Intel (INTC) Reports Great Earnings Does This Add Fuel To The Tech Sector?

Intel (INTC) Reports Great Earnings Does This Add Fuel To The Tech Sector?

Intel beats expectations!

Wow, so the company everyone was waiting to hear from today was Intel! The consensus on the street was Intel was going to make .30/share with boasted revenue. After the anticipated wait after hours, they released the EPS of .40/share with a revenue increase of 28%, which sent the stock higher by 2% in the after hours read the P/R here. This is the chart of INTC, it’s obvious it has been doing good in the economy and as sales and revenue increase, this report just proves how well the company is doing.

Tech sector boom

What does this say for the technology sector? Not only has tech been the leading sector for percentage gains and topping charts across the board but it’s also the most watched next to the financial’s. With Intel being the first to show signs of how the sector is doing, does this set the trend for all other tech? Lets look at the XLK SPDR which is the tech ETF.

As you can see nothing but a strong up trend. I see this trickling down to all other tech companies and making this as a sign to buy into it!

I will be on the hunt for some good tech plays to get into, that will follow the success of Intel. :)

Check Out This Pump And Dump (IMGG)

Check Out This Pump And Dump (IMGG)

Pump and Dumppppp….

Ever wanted to know what a pump and dump looks like? Well look no further with the latest one by Imaging3 Inc. (IMGG).

IMGG chart

Look at that chart….

Just look at this ridiculous chart pattern, it is nothing more than a blatant pump and dump. Let see, starting in September it was trading around 3 pennies then less than 2 months later it hits a high at $1.95, making most if its gains within 2 or 3 days. Take a nice glance at the volume, it was once trading less than a few thousand shares a day, then all of a sudden it’s trading 7million + shares a day hmmmm.  Then, less than 2 months after the high, the stock takes a nice big red dump and now sits around .60cent/share and still falling.

The Cause..

1. Stock promotion.

2. Message board hype.

3. Stock manipulation.

The Promotion

This stock was being promoted by standoutstocks, picksthatmove and the main one StockPreacher just read their disclaimer. As you can see here, StockPreacher released their “Report” on IMGG  November 10th. OK, now look at the chart find around the time of November 10th…..Yea it spiked huge on this stock promoters pump. Read the disclaimer, they spill their guts there! These promoters are usually compensated for these “Reports” in cash or a number of freely trade shares. Which if they receive those shares, of course they are going to pump this thing and then sell into that. Oh it gets better, check this post on IMGG man does it sound good, then have a laugh and reed to comments below the blog post….. Read it here.

The Hype

Message board hype is my favorite. As you read message boards on sites like yahoo, InvestorsHub and TheLion.com, you can see idiots thinking this is a real company making big moves. All the talk and hype is just code for they want to pump the stock and suck in all the suckers to buy it, push the price higher and then sell it short or sell into that hype.

The Manipulation

I mean if you are a smart person you will do your own research and find out how much of a scam this company is. First, just check out the garbage balance sheet here. Then you can look at their SEC filings and see that they are having problems and not making any money at all! Also their “Products” are also garbage and nothing more than a scam!

Look at what they do, they are a “Developer of a breakthrough medical imaging device that produces 3D medical diagnostic images of virtually any part of the human body in real-time”, Big whoop that sounds profitable doesn’t it? haha..

OK, now look at the latest news from IMGG; they are hosting a conference call to update share holders of the FDA submission.

Read the article here which was released yesterday “The purpose of the call is to update Shareholders and other interested parties of the current developments with the company’s 510k FDA submission” which the FDA is asking for more information regarding their submission because of earlier conflicts. This conference call and the anticipation of FDA approval could cause for another spike in the stock, keep your eye out and do some research so you don’t fall into the scam just profit from it. :)

What do you think?

Stock Watch 1-12-2010

Stock Watch 1-12-2010

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX) – This Company produces and sells ethanol in the United States and had a huge trading day. The stock had a 59% gain from an open price of $1.50 to the high of $2.75. This was a definite short squeeze if you check the chart out here. It also started to sell off a lot of its gains after it hit the high mid day, pretty much people selling into that spike I don’t blame them. This is huge potential short if you can find shares.

McMoRan Exploration Co. (MMR) – This Company through its subsidiaries engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas offshore. This stock is up huge on news of the new gas find off the Gulf of Mexico (read here) which created a 52% gain from the day’s range of $10.98 – high of $14.08 and holding. This was huge and exciting news for the company, as I see this as a starting point for the return back to its 2 year high of $35.52/share. On the charts here, it has a breakout point at $15.84ish and if it can break that it would not see resistance till $22/share. Potential buy!

