optionMONSTER submits:
By David Russell
Domtar (UFS) hit a new 52-week high Friday, and the bears are positioning for a reversal lower in the Canadian wood-products company.
Archive for the ‘Small Cap Stocks’ Category
CE Franklin: Undervalued Oilfield Supplier
On March - 15 - 2010
Yoseph West submits:
While oil prices have recovered significantly, a few companies in the oil & gas industry are still undervalued. CE Franklin Ltd. (CFK) is one of them.
CFK is a leading distributor of general oilfield supplies to the oil and gas industry in Canada. It operates 49 branches situated in towns and cities that serve particular oil and gas fields of the western Canadian sedimentary basin.
With 21% of the Russell 2000 Up Over 20%, It Smells Like a Stock-Picker’s Market
On March - 15 - 2010
Alan Brochstein, CFA submits:
The Ides of March is upon us, but it seems like there is no reason to beware. Bears have been head-faked and otherwise bullied about by a market that just won’t quit. I continue to expect that the objective I laid out earlier this year of the S&P 500 testing 1200-1230 is likely to be achieved in the next few weeks. It’s not that heroic a call, as it represents just another 5-7%.
For anyone who looks at just the big stocks, you are missing the story of the year: Small-caps are on fire! I count 419 stocks in the Russell 2000 that are up more than 20%. I am happy to say that this is where I have been hunting this year. Almost all of the sectors are well represented, with even a Utility making the cut. This frothiness isn’t a sell signal, but it does tell us that there are lots of folks throwing in the towel. The median return of this bunch is 31%, and that’s on top of the 27% median return for these stocks in 2009.
3 Reasons Why I Bought GlobalScape
On March - 15 - 2010
Microcap Speculator submits:
My latest purchase was microcap stock GlobalScape (GSB), a file transfer software and managed services company. Computer users know it best for its low end FTP products, CuteFTP and CuteFTP Pro. But that’s just a small fraction of its business. The revenues are mostly from the more advanced, server-based file transfer programs like EFT Server and EFT Server Enterprise. Managed file transfer services are also growing.
OK, so the business is pretty boring. For a tech company it’s difficult to find something more mundane than file transfers. As a stock, however, GlobalScape has a lot to offer. I bought GSB over the last several days at $1.46 to $1.49. Here are three reasons why:
What Caused the Sudden Rise in China Carbon Graphite?
On March - 15 - 2010
China OTC Player submits:
Over the course of only four trading sessions, China Carbon Graphite Group (CHGI.OB) has more than doubled its share price. It closed last Friday at $1.52 and Friday it ended at $3.12. That is an absolute gain of 105%, or approximately 9600% annualized. What caused this incredible spike?
Clearly there have been very positive write-ups about the company in recent days, including this article. However, if the share movements had solely been a result of these reports, then they were clearly hype-based (especially note the verb "skyrocket" in that article). The fact is, the fundamentals for this company have not changed. The buy momentum, if unsupported by anything concrete, is not sustainable and can easily reverse itself.
Chinese Small Caps Are Not Overbought
On March - 15 - 2010
China OTC Player submits:
By Platinum Tiger
Powered by a 10 percent rise last week in the pharmaceuticals sector, the 35 stock China OTC Player small cap index surged to its fifth weekly gain in the past six weeks, closing just below its record high of January 15th.
A Small Cap Value Earnings Portfolio
On March - 15 - 2010
Scott’s Investments submits:
Last month I decided to tweak the criteria for the Small Cap Earnings Surprise Portfolio I track on the right hand side of the blog using Google Docs. Last month’s results can be seen here. The 10 stocks on last month’s list returned an average of 15.4%, a healthy one month return by any standard. In comparison SPY, the S&P 500 ETF, returned 6.9% and VBR, a small cap value ETF, returned 11.1%. Return figures exclude dividends, commission, and slippage.
My screen looks for a low PEG, recent earnings surprises, a minimum volume requirement, and small market capitalization. I exclude OTC stocks and I further narrow the list based on additional fundamental factors to 10 stocks. The list, as always, is not a specific portfolio but a recommendation for further research. The stocks on this list can be especially volatile given their low market capitalization, so please do proper due diligence. The current list of stocks is below and returns can be tracked real-time on the right hand side of Scott’s Investments:
| Ticker | Name | Free Trend Analysis | Last | MktCap |
| AEA | Advance America, Cash Advance | Here | 6.47 | 398.64 |
| CNU | Continucare Corporation | Here | 4.27 | 256.02 |
| FUQI | Fuqi International, Inc. | Here | 19.41 | 536.27 |
| JST | Jinpan International Limited | Here | 24.51 | 402.44 |
| NSIT | Insight Enterprises, Inc. | Here | 14.33 | 658.8 |
| VLCM | Volcom, Inc. | Here | 18.33 | 446.78 |
| BIOS | BioScrip Inc. | Here | 8.1 | 322.34 |
| JOEZ | Joe’s Jeans Inc. | Here | 2.7 | 166.35 |
| DM | Dolan Media Company | Here | 10.14 | 307.51 |
| VRAD | Virtual Radiologic Corporation | Here | 9.94 | 158.59 |
Disclosure: No positions
Global Markets in Review: Sanguine Investors Push Stocks Higher
On March - 15 - 2010
Prieur du Plessis submits:
Shrugging off some lingering reminders of the credit crisis and recession, investors last week marked the one-year anniversary of the bear market low by pushing many benchmark equity indices to cycle highs.
Wall Street scaled 17-month highs on the back of easing concerns of sovereign debt defaults and increased hopes for a global economic recovery as the U.S. dollar pulled back and the CBOE Volatility (VIX) Index approached 22-month lows. The Index is also referred to as the “fear gauge” of U.S. stock markets and is used as a contrary indicator that moves inversely to equity prices, as seen in the chart below where it is plotted against the S&P 500 Index.
Russell 2000 Up 9 Days in a Row – Does This Bode Well?
On March - 15 - 2010
Moby Waller submits:
As of Thursday’s close, the small-cap oriented Russell 2000 Index (RUT) (IWM) had closed higher for 9 straight trading days. We decided to look at previous examples of this occurrence and see what the market did in the short-term following such a consistent upmove.
Going back to all the available data from 1987 to the present, there have not been a huge amount of occurrences … this is a fairly rare event. There have been 33 "hits" on the long side in this time frame, if you look 5 trading days later (basically a week). With a buy on the open on the morning following the 9th up day and sell the close after holding for 5 trading days, the RUT was higher 58% of the time (19 up, 14 down) — a bit better than a 50/50.
JPMorgan: Add to Risky Assets as Uncertainty Fades
On March - 12 - 2010
The Pragmatic Capitalist submits:
Love ‘em or hate ‘em few have ridden the recovery rally as well as JP Morgan’s equity team. They continue to trade the rally from the bullish side (and the correct side). They say the strength of the recovery is underestimated and skeptical investors will slowly continue to pile into risk assets. Of course, they aren’t the only big bank with a very positive outlook. BlackRock recently released very similar commentary.
Just a few weeks ago JP Morgan (JPM) said the concerns about China’s tightening and Greece’s debt fears were overblown and investors should buy the dip (see here for more). But this doesn’t mean there aren’t continuing risks to their outlook. Among the main risks are the following: