Still Here

Yesterday I picked up some KOG shares and calls. I wish I'd waited a day.

I also bought a bear call (credit) spread on EWZ (Jan $60/58). So far so good with the credit spreads.

SLRC spiked down at the open this morning and kicked me out. +4.7% including the special dividend.

Credit Spreads

I'm dabbling with credit spreads now.

First there's a bull put spread for UNG, Jan $15/17. I feel pretty good about this one.

Then there's a bear call spread for EEM, Jan $46/45. I feel like I'm going against the current here, and there is probably a fair amount of fiscal cliff resolution risk (FCRR), but still a 0.22 delta with a good return on risked moolah ... and I did take a smaller position.

Let's see what happens ...

Ringing Sound?

That would be me ringing the cash register.

CRZO spiked up on an upgrade before drifting into my 2% trailing stop. +7.0% on the stock, +13.8% on calls.

DDD had great day. I sold the rest of my calls, perhaps a little early in the day. +65.7% will have to do. I also sold the last of my NVDA calls, +26.2%.

SNCR had been looking a little toppy so I closed out those calls too, +41.1%.

I should mention that GALE was a little off today ... to say the least.

JAZZ

I bought JAZZ calls on speculation that the double bounce off of $50 could be a reversal. Throw in a forward P/E under 12, great earnings growth, huge sales growth, 31% net margin and institutional buying, how can I say no?

Coming Attractions?

The market gave up again today. AAPL hit $506 again. I guess I'm not surprised, especially since I have the 401(k) and 403(b) money parked.

I finally put a tight stop on all of my ARR shares after some talk about NLY got me spooked. It sold. I have a low-ball limit buy order in place should it spike down significantly. I took a small loss on most of my shares, but the dividends get me back around even.

From Table to Pocket

I took a little money off the table today when I sold half my NVDA calls and two-thirds of my DDD calls, +33.1% and +30.0% respectively.

I hate to take money out of positions likely to rebound on a fiscal cliff resolution, but then I don't want to be too exposed while the political quagmire threatens our economy with each passing day. Too bad the politicians can't seize the opportunity to make changes that would profoundly improve our country's fiscal well-being.

My short term trading strategy? Take each day (or hour) as it comes. Seize opportunities, limit risk, and be as wishy-washy and flip-floppy with my sentiments as necessary to get through this month.

Good Luck!

Update

I shorted MPWR with puts yesterday with a light position only because of its chart (technicals). It was on my watchlist as a buy but just isn't a compelling buy now that it has run 20%.

Otherwise, stock SMS and calls DDD, NVDA, and SNCR are doing well.

MLNX will hopefully continue to work its way back up.

HAIN and GALE are underwater, CRZO, REGN, and SLRC are about even. I'm waiting for SLRC to go ex-divided next week then I'll probably let it go.

Buying Spree

I bought shares in CRZO and REGN, and added onto my MLNX position.

I bought calls for CRZO and DDD.

+GALE, -OCN

I bought GALE Monday on a family member's recommendation. So far so good.

After reading reading about OCN's loan practices and the subsequent law suits, I decided to sell my shares and calls. The share were stopped out, -4.3%. The calls didn't get their limit price yet.

REGN Gone, More Specs

My REGN shares are gone after a sell-off into the close caused it to hit my 6% trailing stop. I hadn't planned to exit so early, but I certainly wasn't planning to give back all my profit either. We'll see how it shakes out over the next few days and get back in. +19.1%.

I meant to by more NVDA calls but accidentally sold them when I didn't change the order type. So I bought twice as many at a lower price later.

I bought some SNCR calls. It has some decent numbers and is coming off of a bottom.

My strategy now is to avoid most stocks that are near new highs like watchlisters CVI, DDD, and TRMB that could get whacked by bad "fiscal cliff" news. Instead, I'm bottom fishing for growth prospects that could rise with no FC news and take off with good news.

+OCN +NVDA

Here are the latest adjustments ...

I sold my VRTX shares in light of downgrades and more importantly, it wasn't turning around. Early again I guess, -6.1%.

