make FFHL as an exception since we are familiar with its play and it's also very much in play still.

One thing you might use now is the FXI, today you saw how hand in hand this acted with our quality china stocks..just look at 10min chart comparison.  It reversed...it played with the gap, it turned and DJIM's followed the whole way!

ATNI, this one for some reason had a late push and we alerted all our readers on its break out.    We don't know what caused the surge but we were following the action.    The volume is very good on the breakout and this one has had a pretty strong basing action last little while.   If this one follows up, we are likely to add more.  See the chart up that showed this was not far from breaking out and should have been on radar.

POWL, we alerted this one earlier also and thought it had a chance to breakout.   Unfortunately it suffered a reversal as every other stock did an hour later and did not close anywhere near the high.    We still think this one has potential and the close today only put it right in the middle of that tight trading range.   We'd keep a close eye on this one.

ABM, it's almost hard to believe that a stock can consolidate for so long within a 50 cent range.   Only from NYSE perhaps!   Given the surge in trading volume ever since it released earning, we think that this play is far from over.    Once the institutions establish a trading base and enough shares get exchanged hands, the next step should be higher rather than lower.    We'll see if it creeps back above 9 ema next couple of days to assault for a new high or not.

ROS, well there's really nothing we want to say other than noticing "who's in charge today"!.  Seems just yesterday it was alerted at just under $38 as a play off the other Russian telcos.

The bottom line, earning season is almost upon us and it's ok to have some volatility going into the earning.    Again, we've said this prior to last earning quarter that market rarely crashes before the start of an earning season.     At this point, we are trading smalerl sizes and taking advantage of some hot sectors and a few tradable opportunities while we wait for the earning season to start.   When a really good opportunity comes along during the earning season, we'd pounce on it hard with all we got and put another 25%+ gainer on the plate.

 
Thursday
Jan042007

Reversal of fortune?

who cares, right now!......how 'bout just knocking some sense in again about protecting and building our own little fortunes as we start to experience this daily volatility thing.  This is old hat to the experienced traders, but this is something we all need to be reminded of at times.  Today a couple things came up on DJIM that makes this necessary.  One was early in MTRX.  We always say let the markets action dictate your move, the action, the volume will tell you what it thinks of earning / news and give you a clue as to what to do.  Sometimes its obvious and you might as well get your 'ball spikes on and join in the frenzy..aka FFHL type moves, other times 40k volume premarket as in MTRX will leave you holding your shorts on a white stick as you stand on the 'top' looking down at the action at 9:35am.  Do you want to be with the 1 million shares seemingly traded around 16.50's today or be amongst a few at high 17's, some 18's premkt.  It's lonely at the top!. We tried to throw caution in the morning note again, there is more than one buy opportunity after the exuberance dies off and it will come at a decent entry.  Be patient!.

Back to basics on MTRX, the numbers are very good but unfortunately come on day 2+ of the massacre on the oil patch.  Matrix Service Co beats by $0.13, beats on revs (MTRX) 15.10 :Reports Q2 (Nov) earnings of $0.31 per share, including options charges, $0.13 better than the Reuters Estimates consensus of $0.18; revenues rose 31.2% year/year to $166.4 mln vs the $138.4 mln consensus and raised revenue guidance by 10%.  The instit's hold over 90% and today they churned this at recent resistance.  We took a starter early and added a bit more at the close as it showed it could hold that resistance at least for today.  You might remember our intro of ABM pre market back in December. The first candlestick looks similar as MTRX today and we alerted the next day I think at 21.50 to our buy in and it rocked past that candlesticks top.  That ABM is also a big instit holding and maybe this will play out in a similar fashion.  We touched on ABM last night, everything still holds..but it just looks a bit better today at the close.

The other matter came up in the forum. Yes, we recycle stocks..but to recycle they need to lie in the bin for a while. We do not go buying the dips the next day or the day after.  Let the raccoons frolic in the bin.  We avoid the downturn in a stock by going somewhere else, sometimes its just into cash.  Yesterday we said the 'FXI' is the fix right now in dealing with our Asian DJIM's.  We got a nice run the past week and yesterday as the FXI turned,  we were locking in those gains.  If we put in the forum the FXI is at the gap open and it could get worse...we mean it and wouldn't be standing around at the gap open in a falling market like yesterday to see the gap potentially close.   So no ...we wouldn't be adding the MR, HMIN back today when the FXI has closed that gap pre market at $112.  This can't be a buy signal during the day if we are using this ETF as a measuring stick right now to our China Stocks.  We've had MR,EDU since September, recycling it over and over again but never the next day.   BIDU, is an exception as it trades with the internets and today that sector was not a bad place to find yourself.   Speaking of dips..GROW is swimming in it and we ain't jumping in on such a break of the 9ema.

What we always prefer to do is find something else, something else that is near a high, breaking a high or in the beginning of a reversal.  Something like a SYX or a HRT or more ABM or a new play that might catch on like MTRX.   Basically we trade the "GREEN' not the "RED" stocks. If you don't like GREEN and prefer Pink, Orange, maybe your trading platform will allow you to change the colors around. Whatever color you choose, it's best to trade the stocks with a + in front of them in our book.

ROS has been renamed the Russian Rocket...this is just funny and explains those huge lots on the bid we talked of recently. There's been one shakeout recently to low 40's, one might come again but in the meantime adding as this goes higher.

ZOLL is just ZOLL, a nice and quiet medical device stock that doesn't really care about much about the markets internals. Steady she goes...

Besides the highlighted stocks above, we are trading some AMK on the speculative side of things today.

The funny thing we kept mumbling yesterday is its Jan 3rd,2007, who the hell cares about the December 12th, 2006 FOMC minutes.  But it doesn't matter how silly we thought the Times Square NYEve Ball drop was...the only thing that mattered was what the market thought.  It's all reaction..action and we just play along with it....yesterday on the sell side...today on the buy side.

Sunday
Jan072007

DJIM #2, 2007

We'd like to start this weekend's journal with a little background of ourselves and briefly explain what we really do at DJIM.   This might be boring to those who have been with us down this path.  For those that remember us from the old days, we started this relationship from the "Lizard King's Trading Swamp".   Back then, we were posters on that forum and generally have been sharing trading ideas among other traders primarily on small cap winners since those days.    We were then invited to Sharkinvesting.com to post for their forum VIP and essentially they wanted us to make their msg forum one of the best.    If any of you have remembered those days, you'd remember that neither RevShark or Lizard ever posted on the shark board as we were doing most of the posting and it sort of became our board.     After a year or so, we got cut by the "gurus" in a unprofessional move without a word.  Simply, cut off overnight before we could migrate others if we had be able to give notice of our leaving.  Smart cookies!   Reason?   Lets just say the msg board picks had way outperformed the Sharkfolio and more often than not, we'd been very critical and vocal about the handling of their strategy/portfolio.   Essentially, we did not fit into their business goal of "making" their site look good. lol.   Unfortunately, we only cared about one thing at the time, and that's to find the best trading opportunity and share them in a small community of traders/investors.    What happens next is that we started another forum.     Some of you probably were introduced to us at that forum but to due to the difference in opinions, mostly stock selections with another a split was only a matter of time.     So, here we are 5 months later with DJIM doing things are way, the way we want to share!.

Before we are writers, moderators of this site and others, we are TRADERS.    We are very passionate about trading and it is what we do for a living.    At this point, we are using this site to try to show the public that it is not a myth to trade successfully in this game.    We don't believe in luck, natural talent, or guru instinct.   What got us to this point is years of hard work and dedication, lots of pain and joy, and definitely lots of losses.    You only learn from your mistakes.  We believe trading mistakes usually come from your emotional flaw and believe us, it does take a long time to overcome.    Right now, what we do is very automatic on whether taking losses or profit.    There's really no shortcut in becoming a good trader and just like any other profession, the more you do(trade) the better you get.    Hopefully by showing you how we trade through our Journal(diary essentially), giving intraday alerts to what might be next....we'd always steer you onto the right track and always get you to look for the right kind of setups and avoid the disastrous mistake we used to make in our early years.    This is not a rocket science if all you care about is making a few profitable trade.   If you want to do this for a living, then you do need years of trading in a consistent manner and eventually have a high enough level of a confidence and say "I'm ready for this!"     Right now, writing this journal is not about making a franchise.   We just want to share our trading experience with others so you don't have to rely on those BS gurus and CNBC gods, talking heads...ever.   Eventually, you'd be confident to play this game on your own. 

Now onto the week in review!   We had a short week and it has definitely not been an "easy" week for the markets.  A bloodbath in the commodities...Oil...Gold.   Even in DJIM stock land,  whipsaw is the word and that's the thing traders hate the most.      Fear not, we think it's normal and given the mute action we've had during the last half of December, it's very realistic to get this kind of (really delayed) volatility early in the new year.     Lets talk about some individual action here...

FFHL,  normally we wouldn't talk about this one today but since it seemed a lot of you are still in this one or are very concerned about the well being of this one, we'll start with this one today.    For us, the easy money has been made, period.    The thing when it comes to a low float play, and when it's not earning related, you really have to understand why it's in play at first place and what kind of traders are playing these kind of stocks.    Again, we never assign any price target, but we rather follow the price action to determine the potential of a move.    Right now, at this point, it does not look attractive to us.    You may think this one has a good bang for the buck kind of potential but the kind of risk it's associated with almost offset any kind of upside potential it offers us at this point.     This is not about milking gains out of a "familiar" play over and over.   It's about going after an easy play, an easy setup with the lowest kind of risk while having highest kind of probability.    You should've made some money in FFHL, and should've locked in most of the profit and you should never listen to those $20-30-40 targets thrown around.   We said if this was a fraction of EFUT, it would be a nice play and it was!    If you haven't made profits in FFHL, then take this one as a lesson and move on.   It happened with EFUT, it will happen here sooner than later as earning season is here. A new play will come with a fever and any of the money still here will leave.   The quicker you move on, the quicker you can be attacking an easier play and a play with better potential.   The more you are hung on FFHL, the most likely you'd be foregoing any and all the other good plays.    Remember this, opportunities don't wait for you, they come and go and it's up to YOU to grab it.    So what's going to happen to FFHL?    Unlike other gurus who claim to know anything and everything, we don't' know and frankly we don't care at this point.   If FFHL goes back to $16 level with some good volume, chances are we'd most likely play it.    If FFHL doesn't, so be it and we are just as happy not looking at it.   Lets just say $14 to 16 doesn't really matter to us, right now.  We're not saying it won't climb back, we just don't care.  This is partially why you will not get 'sell' prices from us.   If we say you should sell here or there and a stock goes up, you will drag us through the mud and blame us for getting you out too early. lol.  It didn't matter we said we were selling a week ago, so there is really not much we can add.    The point here is, you'd never want to think that a certain stock will go to a certain price b/c your mind will always be biased toward that, regardless what's happening with the stock.     We can also tell you one thing, FFHL has been played by day traders, momentum traders and alike and those players have no feeling or love when it comes to it or you!.   It means that there's no institutional support and when they leave, you don't want to be holding the bag.    Maybe one day FFHL comes out with a rosy earning report or a contract announcement.    But right now, it's nothing more than a low float IPO that happens to come from one of the hottest sector.

HMIN, why price entry is not that relevant with this one?   Go back two journals ago and we'd said we'd be buying HMIN aggressively on dips and add lightly on strength.   The only exception to that is that if the whole mkt is going through a pretty severe down tick and the sector FXI is also pulling a similar down move.  We said this one might the best of bunch among the China's going forward and now it's been acting like it.    This one made it to IBD 100 as #6 and we think this is going be a new phase for HMIN.    Will IBD suck the life force out of HMIN?   Maybe eventually down the road, but not before we suck a few more points out of it first.  

GRC, whatever the news(contract announcement) it had a week ago, this one is definitely being played at this moment.   We are putting this one on radar and we took a small position in this one on Friday.   Again, if we take a starter position it does not mean you rush and pick it up like some of you are doing on alerts that are not ready to go or before you do some DD.   Until some come to your senses and stop chasing these we will keep them to the Journal..lol. Just kidding!...There's plenty of experienced traders here who don't need to be told not to chase.......Patience...younger trading 'JIMMERS!

Other than these, there's really not much you can talk about when the week ends with a -20 Naz and -83 Dow.    The earning season is coming up soon and we'd be just very patient.   A lot of DJIM closely followed are still in the ' hub' as we said last week. Some attempt to get to highs again but are knocked down by the whipsaw market.   Trade if you must but don't gamble.   Take smaller position and practice.   Gain experience along with it and cope with your emotion.     Take this slower market time to learn more about charting and come up with a selling strategy (we'd definitely touch on it more from now on with fresh plays, momo plays).  Improve your tactics as you go on.    We'd be here every day to give you heads-up on anything that we'd consider as an opportunity.

Cheers'

Monday
Jan082007

EPS kick off..