Energy XXI (Bermuda) Limited (EXXI) – This companies stock also benefiting from the news of the find of gas in the Gulf of Mexico. The stock had a 39% gain on the day, had an open price of $3.16 with a high of $3.69 and holding. I don’t see this one running to much it has a 2 year resistance level at $3.53; this will be the test if it can break it or sell off right here. I will just be watching this one. Check the chart here.

Tuesday Morning Corp. (TUES) – This Company operates as a closeout retailer of upscale home furnishings…boring! But the stock had a nice 32% gain on the day from good news of its qtr2 speculation of it beating earnings estimates as it sees sales up 5%, read the full P/R here. The company does have a good amount of revenue coming in, although it has just as much debt as it does cash on hand. The short interest has also increased by 5%. On the charts it has a lot of resistance at $4.50ish area, I would only get in if it can break that and if the speculations are true and it beats earnings estimates. Just watching for now, check the chart here.

GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc. (GTCB) – This Company is being pumped by promoters and its hype around FDA approval of a drug. The company is garbage and very sketchy. The stock has been coming back some with a price spike today, as well as from the updated news of FDA approval. It’s funny as you can see from the chart here; it spiked and finished in the red. This will be nice to see it run a couple more days and then short into that.

Misonix Inc. (MSON) – This Company spiked 21% from news if it’s new distribution agreement for Peru. It also recently released earnings of $-.17/share but on the charts has been spiking some, to me it seems a mix of this deal and short covering. It has a lot of resistance at the $2.60ish area which it tested and failed to break today. If it can break it could be a huge breakout for this stock, but I don’t see that happening. Potential short, Check the chart here.

BioFuel Energy Corp. (BIOF) – This Company engages in the production and sale of ethanol. The stock had a nice 20% gain on the day with a price range of $3.42-$4.15, although it had a slight sell off in the afterhours back down to $3.45. The beauty of this stock is the chart. It is on the verge of a breakout right here at $4.12ish. I will wait to see if it gaps up tomorrow and breaks out, this could be a nice buy if it can. Check the chart here.

China Infrastructure Investment Corp. (CIIC) – This barley made my list; it is a china play which means “Sketchy”. Today the stock had an 18% bounce from its support at $2.00/share. This was a pump and dump as you can see from the chart here, it spiked a few days then completely dumped, which if you could find shares would have been a nice short opportunity which could explain its gains today from everyone buying to cover. This does have the chance to spike again, which you could buy the bounce but would be risky because the dump is over and it could trade towards the downside from here. Check the chart here.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN) – This stock is the one to watch, as it is on the verge of FDA approval and on the verge of breaking out big time. Good news could make it happen. It is currently at that breakout point in the $15.77 area, if it can break threw it will be a nice breakout buy where its next resistance is not until the $19 area. The volume is also picking up as it gains publicity from the drug news and the talk about health care all over the news. I will watch this for a breakout buy, check the chart here.

TASER International Inc (TASR) – This Company still getting the hype around airport security, it manufactures devices for security not only for the private sector but also the government. Today it had a nice 11% gain and on the charts it is a technical breakout (yea I love breakout buys) Which if it holds, can be a nice swing trade as it rides the hype wave, and the sell signal being the first red day or it starting to retrace back to the support level of $5.80/share. I see it gaping down in the morning, and if the bulls are strong will pick it right back up and keep going on strong volume, otherwise watch for the dump as this can be a risky trade. Check the chart here.

ThinkOrSwim (TOS) Broker Review

ThinkOrSwim (TOS) Broker Review

First Impression

When I was on the hunt for an online discount broker I had really no Idea what to look for. I came across what had seemed like hundreds all with different rates and claims, which was all just a load to get you to dump your money in their account and trade with them. I wanted the best but not pay all the platform fees and other hidden fees and outrageous commissions. I then kept hearing about this broker called “ThinkOrSwim“, to me I was like “wtf is thinkorswim, does not even sound like a broker”. So I checked them out and for about an hour on their website reading about them and what they have to offer I was pretty blown away. One problem, they wanted $3500 minimum to start your account with. For me at the time I did not have that kind of cash sitting around just to put in a trading account. Although I did register on the site and downloaded their trading platform to get a feel for it while paper trading. More on the platform later… I was itching to sign up with ThinkOrSwim for what they offered and so on but I just did not have that exact amount to start with so I decided to e-mail ThinkOrSwim to kindly ask them to make an exception for me :) . In the e-mail I simply told them how much I have heard about them and the reviews they were getting and blah blah blah. I then asked if the minimum to open an account was strict and no exceptions, that I only had $2500 to start with and would I be able to trade and be excepted if you will. To my surprise I got a prompt e-mail back less than 24hrs later stating that they would love to make an exception and allow me to trade with that amount. AWESOME, where do I sign?… The point to all this is how fantastic the customer service is over at ThinkOrSwim I could not be happier.

Commissions

ThinkOrSwim has a pretty decent commission base. They advertise $9.99 a trade or a per share commission with a minimum of $5. Which I will admit the commissions have eaten me alive lately but that’s no one’s fault but my own. **Side note, I have heard a rumors that if you talk to ThinkOrSwim and tell them that their commissions are high and that you are thinking about going somewhere else that they will cut you a deal. From what I have herd they will give you like $4 a trade unlimited shares. Which for a day trader this could be a very nice deal! I have not tried this out, I have heard of several people doing this, the only down fall is that it does not last forever, I think they give you a time period at which you can get that commission for like a few months or even a year. The point is ThinkOrSwim will work with you :) .

Trading Platform

ThinkOrSwim Platform

I think their trading platform is phenomenal. They update it all the time, constantly giving you more and more features to use. Please go and download it and try it out for yourself here.

They do offer a web style trading where you can trade threw an internet browser, which it looks and feels just like the platform.

The charting on the platform is just incredible, any feature or indicator is offered and they are always coming up with new things to add.

The only down fall to the whole platform is there Level2 quote system, which in my opinion is garbage compared to a lot of other brokers level2 systems. On the other hand the rest of the platform makes up for it. Hopefully they will upgrade that system soon.

Short List

ThinkOrSwim is widely known for their great list of Easy to borrow stocks and having plenty of shares to go around. Although some have noticed ever since TD ameritrade took over that list has gone down some and is not as good, which I think is not true. In order to get those shares to short, you must open up a live chat with one of TOS representatives and ask if there are shares, if there are you can tell them how many you want and they can place to order for you or you can just reserve them until you would like to use them. Now on the platform when you enter a ticker symbol in, on the top right hand corner will be a spot where it will say “ETB” or “HTB” which will say whether shares are available to borrow. **Side note, even if it does say “HTB” i still make an attempt and ask anyways which i have been lucky a few times and gotten shares to short.

Overall

I could spend hours detailing every feature that ThinkOrSwim offers but I won’t since you can download it and try it out for yourself :) .

This is the broker I use and highly recommend for any level trader. Also if when you do register and fund your account they will send you a ThinkOrSwim monkey in the mail, no not a real one but a cool stuffed animal.

ThinkOrSwim Monkey

Stock Watch 1-11-2010

Luna Innovations Incorporated (LUNA) -This company engages in the research, development, and commercialization of technologies in health care. The stock had a huge 71% gain from it’s open at $2.74 – $4.50 with an extra 1% gain in after hours. This reason for this huge spike came from the P/R issued that stated “(LUNA) said Friday it will expand its development and supply agreement with Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) to continue providing its shape-sensing technology for Intuitive products. report here” which lead to the spike. This companies balance sheet is a mess, the market cap is only 50million with 5million in debt. This spike was not from only good news but definitely from all the shorts covering. This will be interesting as to how it will play out on Monday, i think this could be a good setup for a short. I will only short if i can find shares and if it starts to fade through out the day. Check the chart here.

WebMediaBrands Inc (WEBM) – This is a media company that had a nice 26+% gain on Friday breaking it’s previous high of $1.30/share, which is considered a technical breakout. The question here is will it hold and keep going? I doubt it on the notion that it faded a lot towards the close with low volume and i see a morning sell off. This will be a potential short for sure.

Methode Electronics Inc. (MEI) – This company manufactures component devices worldwide. The stock got an analyst upgrade to outperform which made the price spike 25% from $9.53 to the high of $11.34. It had a breakout point at $9.80ish and surged higher from there with a strong finish late day. I see this stock coming back down some which will be a great buy on the dip to see it return to it’s 2 year high of $14.19/share. This company is so so on the balance sheet, it has a good amount of revenue coming in with 0 debt. I think this was one company beaten down by the economy and is starting to come back nicely. The short interest has also decreased. Potential swing trade if i can get in when it dips a little lower. Check the chart here.