I sold my HCN shares when it faltered as everything else was going up. The forward P/E is high (>65) though other metrics are generally favorable. -2.0%.

I bought shares and calls for old fav OCN. If the estimates hold, this will be a monster.

I'm a little late getting into NVDA calls for the rebound play. Fingers crossed.

I'm trying to lower my cost basis by buying more MLNX at what I hope is a bottom. I think there's something here, but others seem to be convinced otherwise.

Spec Stocks

On Wednesday I bought two stocks that I think are due for a bounce. Neither of these fits my criteria for growth.

The first is SMS, which I've watched for years which tends to run up and down. Any hint of a recovery should send it upwards. I tend to watch it with other steel stocks ( CMC, NUE, SCHN) and oddly enough, shippers like DCIX, FRO, NAT, PRGN, and TNP.

VRTX has some generally positive analyst coverage, sporadic but generally growing sales growth, but recently reduce earnings estimates.

BBY TICC Closed

Today's updates:

TICC was stopped out, -7.9%.

BBY disappointed as expected. I sold my puts on the news, +50.5%. That was my last option position.

REGN continues to rise.

Scramble

So much for my conservative call spreads in this market. PCLN didn't hold $620 so I had to scramble on that one, and my once deep-ITM $630 GOOG call expired with GOOG at $647. +64.8% and -83% respectively.

My WAL shares got stopped out yesterday. -13%.

Fortunately REGN went up nicely and BBY went down equally well. The remaining long positions did well today ... for a change. Those would be ARR, HAIN, MLNX, SLRC and TICC.

The retirement mutual fund money has been parked in money market funds. I'm battening down the hatches here. One decent day doesn't mean we're out of the woods.

What Capital Gains?

If things keep going like this there won't be any gains to tax.

I had a low bid in for more ARR. Not low enough apparently.

I bought some shares of REGN and HAIN. I should have waited.

I sold my ACI puts yesterday thinking the play had fizzled out, +4.7%. Then the stock started sliding.

I sold my ANR puts today when my profit target was met, +15.9%. I could probably let this ride but I think other opportunities will be coming.

Now for AMZN. I had Dec $190 puts (OTM) that I bought at the end of their October slide thinking the mini-iPad would accelerate their drop. Something went horribly wrong and AMZN went up, then down, up, down while my puts lost value and we moved into retail season (bad timing). Cutting my losses, -72%. I remember now why I don't like buying OTM puts.

I'm short on BBY again with December puts.

Growth Screen

The screen du jour yields (lowest forward P/E first):

• TICC - own but plan to buy more when it finds a bottom
• KOG - the drillers are on hold while oil stays below $90
• OCN - owned it, like it, but letting it settle after last week's bounce
• REGN - coming off of a relative low - looking in it
• KORS - recently sold off from new high, reports tomorrow morning
• DDD - running strong, P/E falling from 69 to 42, institutional selling
• ALXN - coming off of a hard sell-off.

Sniping Again

I think we missed a great opportunity on Tuesday (election day) to get our country back on track.

That leaves me quite discouraged about the prospects for the next four years. That's because I think there's an agenda in play to wreck our economy, and most voters don't even see it coming. The evidence is out there. It'll be too late when you're trying to figure out how to feed your family and keep a roof over your head, and all of your neighbors are in the same predicament.

Recap

As for stocks, since the last post the stock winners were SPRD, MLNX, PCLN, JAZZ, CDNS, TICC, OCN, ARR, ABT and APPL. Stock losers were PAY.

Options winners were many of the stock winner names plus FLO, TAL, TICC, PDF, DDD and  OCN. Option losers were PAY, TGP, BIDU and MLNX.

Misses

I bought more MLNX shares before and after the dive on the earnings announcement. Though recovering, those positions are still way under water.

I also bought a decent chunk of GOOG calls after their earnings fiasco and they've failed to regain traction leaving me in the red there too.

I shorted AMZN with OTM puts thinking the mini iPad competition would destabilize their forecasts and their forward P/E for next year, which will have improved to 128, wouldn't be good enough. Sometimes I'm not so much wrong as early.