Tomorrow it's kick off time with the first reports coming to the forefront to give this wishy- washy market a direction..maybe!.  We couldn't think of a better time as many of the movers and shakers we've covered over the past few months are still in the 'hub' and waiting for the next flight plan.  Well...this can be quite excruciating waiting for the next move after being accustomed to very nice gains, so the best thing is to get some new fresh plays on the table!.  You just can't wait or expect on the ZOLL's, ATNI's to kick it up with the same feverish tempo we are accustomed to ...the easy money has been made, the easy play we are after at DJIM is over with so many of these names and it is time for the next round.   Tomorrow is the kick off!.   We hope it doesn't include a Romo Cowboy bobble move!.   Is this what all of us have been trying to push back, the inevitable fact that corporate profits will be not be as strong.   Maybe, but we are not going to worry about it as we still expect there to be plenty of nice surprises in small cap land to jump on.   What we are trying to do and will continue (especially in a 'quiet period), as in the first 4 days of trading in '07 is look for potential opportunities to capture a short term move if need be to cure the boring action.  Profits are Profits..pretty or not!    Maybe these 1 or 2 day moves won't get us the DJIM benchmark of finding a 25% move, but we will gladly settle for a 5-10-15% easy play in a day or two.   The same DJIM principles apply, stick a name we throw on watch and see if receives a little love!.   We are not getting into scalping or the very speculative cheap issues, but ones that have tracks of past moves that can be replicated.   We think we know what the fellow trader likes.   An example is BRLC, which we covered a bit in late '06, many of its past moves all stem from what their darling Murray analyst says...He loves to give nice price targets and did it again Friday, the stock always reacts positively and beyond what is normal for such wisdom of increasing a price target.   Understanding the psyche of the trader lets you in the door, if you think with a little street smarts..you can get in the door first.   Anyways..for those with other gigs, this is our responsibility not yours to find these plays or think like the other players.  The first and probably hardest think to do is find a stock, a stock with some features you know will get a trade.   NWK was one that had what many like.  First, it quietly pre-announced a very good Q revenue based and upped the years growth to 17-20% from 10%.   Well, we know what we would do if this was a EPS report, we'd jump on it if it included a similar EPS growth prospect.   We also know these don't last a day, so we thought a second day follow through might happen and it did very nicely on what looks like a volume high day.   Everybody likes a stock under $10, this was the other factor in thinking this had more space to run.  These stocks are not what we look for in a long term DJIM relationship, it's simply a date and one you got lucky on! 

If that is not your game and it really isn't ours, there are a some recent mentions on the Journal that acted well today with a few making NCH's today to look at again...

GRC, a strong EPS co' talked about last night put in a nice day adding 4.5%.

AMK, 3mln float with nice EPS closed up almost 7% and a NCH.  A perfect example of getting a nice price the last few days if you were following it since our mention.

MTRX got some CNBC spin this morning and seems to have survived the oil massacre in one piece. This was risky getting in at earning with all that was going on, but it stayed in its range since and now just needs a nice close over $17 to maybe continue on. The huge institutional interest in this name make you play on their time.. a little patience is probably needed here.  It would be nice to have something other than ALY, BTJ to kick around.

MFW, we took a position in this holding co' that recently spent some pocket change, 1.7bln for an acquisition and it took off. Incredibly, this looks like it might not be finished as it broke out today to new highs.

A few names to do some DD on for tomorrow..ANGN, a stock we first picked up at $4 reported prelim numbers that look pretty good. OSIR got some FDA news AH and is sitting just off highs, this one can move if this is not priced in.

Tuesday
Jan092007

A-Team wins the coin toss!

Kick off time came a little early today with AAPL giving what many hoped for at the show!.  You couldn't read a piece of press without the question on everybody''s mind...What will AAPL do?. The anticipation was there and the traders were waiting for the news.  Nothing like a little spark to the techs that need to lead this market.  You can't live on Tires and Rubbers being the leaders as in the past sessions much longer.  Mr. Jobs you may now call it Apple Ltd,  Apple Inc. or Banana anything as long as you keep throwing the toys out.  We talk a lot about momentum here, nearly 120 million shares is definitely it.  UBS lifted the tech sector yesterday and AAPL lifted it today.  Let's hope we can get some conviction in buying techs.

We've heard ramblings from analysts that aluminum might be somewhere to go in 2007, so maybe it's no big surprise the official EPS kick off went all swell with Alcoa giving a shiny picture AH.  The stock is up nearly 5% AH.  Nothing like a look in the past and getting some ERS dusted off, maybe some CENX too for tomorrow.   Always look for something that can piggyback an Alcoa type play, the secondary plays are often more fruitful.  Same goes for those that will feed off the AAPL endeavor..you didn't have to look far as a reader tossed out a play out of our backyard in SNCR on the Forum.  Last look before calling it a day, SNCR was trading at $15, now it sits in the 15.60's. 

Last night,  we discussed the need for new stocks, new plays!.  If anything these events give out a few secondary plays that should get some traders interested.  Still, today was not without a few other things working off DJIM notes that provided some nice opportunities.

VOL, which we introduced on our last forum has come back with vengeance today.  It beat estimates handily and we started to trade this off the pullback around $41 as soon as it looked like it would hold its morning gains.  Soon after our mention it broke the days high over 42 and added a few points more into the close.  This is a volatile play but when it gets momo it can give you a helluva a ride.

OPTM, mentioned pre market caught the usual wind and from just over $25 hit a high of $26.60's, hey if Cramer gives you 5% take it and say see you next time.  One good thing about OPTM is most of you have played it here and should have a better feel for it.  Its not that big of a surprise it gave it all up by end of day.  Not so good to finish at low of day for any stock, but this one is quite the choppy trader so it just might have legs again very soon.   Off this ' triple play' business, we alerted another at $25 that has been talked as a triple play threat, even if its robotics/lasers are used elsewhere mostly..... IPGP a recent IPO that has held steady after gapping on IPO day and now by the end of day looks even better on the charts.

OSIR,  the FDA play from last night to watch. We picked some up again as it looked to finish near the high. Maybe it has a another day in it or two.

So there are plenty of new holds tonight..AAPL,IPGP,SNCR,VOL,OSIR

AMK which almost kissed $20 after being in the low 17's a few days back and MFW which had an incredible snap back today show that quality companies trading well can do some fancy dancin'. Most importantly, how irrelevant it is to know exactly what prices we enter these or any stock at.   We give you a stock to watch for a potential trade, some move soon, some don't...some you just better keep around so you can catch a move like MFW did the next day for 3 points today.  In both of these stocks readers could've had better prices than the prices we got for our first bite!.   Don't concern yourselves about exact prices of our entries on stocks, just make sure you're making money....hopefully on the same stocks we share with you.

Wednesday
Jan102007

This is more like it.....a little conviction

Of course, we are referring to the various strong action from the DJIM stocks.   In fact, you may very well call it a DJIM market today.    In our opinion, today is definitely the best trading day so far in this new year.    Sure, we don't have any crazy movers out there but that doesn't stop our readers from throwing out a few..CBLI,  but we are very encouraged to see the broad action from many many stocks.   Ok lets start with the run-downs.....we'll skip the first of 5 from last night new crop, AAPL .....