CPEX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPEX) – This Pharmaceutical company has a recently completed a phase 2 clinical trial of Nasulin a diabetes drug that helps a diabetic’s insulin levels. The results of the test are expected to be released a t the beginning of the second quarter of 2010. Friday a P/R was released stating that “(CPEX) confirmed that Arcadia Capital Advisors, LLC and its principal Richard Rofé, who hold approximately 12% of outstanding shares, have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) notice of intention of Mr. Rofé to make an unsolicited contingent offer to purchase the remaining shares of common stock of CPEX for $14.00 per share.” this of course spiked the stock price from $11.75 – $14.05/share. This is good for the company and share holders. On the other hand the shares outstanding are 2.5million and the float is only 1.84, so this thing can go wild with any news in a short period of time. I would watch this the next coming days to buy into, because this stock can climb fast! This reminds me of (VRMLQ) and its price fluctuations, CPEX is a Potential buy, check the chart here.

Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. (CYTX) – This company engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of medical technologies to enable the practice of regenerative medicine. It also just got FDA approval for a “fat transfer device that can transfer a patients fat to other areas of the body for cosmetic purposes”, sounds pretty ridiculous to me but they actually got approval and the stock spikes 12%+ check the P/R here. This company is in the hole big time as far as revenue coming in, this will definitely bring more in. On the other hand it seems the stock did not want to hold its gains and actually went negative on the close, which could mean a lot of people were taking some profits and selling into that spike. 18% of this stock float are short which if they cover could really send this stock soaring. If it can hold and here and and i see some big buy orders coming in, this could be a nice setup for a swing trade. Potential buy, check the chart here.

ICX TECHNOLOGIES INC COM (ICXT) – Here we go again the same airport security stock coming up on my radar. This stock does not want to make up it’s mind, it spikes and then falls then levels off around $7.50ish and now is starting to spike again. This reminds me of NLST when it was doing this, it was teasing everyone but those who held on threw the ups and downs really made money as it just keep stair stepping higher. ICXT does want to power higher although the volume is starting to fade and bulls starting to get weak, i still think this is a short all the way unless it get’s more news coverage. Check the chart here.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH) – This pharmaceutical barley made my list, it made it only because its on the verge of a breakout. It spiked on Friday due to short squeeze IMO there is no big news for it other wise. It also lost half of those gains in after hours as everyone sold that spike. As you can see from the chart here, it is right there at the breakout point but it needs a good push to get threw that resistance. I will watch to see what it does, i don’t think it can do it.

How To Find HOT Stock Picks!

Finding those stock picks can be a tough task.

I am very familiar with the frustrated feeling that you can get when starting your trading/investing career, that feeling of being clueless when it comes to finding those stocks that are skyrocketing and on the move, and not just sticking with the boring ones we all know, ie:Google, yahoo, Walmart ect…

So how do you find those stocks that have had huge gains, breaking out or coming across those good momentum plays or finding stocks that have been on the run for several days? I will show you one small simple tool that you can check on a regular basis that is free and is pretty darn handy! It is right here at yahoo’s finance page, Located in a small section called “Market Movers”.

Go to Yahoo’s Finance page.

Scroll down and on the left hand side of the screen you should see this-

Click the Most Price % Change link, which i highlighted in the picture.

You are then taken to a screen that looks like this one below (this is a sample and not real time).

The List!!!

Presented here is list of the top market movers through out the market day. As you can see it creates a list with 6 columns, to me the most important columns to pay attention to are, they ticker symbol(the company), the percentage change, and most important the volume. They key to using this list is paying attention to how many shares have been traded and the gains the stock made that day. Let’s pick one from the list as an example, i will choose “Zygo Corporation (ZIGO)”. ZIGO made a huge 45% gain or $3.34 “dollar gainer” move today. Now as i mentioned earlier the most important factor to look at is the volume or the amount of shares traded in that day. In this case ZIGO traded 1,381,709 shares which indicates this stock is liquid and can be easily traded in and out of if you wish. If you take a close look at “Community Central Bank Corp (CCBD)” they made a 38% gain BUT only on 2,097 shares traded, that is way to low to trade in and out of and not a popular stock to get in on unless you like to watch your money sit there and do nothing.

How can this make you money?

These high percent gainers did not make there huge gains from thin air, they obviously had something happen for this to take place. This list is the starting point in the research process. Take those tickers and plug them into your favorite charting software and do some technical analysis on them, or plug that ticker right back into yahoo finance and do some fundamental research and find out what others think looking at there message boards, all this to determine if it is worth trading or not. Before you know it you will have a nice watch list for the next day with stocks you know will be moving.