Closed this Week

This week I closed out puts on MNST, BBY, GNRC, and LOGM, all winners. I wanted to reposition my OTM $13 BBY put (trading at $15) and give the optimists a chance to run the stock up a few days before I go with a deep ITM put for a later put spread conversion. I need to get back in before they disappoint on the 20th. +58% on BBY.

GNRC and LOGM were sold when they hit my profit targets (via limit orders) yielding +13% and +15.5% after two days.

I bought calls on OCN and sold them the next day. +23% works there.

Next Week

Since 50% of the voters are more optimistic than I am, I'm not holding my puts, other than for coal stocks ACI and ANR which had a good run when proponents went long on Romney.

I'm hoping PCLN can hold $620 for my Nov $500/$620 call spread.

Cashing Out, Buying In

I got spooked Wednesday morning when the AAPL sell-off resumed, and closed out my Sept. call for a nice 64% profit. Sometimes you get the sense that someone knows something you don't - in this case that would be about the Samsung case. I needed some cash for some other prospects so it was sold along with CVI calls and MNTA puts, both of those netting just under 20%. I kept the AAPL shares so tonight's news was good.

This week I reviewed PAY and bought more. I put in a low limit order for more ARR which eventually filled.

New ventures include stock in CDNS, JAZZ, and MLNX, and calls for BIDU, CDNS, JAZZ, and TGP.

FTK and TAL Closed

The August bull call spreads for FTK and TAL closed out as winners, +118% and +36% respectively.

ARR has dropped ex-dividend so I'll probably add onto my position once it stabilizes. PAY is my only losing stock position, down 12.6%. I'll have to dump that soon if it doesn't turn around. AAPL is the biggest gainer, up 12.7%, and fortunately the biggest position dollar-wise (over 3 times the next biggest). Go Apple!

I have a number of September calls that I'll be selling or converting to bull call spreads in the coming weeks. I plan to start selling the weekly OTM AAPL calls against my September call. I also need to get some October calls in place.

FTK, ARR, TAL, SPRD Update

This week I sold my FTK shares after a nice earnings bounce.

I sold at the money calls to convert my August FTK and TAL calls into bull call spreads.

I re-bought ARR for two accounts, and added onto my SPRD position.

ARR

ARR tripped the 4% trailing stop loss orders. I had cap gains for all accounts and some nice dividends.

I'll probably be back before the ex-dividend date and add on when the secondary offerings knock the price down.

Watching

I just added these tickers to my chart watchlist based on a fundamentals screen. Some have issues, others have already run well following their last earnings report.

CDNS, DDD,  GLNG, LPSN, MLNX, NQ, SNCR, TRMB, and XXIA.

We have a couple of networking equipment stocks, some 3-D printing and CAD stocks, some mobile/cloud players, and a LNG shipper.

More Positions

I got the MNTA puts, so it can tank now please.

I added long positions in PAY and SPRD.

I've been moving back into the market since Wednesday morning. Before that, I was just sitting on my ARR which has some decent cap gains ... enough to drop the yield to 15.9%.

Moving In

Long on AAPL, ABT, ARR, FTK. SLRC, TAL, and TICC. Looking to short MNTA with puts.

Digging Deeper

I'm still buying, more MPEL shares and calls.

The short May $10 FTK calls were assigned and executed through yesterday, so I executed the June $7.50 calls to cover, +29.3%.

The same will probably happen with my WYN spread. The ABT shares will be called, and the WPRT calls will expire worthless.

The FIip Side

Sometimes you go back to the well too soon. Both AAPL and CMG have pulled back and stayed there (or worse). I chose to sell the May AAPL calls (-34.7%) to balance my account. I then bought some MPEL shares with the extra cash.

I bought some OAS shares for a small account.

Fizzle

That was a disappointing end after a promising open. JPM's news won't help things tomorrow.

I bought shares of FTK, MPEL, and TAL, call options for FTK, and rolled my May CMG calls into June.

Rough Market

Now would be a good time to be sitting this market out. Sheez.