VOL, we had to put this one on first because after a breathtaking run-up yesterday, we got another speechless run-up today.   So, to answer some of your "entry pt" questions, when it comes to "EARNING" play, it doesn't even matter what price, as long as it's entered within a reasonable time frame after the mention.    So what's next?   Again, have you forgotten to take some profit today?   Strong move like this one exhibited always pauses quicker than you can blink.    If it goes a lot higher, we'd be glad that we still hold some and would likely add some back.   Again, the idea is that you'd never want to have an idea of getting into a hot play with a full position at the beginning of a run-up and sell the "full" position at the absolute top.    That kind of "timing" mentality is not only insane, but risky as well.

OSIR, we were discussing among ourselves earlier that this one could be a slow crawler.   For some reason, someone up there heard our chat and decided it's time to teach our "arrogance" a little lesson.  So it ran with very good volume.   We did not complain about the quick change of pace in action so we quickly rejoiced the idea by adding more in the 27s.   If that's the way they want to play, so be it.

IPGP, well we are glad someone noticed that big block after the close.   It just goes to show that ppl other than us, ppl with deep pockets, and probably institutions are interested in this stock.    Time to get in was definitely yesterday and time to add is today....$25-28 move in 1.5 days ain't bad!

SNCR, this one needs no introduction and we were the first ones probably to trade this back in the 9 range. lol   Putting aside all of the speculation of whether this apple iphone will take off or not, just take a look at the volume.   This definitely puts this one on map among many many momentum institutions, if there's such a thing called that.    We don't think the run-up is over right away, judging by its action today.   Besides, this one does have pretty good earning.

DLB, ok we were actually pretty bored with this one lately, until today that is.   So apparently it broke out, with decent volume.   Will we give it some faith and believe there's some follow through?  Hell yeah and if we aren't being faithful in this kind of market, when will we ever be faithful?

MEND, this one was a late purchase for us and we did not have time to alert our members.      Pretty strong breakout and we like its action.  Again, don't worry about entry.  It mattered little on yesterdays 5 new holds. At a point today they averaged about a 10% gain off yesterdays close.

In fact, there are quite few other stocks that did well today and we are just not going to go into every single one of them.   Just go through all of your DJIM watchlist and you'd know which ones we are talking about.    The market is definitely kicking into a "good mood" gear.    With earnings coming up and as long as some good reports come up ala VOL, we'd be in business and it'll be busy enough for us to trade through the earning season.   Looking forward to trading tomorrow....

cheers,

Thursday
Jan112007

Breakout action vs. Pullback action

We have touched on this subject many times on this site and older forums.     Today is a typical example of chasing the breakout action.  Here's a trading idea for some of you.   On a strong index day when a lot of things are up, you definitely want to concentrate on the "GREEN" stuff to participate in the rally of performers rather than to anticipate the recovery of the "RED" stuff.   Because when you are debating whether to add on a pullback, there'd be lots of opportunity passing you by with strong gains, especially on a good index day.   When the index is not doing much or down just slightly, that's when you look at pull backs more assuming there isn't that many "strong green" stocks to play.   Always prioritize your trading list and go with the strong beta first.    Just because you bought the stock couple of days ago and it isn't doing much for you doesn't mean that you can't cut it lose and go into something else.  We did that with OSIR today, we're not going to give up what we earned the last couple of days and blow a call from between 25's to 28's.    It's definitely easier to play break outs than to play pull-back.    The strategy is also dependent of your portfolio size as well.   We knew a guru who would hold 200+ positions on a day like today.   For most of us that would just be impossible to manage.   The point is, if you have a big account, you can afford to hold many positions and even consider buying on pull-backs.  If you have a small account, consider going with the stocks with the best action on a daily basis.   There will be a lot of trading for you but unfortunately it's part of our strategy and part of the game we play.   When a stock drops below 9 ema, it simply looks less attractive to us, pullback or not.   When you have so many stocks breaking out, the last thing we want to be doing is to be stuck on a consolidation play and "hoping" it'll breakout.   When it does breakout, we'd be there.     Our mentality is that we participate a run, but we don't anticipate one.   Also again, before we are moderators and writers of this site, we are traders.   We spend most of the time trading for our own accounts and writing-updates for this site is just an extension of what we do.    Of course, our priority is to write and alert/update on the stocks we think that are showing the best action(opportunity) for the day.  Whats there to talk about SNCR or AAPL today?.  The fun was had and now take the consequences of a stock going 14's to 17.50 in less than a full trading day or one going mid 80's to high 90's the next day.   Going through the entire list of DJIM watchlist every day may need full time attention.  Use the charts to help paint a picture.  Maybe we can do a weekly recap on some special requests on some of the stocks we seem to have missed..so far we have not heard back from those public requests..if we don't know the stocks, we can't help.   Now onto some today's movers....

VOL, this one probably overwhelmed the most optimistic traders given its 3 day action.   Again, we are not saying today is the end of this run-ups but it does feel a little tired at this point.  As far as trading tactics, there was a question and answer in the forum yesterday.  In the example you can see how you can take profits around 60 and then buy the strong close which leads to another 3-4 points today. You sold the 51-59's run to lock in partial profits, then buy maybe the same 1/4 back into the strong close and walk away with another 3-4pts today on the full lot you played.  This is what we did reducing our exposure and now are in a wait and see mode with a very slim position.  In fact, how can you not resist taking some profit at this point?..

CCOI, This one has institutional prints all over it today and you can see the large number of blocks traded from its time and sales. It wasn't over at $ 19. Plenty of people buying a stock up $1.50 at $19 early, these traders are not contemplating a pull back, they are buying a ticket on a train!.   Same goes for SNCR yesterday.   The first thought of a successful trader/investor cannot be when and where is the pullback going to be.

MFW, it seemed as little as two days ago there were concerns of chasing this stock in the 26s or 28s.   Well we had a dip and dip was quickly bought on that day.   What followed is today's advance and if you blink, you'd missed it. The pullback you saw the other day off a NCH is one of a few you should consider. You know its a hot stock and a pullback is extreme.  Thats called opportunity. A .50 cent pullback on a 20 buck stock is not a pullback in our book, it's life..life of a stock.

EDU, now out of all of the China based(quality) stocks, we like this one the best today and yesterday.   See, sometimes we don't have to predict, we just let the stock show us the path.   This is actually a new closing high and we believe it's ready to challenge its all time high. Instead of looking for a pullback what has been happening for months is we trade a EDU for a MR and back and forth with HMIN. They take turns it seems and with these names there is no need to wait for a pull back. A move comes and that's when you buy back.

ABM, it sure tried to breakout today and it closed about mid way between the day high and day low.   At this point, we think this is the right direction and momentum is definitely on the upside.

HLYS, we alerted this one late in the day only because this one has had a history of intraday fake break-outs.   Hopefully, and keep our fingers crossed, that this one may get some kind of follow through after today's near day high close.

GLDN, was a rocket again as it climbs with some news.  MTRX is a piece of work while this oil massacre continues, just one nice oil day should pop this higher.

PTT from premarket is a 'trade' like NWK was. If the flow keeps on we'll be there, otherwise we have no love for keeping this long.

Saturday
Jan132007

VOL,VOLT INFO SCI at $51, IPGP, IPGP Photonics Corp. at $25, NWK, Network Equipment Technolgies Inc, at $6.80

What has DJIM been up to so far in 2007?.  Same as 2006, we are rolling along!.  Here are some of the plays recently enjoyed by members, but it is not all!.  Of course, many new plays happening are for our members eyes only.  Our FORUM is kicking with participation from other traders giving heads up to potential moves intraday...Our ALERTS/Updates are cranking, our nightly CHART analysis updates on closely followed DJIM stocks are giving our readers another way to look at a potential trade, entry and/or exit for the next day and beyond.

DJIM ALERTS, VOL- ''....Trading a little VOL here'....' was part of an alert 3 pack inc. AAPL to DJIM members at $51. STOCK RUNS to 64 by 3rd day!

Nightly Journal   VOL-"This  is a volatile play but when it gets momo it can give you a helluva a ride".  January 9th....."Again, have you forgotten to take some profit today?   Strong move this one exhibited always pauses quicker than you can blink", January 10th after 2 days of run...VOL, this one probably overwhelmed the most optimistic traders given its 3 day action.   Again, we are not saying today is the end of this run-ups but it does feel a little tired at this point ...and walk away with another 3-4pts today on the full lot you played.  This is what we did reducing our exposure and now are in a wait and see mode with a very slim position, January 11th after day 3.  DAY 4, the drop from $64 to 53's. !!
IPGP-   January 9, 2007 at 01:29PM  $25 in DJIM alerts,  recent ipo, accumulating some for sunnier days . Lasers, triple play broadband angle following OPTM today idea...even if is not the majority of business" ..........FORUM section..."IPGP has held ground at IPO day prices and this 'triple play' broadband hype is creeping into some names. IPGP might get some of that attention. rather accumulate some before"..before a breakout!.    STOCK breakout and runs over 10% from 24.90's  to 27.96 the next day. A 3 pt move in a day and half.
Forum, Cramer liked it at IPO time....IPG Photonics (IPGP:Nasdaq), pull the trigger. Buy your first tranche. This is a laser company that could work here because it is industrial with growth, and that's awfully hard to find. I was thinking that this stock could open at $24 and then trade down from here, but I don't know how much it can go down. I'd bet this stock will get a lot of focus as a replacement for a Parker Hannifin or an Eaton or even an Illinois Took Works, because people want growth badly and they want it in the factory.   We like this stock at DJIM and the growth story it represents.  An undiscovered stock so far that got some attention last week on the breakout.
NWK- Monday, January 8, 2007 at 09:46AM in DJIM alerts

Put this on your watch for a potential trade, raised revenue guidance for this Q and year Friday. Its a tech with about 70%instit. but has a nice chart.  6.80's     Journal     NWK was one that had what many like.  First, it quietly pre-announced a very good Q revenue based and upped the years growth to 17-20% from 10%.   Well, we know what we would do if this was a EPS report, we'd jump on it if it included a similar EPS growth prospect.   We also know these don't last a day, so we thought a second day follow through might happen and it did very nicely on what looks like a volume high day.   Everybody likes a stock under $10, this was the other factor in thinking this had more space to run.  These stocks are not what we look for in a long term DJIM relationship, it's simply a date and one you got lucky on! 

NVX climbed  to $7.50's as a short term trade idea, those that have held beyond, $7.80's has been in the cards and another 10%+ trade.

Monday
Jan152007

DJIM #3, 2007

For investors the best thing about a 3 day weekend is it gives an extra day for M&A activity to kick in. This weekend surely is not disappointing in this department as lots of activity is coinciding with the markets playing with highs.   Hopefully, this gets us off on the right foot into a shortened,  but what we expect to be a busy week.   The flurry of earnings will hit us this week and hopefully we can hit back hard by buying into DJIM type earnings winners.   This is the time we/you might want to reduce sizes of holdings or get rid of stocks completely stuck in the  'hub' with no immediate flight plan.   It is best to have cash ready and not be forced to sell things off to get in on a play early.   There is always more than one opportunity to get in on a DJIM stock, but sometimes the first is just an easy gift you can close early and then look for another entry..examples might be like a SNCR move last week but one with earning or an explosive VOL off earning.    Also...don't forget to look for earning dates of your stocks!.  We have enough on hands here in Canada following US holidays, so help us out on DJIM stocks...we knew EDU had earnings Tuesday,  but we didn't know we had a holiday today till about 11 am on Friday..lol. We almost broke our 'no holding rule' into earning with EDU!.

Heading into Tuesday,  these are our top hold/ hit lists plays at this time in no order..

CCF-  Chase Corp is one of those small float (2.3mln float) Amex stocks that hides with pretty darn good earnings.   Friday it reported its profit doubled on a 26% revenue increase.  This .62c Q follows last Q's .69 on similar revenue.  We also like Fidelity owning about 50% on the the instit. shares( 400k).  If they want more, they can get ours now in the $30's!

OSIR- made a nice comeback late in the day Friday.  It seems this one besides the FDA news last week is starting to be looked at as a stem cell stock of sorts.  This explains the volatility the last 2 trading days, Osiris is also developing stem cell treatments for cancer and heart disease.  A new NCH has us looking for more in this name, but now we are looking for more volatility that made us run out of it, Thursday.   Easier to deal with volatility if you know why its there, we didn't Thursday.

CCOI- just a steady follow up Friday from its big day the day before. A NCH and a stock that is up 4.5 points in the New Year so far, almost 30% and is sure to be picked up by more eyes, but it also should consolidate sooner than later.  So be careful jumping in!.  Some of you are getting in a tad late on some plays and expect miracles too fast!.

ABM- we are satisfied with this steady performer.  A NCH to end the week, don't forget we have been on this since $21 and the big push the second day after earning.  This is heavy on institutional support,  so this pace is not unexpected.

MR,  is back in the picture... we like the move Friday and the fact it held it by the close.  We added some near the finish and think this one might be one of the better plays to start week as it has climbed nicely above its 9ema.   It could be just MR, it could also be EDU following earnings and HMIN might not be far off ( we would like to see 40+ before really taking another stab at it).  FFHL should get some play but there is that supply of ones wanting to get out overhead to consider.

AMK, might be the other top play heading into the week.  This is a small float with a nice earning story that is reporting early February.  It just looks like a typical 9ema play at this point heading into earnings.  Wish it just take out Ceramics from its name from its name!.  Can't help but think pots when you first come across it!

INFY, we like it for its EPS, its business and where its at (India).  A few targets in 60's already out following EPS. This might be a nice longer term hold.

CENX,  a play we noted off AA earning is doing well but might want a rest in the 43's. It opened just below $40 on Wednesday following AA's eps.  Again, if you want a nice aluminum stock to hold for the AA story, this is it for the longer term.

MFW,  looks to be one to pick up more of on the dips. At this point as it has some interesting intraday moves and sits close to a high.

SNCR,  seems panic has set in with some, yet its only finished day 3 off news and is only 6% or so off highs. There is two camps here,  one that was getting in $15's Tuesday AH  and then early Wednesday and the second camp that was procrastinating and moving in mid $16's and higher.  Basically first camp has been distributing and the second camp just needs to be patient through it.   If you don't believe in the story then just move on.

VOL,  momentum begets momentum and that is what happened to the upside...and to the downside.  It works both ways, kids. If you've never seen it before, you just passed MOMO 101 last week...hopefully in one piece.  Violent sell offs are nothing new in something that goes up so fast.   Now we turn to giving this a look around the 9ema area.   At this point its only a look, we like to see a reversal begin before considering a entry.

MTRX, MTRX, MTRX one fine oily day it will move.

Some notes on other stocks in Alert/Update page. 

Tuesday
Jan162007

We better get ready...

Before you know it,  half of the companies out there may have reported their earnings already.  The flow is about to start. Frankly, we feel that this mkt needs to kick a gear higher to really start this earning season.   What we mean is that we want to see more volume and more volatility!    Good earnings get bid up and bad earnings get dumped kind of volatility.    When things are chaotic, there's always opportunity.    We don't want to speculate which sector or individual company is going to shine this quarter, but we have to keep a sharp eye out for outstanding report.    

Today's action from DJIM land is surprisingly quite good given the weakness in technology sector.     Of course, we are only concerned about individual action here and we'll let the talking heads discuss the theoretical side of things.    Most of the DJIM stocks enjoyed some very nice gains and here is a run down..

MFW, financial companies, especially the little ones like this definitely can trade on their own.  Come looking back, an entry point at $28 is not that bad of a deal.    We've been actively trading this one last couple of days .

AMK, as mentioned last night, we thought this had the best early chance this week alon,g with MR.  It didn't disappoint with a nice day.

MR, so it looked like it had a seller or two mid way through the day as it reached highs.  This one had above average volume today and we'd be watching it closely next couple of days to see if it has the juice to take out the old high and start a new leg.

HMIN, it looked like it almost had some steam to break out but only to come back some in the afternoon.    It's having a pretty stubborn consolidation so far.    Again, we are not eager to chase potential breakout but once it gets some push under some heavy volume, we'd chase and alert everyone at the same time.

GLDN, new closing high, there's not much else to be said about this one.   In fact, this is definitely the best Russian stock on our list right now.

CCF, slow down Jose.   To be honest, we actually aren't comfortable for it to trade into the $32s this early.  It was here for all high 27's/low 28's to snap up last trading afternoon.  We definitely want to see some base building here.   Let everyone catch some breath and accumulate some position.

AXR, though we did not actively participate in this most recent run-up, this one should always be on anyone's top trading list and its good readers have not forgotten this $90's DJIM.  Its been up in charts all along, so there's really no excuse to at least have admired this move..lol.   Honestly, it's not easy to chase a 30 pt move and we just have to take it as is.  If you played some, congrats to you but if not, no big deal as opportunities will come.   It is a little stretched at his point so we aren't looking to do anything here.

Some other stocks on our list that closed well include, GRC OPTM HRT OMRI.    One last note on EDU and future earnings, earning dates are to be played, not to be held through.  We didn't say anything cause there was nothing impressive about the report. Last report which was sensational sold off, so this one is no surprise.  Still, it's pretty good, it''s just the market doesn't care.  CHDX, this one was in play a month or two ago and today it broke out apparently on good volume.   Keep an eye on this one for potential follow through or not, it's not the most consistent day to day performer.  Another is a big DJIM flyer from last quarter, CETV which put in a NCH today on a gap. Not sure what the beef is here today! . Good stocks just grind it out over time and before you know it...boom...a NCH

cheers,

Wednesday
Jan172007

All focus on AAPL tonight..

Well,  it definitely looked like there's really no other interest to keep traders from staying up till the end.     AAPL's earning is out and now what?   At this point, we think it's more of a company specific news even though the strong shipment of ipod may spill over to some other component players but we are not going to get too cute at this point.    What was anticipated was also probably what was expected.    There are very few setups worth mentioning today, so we'll tackle a couple of the ones we like and a couple of others from the watchlist.

HMIN, perhaps we are not the only ones anticipating this breakout so the end result although somewhat encouraging early, but not spectacular near the end.    One thing for sure, this is among one of the widely held Chinese stocks out there.   The close is nowhere near the high and it was definitely dragged down by the poor index action.    We will call this breakout still but we aren't going in with any sizes. There are lots of breakouts, reversals your stocks may see, but it is always a good idea to take the gift in some size before the overall market catches up to your stock and diminishes the breakout or reversal gains.  HMIN and MEND are two examples today of this.

ZOLL, this is a little rocket that would go nuts off any good news.  Unfortunately, most of the gains were achieved within the first 10 min. of trading and it literally spend the rest of the day digesting the early gains.    It's very difficult to play these and unless you get in pre-mkt or right at the open, there's really not that much of an opportunity.  But, if you're an early starter, your day could be done by 9:35.   Basically, you could make a living off these early bird specials.  Of course, we have to also look at the prospect to see if this sets up a new leg up.   At this point, it's not very clear whether how much of the news is already priced into the action so we are less inclined to chase any more.    If an opportunity presents it self for a nice setup, we definitely will.   There are hundreds of releases every morning, we try to pick out what we think is best for you to closely watch, maybe get a starter position if there is some interest. Today, this was clearly the case as the stock traded in the $66's-67's pre market.

 PTT, is another example of a pre market note from last week that is doing well.  We are back trading some.

MR, now perhaps this is the way they do things over there.   Updating their guidance with a positive outlook while sneak in with a secondary offering at the same time.    From a co's point of view, they timed it right and damage is minimized.  For us the traders, we just hate to see the stock get derailed from some news like that.    This by no means the play is over.   We just think it may need additional time to churn over this "secondary news" or after they announce the pricing.   11 million additional shares is a big deal, in case those who aren't familiar with these sort of things.    Like any other plays with secondary offerings, this news will linger over the stock price for a while and we find it hard that it will challenge the old high any time soon.   Of course, anything can happen but we are going with our past experience for now and going light with this thing.  This is an example of letting the market dictate the action.   Initially, we had no clue of the secondary but the market told us something is not right.  We thought there might be cheap shares, just not because of an offering and small downgrade.