This tool is one of the ways i find my stocks and build my pre market watch list, this could be very helpful with yours. Stay tuned for more tips and tools you can use when searching for stocks.  :).

How To Find The Short Interest In a Stock

Have you ever wondered how many shares are short in a particular stock?

Maybe you did not even know this information exists, well it does and can be useful stuff! Finding out how many shares are short of a company can be vital information when looking to trade a stock, pretty much this information will tell you how many people are betting against this stock and want’s to see it drop like a rock. On the other hand this information can let you know how much the stock price can squeeze higher if all those individuals suddenly want to cover those short positions, which will make the stock price spike very rapidly. Some instances for those who short the stock want to cover will be, a positive P/R, Good earnings news, a big buyer coming in and pushing the price higher ect… All of which will force shorts to cover and in turn spike the stock price and if you have a long position when it spikes you could see a significant jump in your percentage gain, it might be in your interest to sell into that spike to hold on to those profits!

In this article i will tell you places to find this information as well as show you some chart examples of a blatant short squeeze!

lets get to it!

1.)The first place i will show you is of course yahoo finance. So open up a new tab or browser window and head on over there.

Once there enter in the company or ticker symbol in the “Get Quote” text box located on the top right hand side.  get qoute box

2.)For this rundown i will use a familiar company “Amazon (AMZN)”. Once you enter in your ticker or the company name a new screen will appear with the stock quote information. What we are looking for is a small link under “Company” section called “Key Statistics”, which will be in the left hand column next to the quote information. I underlined this link with a red line in the picture.

Key statistics

3.)Now that you are at this screen, wonder over to the right side and scroll down some untill you see a section Called “Share Statistics” this is what we want!

Share statistics

This is were you will find the short interest in a stock at that given time. Notice in the picture i highlighted the key areas that will be of most use, Shares Outstanding, Float, Shares short ect… In this example you can see that amazon has 13.68 million shares short of the float which is 332.18million shares. If don’t know what the float is, well it is the number of shares that is publicly traded. So 4.90% of the float is short this stock. And you can see that this number has risen since the prior month which was 17.5 million shares short. This will let you know that a lot of people are betting against this stock and think it has gone up to much, only you can decide if they are wrong or wright and go against them or join them.

Alternative way of getting this information.

Now remember i mentioned this is one of many ways to get this type of information. The second way is a little bit easier to get to and has a tiny bit more information on the short interest.

1.) go to the ShortSqueeze website.

And as before enter the ticker symbol into the text box and hit “short quote”.

short quote text box

2.) Now it will bring up the short interest in this stock with a lot of extra information. This site also has some proprietary information regarding the short intrest, like there “Short Squeeze Ranking” ect.. which they have other things as well but you have to be a premium member to get a hold of that stuff, which in my opinion is unnecessary info.

This is all the info you need here.

short intrest

Conclusion

Both of these sites are free and provides useful information. I just wanted to present more than one option so that you can decide which one you like better. Now you know how to get short interest information on a particular stock and use it to your advantage! Good luck! :)

Examples of some Short Squeeze’s

Stay tuned for more Tutorials, if you have questions or want to give feedback please comment below! :)

ATLAS PIPELNE HLDING (AHD) Failed Breakout

ATLAS PIPELNE HLDING (AHD) Failed Breakout

So, I was watching this stock pretty closely today ATLAS PIPELNE HLDING (AHD) because it was on the verge or breaking out from it’s previous high at $7.00. As you can see from the chart when it was gaining on a breakout point of $4.50ish the first time it broke and shoot way up. I was expecting it to do the same here at $7.00, but from not a very strong market it was having trouble holding on to that point mid day. I bought in at $7.41 with a bad fill i was aiming for around $7.35ish, but i thought w.e i this thing will take off soon. It shot up to a high of $7.45 and headed down from there. I have a tight stop in at $6.93 which is slightly below the breakout point. I will give this thing one more day, if i get stopped out then so be it and i cut my losses quickly,learn and move on! I have a small position since it was a risky play, but hopefully the market will open up strong tomorrow and this thing will breakout for which i expect it to. This was a total breakout speculation trade, this company is not doing well with a horrible balance sheet with over 1billion that’s right a billion dollars in debt, it is has a current market cap of $194million dollars which is pathetic compared to what it use to be. Tomorrow will be the test, lets hope it goes to the moon and squeezes out some shorts :) .