I made no trades today but yesterday I closed out May CLMT calls, +24.4%, and June FTK calls (small account), +11.4%. I was almost a day too late on the CLMT.

I rolled May calls to June for FTK and WYN and sold at the money May calls.

Jumped the Gun

Wow, this morning was the wrong time to buy WPRT, and the wrong time to cover MNTA. A few more hours would have made such a difference.

FTK hit a 52-week high before falling to trigger the trailing stop loss order, +14.4%.

Dabbling

I picked up some NOG shares and WPRT May calls.

I held onto CLNE too long, but not so long as to watch a gain turn into a loss, +5.2%.

I covered my MNTA shorts from the April puts, +0.2%.

Risk Adverse

The early action in MPEL scared me so the May calls are gone, +21.4%.

And Go Away

In keeping with the "Sell in May ..." theme (and the name of this blog) the RES calls were sold yesterday, +61.0%. Four trading days is kind of like "Buy and Hold", right?

If you were selling in May, where would you park your money? Maybe ARR or NLY perhaps?

Good Timing Helps

The last of my GTLS shares were sold when it drifted down into a tight trailing stop, +3.4%. I know I'm being uber cautious about selling these news and earnings pops, but I'm expecting the tide to go out next month as investors go away in May. LCC, RES, and GTLS have held onto their gains, AAPL not so much.

I bought CLNE this morning hoping to catch another RES-like launch off the bottom. It closed up 6.3% on the day which put my calls up 25.7%. Yummy.

My weekly AAPL $635 covered calls expired out-of-the-money. More Free Money.

FTK was up 6.6% today. I have stock and call options in it.

The monthly ARR  dividends (17.4% yield) showed up this morning too.

Today was a good day in a good week. TGIF.

Weak Hands

That describes my GTLS position today. I was one of those people that sell when they finally get back to even. GTLS surged 9% this morning on the earnings report and started to lose steam. I sold my June calls (+14.4%) and half my shares (+0.03%). After watching it trade down the last six weeks I wasn't in the mood to give anything back. It closed up 10.6%.

I had the good fortune of buying June RES calls for a small account Tuesday morning. The bid for my account missed. It closed up Tuesday, gapped up Wednesday on earnings, and ran up another 5.8% today.

April Expiration

LCC gapped up this morning and started fading. I sold half, thinking I was being trigger happy. It kept going down so I sold the rest. LCC is not a stock I can bank on. Net +35.9%.

Then I sold covered calls for AAPL for next week's expiration. I added on to my LGF calls. The MYL covered calls I sold expired OTM.

My spreads worked out so-so. The CLMT $22.50/$25 spread closed safely at $27.03. But MNTA of course went on a tear this week so I'll take a small loss on that $20/$15 put spread. CMG went the other way, from breaking $440 earlier this week to close at $419.26. That's just low enough on a $350/$420 bull call spread to be a PITA. I did an Execute-and-Sell on the 350s (the $420s were covered by May $370s).

Updated returns: CMG +116.0%, CLMT +82.9%. I have shorted stock in MNTA to close out.

New Stuff

Yesterday I bought May calls in WYN and LCC. WYN is a consistent money maker, and LCC is, well, erratic. LCC went up 16% today ... a nice surprise to say the least. I'll wait a little bit to see where where it goes before I sell, but not too long.

I bought more AAPL shares today.

AAPL Sale

I was able to grab a few shares of AAPL  for under $575 this morning as the stop loss orders were avalanching.

I sold the PRFT shares to raise a little cash in case I want to buy more AAPL. Net +0.22%.

I rolled GTLS and LGF calls, and bought May calls for CMG.

Spreads Locked

I locked in my profit for Friday's expiration ... let's hope the markets trend flat to up.

I sold offsetting calls for CMG and CLMT, and offsetting puts for MNTA.

I rolled the OAS calls to May.

I bought May calls for APPL then it went down. So I bought more calls. Then it went down more. Let's hope some good news is forthcoming.

Update

I've been pretty inactive this month but I have a number of option expiring Friday.