VOL, to play the bounce or not to play?   If you got a fast enough of a trigger, there's probably some intraday opportunity there to provide some quick action.   For those of us who are looking for a meaningful and sustained movement, we don't think it's ready yet.    Those monster 3 days rally followed by an even more wicked sell off is something that would keep some traders away from.   At this point, we are saying we don't trust this thing, yet.   There are also some longs who may be trapped to and are dying to get out.   We'll need to give it some more time.

IPGP,  played with yesterdays reversal some more and now finds itself back over 9ema.  Nice if you took the 23's, 24's yesterday, but we're not sold back on it just yet at these prices in this market.

Again, earning season is in the very early stage and we have many many more companies to report.  Most of the companies which fit our trading criteria have yet to report.    We are hopeful that we'll see some more good report this quarter and give use some real gem to play with.

Cheers'

Thursday
Jan182007

Woodshed?

We won't go into macro stuff and evaluate the man's words.   We've never been about that and won't start today.  Better to maybe understand what you might have done wrong and why you didn't do something else, so you and your stock avoid a visit to the woodshed again.  The headlines hit around 10am and everything started to slide on the Nasdaq.  Bernanke squealed long and hard and Bartiromo, the Disco Queen wasn't pushing his buttons this time.  The excerpts, headlines ran like a riot act.  You could wait and see how it plays it out or you can start selling.  Last night, we mentioned sooner than later the market always catches up to something you hold that you think is invincible,  it could be a breakout while the market slides like HMIN yesterday or it could be like today where they start falling one by one as the day progresses.  We don't wait till someone taps us on the shoulder with a big sell order to set off our hold downwards.   We were quite hesitant in last nights Journal on our usual plays, probably got lucky to be pretty thin this morning, yet even if we were heavy into some names....we would have been doing the same and that is sell down fast to avoid any possibility of a bloodbath.   This means not only plays that are seeing red but ones that are green as it could only be a matter of time before the green is the next red.   What we remind ourselves is this is really week one of earnings and there will be new plays to use up the cash we are mostly sitting in now.   In the meantime... with care we look for a new play during the day.  USAP, mentioned last Q a few times on DJIM, produced another big Q and we took a small position.   MEND took a second stab at $22 this week and this time succeeded with a push to $23.   Nothing too exciting but not everything is a HOKU..lol.    So, if a visit to the woodshed was had,  it's probably because some greed played a part in your not taking profits recently, maybe as recently as this morning as the tide turned quick.  Nothing like a look back at a chart now and seeing that resistance that was right in your face you pretended was not there the last few days or the support you thought would hold because .....well, because you own the stock and it just can't break!....  Ah love! .   Stay light, stay small is what we're sticking to at the moment.   Maybe there will be a Friday morning EPS special to put some cash to work,  it's definitely not going IBM's way....If you got nicked, its best its only January 18th..plenty of time to turn it around!

Sunday
Jan212007

DJIM #4, 2007

We can't block out all the noise, all the negative noise hitting the wires, the bobble heads on CNBC as its venom is in front of you on your screens...the abundance of red, 3 out of 4 days!.  But it is possible to turn off the excess, the actual stuff making the noise...click..it's off!!.   If you want to dwell on the macro, we can refer you to 1000 places that will discuss the possibilities till they and you are blue in the face.   It is so easy to get involved in the hype, even if it is reality in many respects and get a tad depressed and sit on your hands.    You could fall into this trap and sit ideal or you can jump a bubbly, new opportunity to make some mo'.    DJIM is ' stock picking',  it is not to evaluate a macro situation and decide to take a position in a stock that could be affected by the goings on 3 months from today and make you 10% down the road...Why should we wait 3 months, a year for a 10% gain when the possibility to make that much in a day or two is granted almost every day....This is especially true during earnings season!....No matter what the 'big boys'..INTC, IBM's are telling for the future....Small caps for the most part are only telling you what they did for the past 3 months with no outlook.  This gives us all of us an opportunity to collect points, here and now on the PAST..in most cases it's easy money as it tends to bring in momentum and an excellent trading environment.   But if you're shacked away, clinging to stocks stuck at the 'hub' with no immediate flight plan...well, then you are also missing opportunity after opportunity if you do not have excess cash to use.    Procrastination... is something best left in bed or on the potty in the morning,  if you're going to trade successfully.   The ability to differentiate between stocks and understanding what has the most potential to move out of the gate the fastest is so important in our and your success.   You have seen what momo can do recently...good and bad as in VOL.   If you do not recognize momo and jump in day 1 or 2 and procrastinate till day 4, you are left at the summit.  Bet there are more waiting for a move from these prices than ones who got in the first move of a max. of 12-13 points from DJIM time on it.   Basically, those admired the move from a distance so much that they think it can be replicated once they're ready days later.    Why let it slip through your fingers the first time and be left hoping for sloppy seconds!.  To a lesser extend, this holds true for a USAP and it's potential following earning last week.  Like CENX (if you want some aluminum in your diet),  if you want a steel play with a connection to Boeing etc there is not a better longer term hold in this sector.  They are a little volatile but also give a better bang for the buck.  Again, we are not here to make predictions on commodities or anything else...so we are here with the flow.  Right now, its a little positive.

USAP, you saw this stock here before most likely.  It had stellar earnings last Q and this Q beat all expectations handily even if you take the nickel pricing that added about 10c to the EPS.  The 97c was 80% growth and guidance is nothing to sneeze at either.  How to differentiate a stock and its potential for a fast move.  Compare a stock like VE with a 200mln float and USAP with a tidy 4.2mln and 80% instit ownership.  This smells like a possibility of a fast move and volatility, so if you want to the chance of a 3-4 5pt move, stop procrastinating if the signs are there...VOLUME is always one... Why not start with a starter like we did below $37 and then add as you see the momo come.   So, if you watched like many watched VOL, Monday might not be the best time to enter but on the other hand you might want to take advantage of the profit taking end of day and price decrease as a new start.   Again, we are not here to figure out and suggest if a pullback is sufficient for you to enter...our gig is to introduce you to a potential move and in this case tell you our entry.   Now is where you might want to use charts in your decision process.  Of course, we took some points off the table during the nice run, we all should heading into a weekend with a fast gift when its given.  There is nothing not to like here,  but it does not mean you don't take the points.  You're in the market to make money and nothing else.   We will follow closely to take back a full position.