A few stocks closed out, all via trailing stops. WYN (+2.22%) in March and MIC (+15.84%) on the 10th.

I'll be converting ITM April CMG and CLMT calls to call spreads this week, and rolling OTM calls GTLS, LGF, and OAS. April put MNTA is ITM as well.

Restocking

I bought GTLS shares and calls yesterday.

Today I bought calls in CLMT, FTK, and MPEL, and shares in FTK.

CMI hit its trailing stop today, +3.99%.

This Little Piggy

didn't get slaughtered, but instead rang the register today.

I didn't particularly care for AAPL's news of a dividend and stock buy-backs, nor did I like the way it was trading this morning. I set a limit order for my calls that would close 'em out with a nice gain. It triggered later in the day, netting +44.9%. Not too bad for seven trading days. I'll come back to the well after some consolidation.

I also opted to close out my ABMD calls at even and change, +3.5%.

I bought some OTM September KOG calls, just in case the fit hits the shan with Iran.

Ye of Little Faith

That was me this month. In almost every instance I sold too soon - either the position or the short call of a spread.

FTK made me nervous when it dropped over 2 points from $12.50. I locked in my spread at $10. It closed Friday over $12. Net +10.3%.

I made a good move with my WPRT spread when I rolled the short call from $42 to $44 when it was running good, then covered the $44 calls when it pulled back. But again, I sold-to-open the $42 calls too early. WPRT closed Friday over $47. Net +49.6%.

My ABT $47.50 covered calls are for May, so those shares haven't been called yet. The WYN $45 covered calls did expire ITM so my shares closed out. Net +3.0%.

Other cases were CMI and MPEL, and to a lesser extent SPRD, STLD, SCCO, all rebounding somewhat. But at least I called it right by selling my SIMG puts and HMY calls.

And in the rear view mirror department, perhaps I should have bought ATLS calls instead of OAS, up 23.5% Friday. It wasn't because I didn't consider it.

'Twas the Night Before Expiration

I started getting nervous about WPRT so I sold my April calls when the stock gapped up at the open, netting +28.6%. Too bad I didn't wait for later in the day when I could have grossed 50%. WPRT closed up 5.4%.

AAPL hit $600 but closed down. ARR and CMI picked up the slack on the stock side, with an assist from CMG call options.

FTK and WPRT call spreads will close out tomorrow. ABT has blown through the $57.50 strike of the covered call, and my WYN shares will probably get called too. This week's rally was a pleasant surprise. It's nice to have such high quality problems!

An Eye for a G

Having sold my CMI calls (I still have stock), I picked up some April CMG calls.

I also bought some April OAS calls. I see ARR is having a sale. I guess folks don't like it when you trim the dividend ... or have a big secondary offering.

CMI Gone

There are times when you're just glad to be invested in the market.Today was one of those days.

Last week I converted my CMI calls to a bull call spread by selling March $120 calls when the stock moved above that price intraday. It closed below that Thursday and even lower on Friday, but had a nice rally today which triggered a limit sell order. I could fret about losing some profit, but not after seeing how WPRT dropped late in the day. Netting +34% in 6 days will have to do.

ARR++

I bought more ARR. Who didn't see that coming? :-)

All the March calls for MPEL have been sold. I like this pick but there are too many factors affecting the timing. So rather than let it run through next week or convert it to a call spread and be at risk, I took the conservative approach. Maybe if last month's petro plays had panned out better I would be more aggressive here ... but I'm still smarting from that beating.

ARR Secondary

I was rather concerned in my first post on this subject but now that I have some history with this stock I regard these secondary offerings as buying opportunities. The price drops have been minimal with a gradual move upward afterwards, and the dividend payout has been maintained (nearly a 17% annual yield, paid monthly). I have no way to know how long this will last, but I'll take it while it lasts.

Selling Scared

This headline driven market is too choppy for me to sit on profit long as we're heading into options expiration next Friday. So I'm closing out well-ITM March calls rather than convert them to bull call spreads. I closed out KEG and most of my MPEL calls.

I bought well-ITM May AAPL calls. Go Apple.