VNDA, here was another opportunity in a stock we know from our own experience the power it can generate.  We know its bloodline, we know this can be that thoroughbred sprinter.  The history of a stock is simply the chart, so if you missed the DJIM run before... a quick glance at the chart and the previous 2 moves should have made you to put this on top of your trading list to watch after our mention of the funny biz in the 350k lot at highs(Wednesday), the snap back action to highs Thursday was another clue to something fishy, yet smelling good.    An offering at the highs of a stock is always positive, it is not the offering with no price that we are seeing from MR and EDU that make the investor apprehensive or even scared that it will be quite lower and also cause dilution.  In a up and coming biotech with at least 2 promising drugs,  dilution is the last thing on anyone's mind.  VNDA will have to partner with a major as they said again Friday, we feel  this should continue to keep the stock steady in anticipation of the inevitable event of a hook up with a major.   What has always been impressive about VNDA is its ability to hold gains after the initial big run.  The finish was strong as it pressed the days highs. We noted our intraday sell and the potential to pick it up back with a break of the days high.  We ran out of minutes to see if this occurs on Friday and will take it minute by minute Monday to see if we add back what we sold.  Remember, we fear the 'negative' news that might come overnight in a biotech,  so use caution and only sleep with what won't break you.  Look at it this way, you could have played VNDA 3-5 days so far and slept fine in between the big days.

What else for the week ahead?.

9EMA..you can make a list off the charts posted of the stocks below this short term support line.  Starting with the Chinese stocks like EDU MR and others like DLB and know what we have no interest in now.  No need to list them all.  Then look at those stepping above this point like the Russian telcos ROS VIP MBT to put back on your potential trading list. Just watchin now more closely.

OIL, really hate to turn to ALY, BTJ if need be, but they do still offer nice trade potential.  MTRX has been incredible through the massacre and considering we have held some through, we'd definitely like to see it move with any sector move.  This is the safer bet and one you can hold through the night.

ATNI was one of those HUB stocks as it did nothing but wait for a flight plan after the initial  BIG run!. It got grounded!. We discussed these tired plays may be a waste of cash at their recent high levels.  Well,  ATNI finally collapsed late last week, but might be a buy opportunity again at 50 day.  More than any other reason is ATNI made it to 2 publications as a 'top' small cap (motley and street.com), Friday.  Just a hunch, if the market is good.

MFW AMK MEND, 3 buys we have listed here on the Journal in 2007, have been steady performers yet do provide some swings and dips to buy before continuing back to highs.  We continue to hold small.. adding/subtracting as we go along depending on the trend.  Trying to catch a bigger move here.  CCOI is another that seems to have staying power, best to look at it again if it comes to highs as 9ema area is still a possibility here.    CCF, a one dollar move in a stock like this is .20 cents on another, so take that into consideration when dealing with thinsters and be prepared to stick it out if you buy these types.  The earnings are not going away, even though the buyers are not lining up last week.  Maybe a few will at the 9ema area.

VE, moved a $1 after our alert on a hunch it might move because of news relating the Suez. Seeing the float, you know this won't be a quick mover. If the news is not substantial and doesn't put the stock in a uptrend soon, we will release that starter position.  A break of $70 is what we would like to see, if it doesn't come soon...we'll say good-bye.

EBS, introducing this IPO to consider for a potential trade tomorrow or one to keep on radar for future events.  This is a recent IPO that is profitable for a biotech, it provides an anthrax vaccine contract for the stockpile .   It moved late Friday and we want to see if there's any follow through or any news.  The OS is 80% is controlled by one big head in the company.  There is not much left for you and us, so there is potential for more moves.  We could be at the beginning of a move, or we could be at the end of a short one.  If we take a starter position early and it turns against us, we won't let it go too far in the red before selling.   

Look at IPGP, as an example of what could be a 2 day run and the potential to get in too late as some did here in the 27's,  instead of buying the 25's and the potential break we spoke of before and after it started to move.

Monday
Jan222007

What can we learn from today?..

Basically, on a day like today, we have to identify clearly what's working and what's not working.    So lets start with what's working.    The two domestic stocks that stand out the most are the two that just reported great earnings.  Of course, we are referring to CCF and USAP.   In our opinion those two had the best earning report, so far in the earning season, among the small caps.   But then again, the earning season for small caps stretches a couple of months and we are pretty much still at the beginning of it.    So the point is that it still all comes down to earnings.   Plays that are great earning driven would have a much better chance to withstand the kind of market today.   Sometimes, as it's prove, they would even go as far as going the opposite direction of this market and shine.     So what else is working today?  DJIM Foreign stocks!    Yup, that's right, and we don't even have to point them out.     So what's not working then?   Just about everything else.     The market was quite the red, but if you have a screen of DJIM stocks...it was pretty green today.   What's good about today's action is that it's very easy and obvious to pick the good ones from the bad ones.    When you can easily identify the winning stocks, then you can choose the setup that you are most comfortable with, or perhaps the safest setup to enter for a trade or two.     Let's go over a few stocks here...

CCF,  we made it very clear on day one that we really like its earning report.  In fact, we think the combination of its earning and its market cap gives this play a valuation mismatch.    Of course, we think it should be worth a lot more than what's currently trading at.    Since we don't have a crystal ball, we still can not just rely and act on our beliefs alone but rather we have to focus more on the action.   The action of a stock behaviour has to confirm our belief before we can truly comfortably act it out the way we wanted.    Once we have identified such play, then it's up to your trading instinct to make the best out of it.    In this case, it's clear that we all should be adding last couple of days.    Last night, we noted the line up might form in 9 ema area, today it did with a nice volume stick.   With 2.33 million in float, we think it doesn't take many 80k to 90k volume "up" day to give this one a reasonable valuation.   The trend is definitely up and we are playing aggressively on any dips.     

USAP, this is another low floater which perhaps has a valuation mismatch.   Today's advance does not surprise us and we are also playing aggressively on the dip camp.    Keep in mind, no stocks go up forever and we are less inclined to chase in this weak market environment unless the stock is fresh out of a breakout.    What we meant is that compare USAP to CCF, USAP is a bit stretched at this point and we are sure there willl be opportunities to add at a good price.  The sell off Friday provided such this morning for many.  Well if it goes up another few points from this point without stopping, we won't be upset either with our current position.   The point is, no need to be greedy when the mkt is seemingly in a bad mood right now.

AMK, we alerted this one late in the day b/c we feel this one is setting up nicely.   With less than two week before the earning date, we feel this one has a chance to get a pre-earning run-up going.    We have seen what this stock is capable of and we are willing to give it a chase here.

IPGP, we've talked about this stock being discovered, today was the start you could say as the brokers came out with their initiations on it. Some big names behind this IPO, one of them MER gave a BUY rating as well.  We're still out but we are watching.