MIC has been cranking along, FTK had a nice +9.2% day. Too bad I locked in my profit two points ago.

Cautiously Cautious

Yesterday morning the futures were up huge pre-market, so I covered my stock shorts which worked well for MPEL, but LGF barely got out of the gate before turning around. I sold under-performing STLD and bought shares and calls in CMI.

Dodging Bullets

My MPEL stock position closed when it hit the trailing stop. My SIMG puts were sold at a profit. Finally, I went delta neutral on my LGF and MPEL call options by selling short matching shares of those stocks. 4 for 4 for the day.

Moving Toward Cash

I didn't care for the charts Friday with the Russell 2000 topped out and the Nasdaq and S&P Mid-Cap 400 about to start down. Then there were all of the good stocks that were losing their footing. Even VectorVest was signalling caution.

I took some money off of the table here, trimming option positions that are more apt to trail down.

I sold KEG calls in one small account (no option for spread conversion). I put in "execute and sell orders" for HMY and STLD (no liquidity), and sold my calls for SCCO and SPRD.

Flip Flop

I did the opposite of Wednesday's game plan. I sold (to open) March calls to restore bull call spreads on FTK and WPRT. Then I sold my March calls for MYL and WYN netting -0.75% and +12.04% respectively. I'll let MPEL and some others run another week or so. I bought April calls for LGF.

Nice Bounce

WPRT and KEG rebounded somewhat, MPEL is surging ahead, I bought some more March HMY calls, and sold some covered calls.

Perspective

The markets started off great then tanked. Your mood sure hinges on whether you're in a buying mood or fully invested. Most of my options took big hits with the underlying stocks dropping 2.5, 4, 6, and 18% (SPRD). None of those is good where options are concerned. I did cover the short calls on all of my bull call spreads, so if those stocks will just go back up I can enjoy my lemonade.

Stopped Out

These three equities ended lower for the day. RES just barely tripped the trailing stop loss trigger before moving higher, closing out at -1.4%. My LGF position closed out at +11.8%, and the FTK position closed out at +7.0%. While there's no shame in taking a profit, the risk adverse trailing stops will probably cost me money on the last two.

I also bought April call options on speculative medical play ABMD.

SPRD was up 8.3% today, MPEL was up 4.3%. Watchlister GTLS was up 7.1%.

Decent Recovery

The markets dropped then recovered to finish flat. That kicked me out of my KEG shares when the 5% trailing stop loss order tripped (+5.5%). It rebounded to close down only 0.8%. I'll know in a few weeks if that was a good stop. Otherwise, I still have well ITM call options.

FTK had a nice 8% day, LGF started higher, then gave some back. My short positions in MNTA and SIMG improved as they both dropped.

My call spread in SPRD is underwater and it's been going down. I wish I could recommend it here, but I can't do it while it's heading south. Great sales growth, forward P/E around 6, estimates holding steady, and tends to surprise to the upside. Watchlist it.

Take a look at KOG here. Tremendous sales growth, P/E falling from 63 to 23 in the next two quarters.

The Market is Having a Sale

I'm buying SCCO calls and bull call spreads, and shorting SIMG and MNTA.

I sold some of my PRFT shares. MIC is having a good day so far. LGF has panned out well.

WPRT is down again which hasn't happened lately. Can't touch it until Pres. O. speaks on his energy policy ... or lack thereof.

Update: I forgot WPRT issued a secondary, and that was most likely why the price was down. I bought some April $35 calls and some March $37/$42 bull call spreads. WPRT closed at $43.94 Friday.

Added ...

shares in LGF and a March $14/17 bull call spread for SPRD ($16.40).

CF got away from me.

Update: I just added FTK and STLD shares and calls (from reversal alerts).

Feb Expiration

The Feb bull call spreads have closed out.

BAS +22.56%, GTE +49.68%, KEG +4.08%, MPEL +47.81%.

That leaves the following March calls in place: HMY $11, KEG $12.50, MPEL $10, MYL $20, and WYN $40.

Equity positions: ABT, ARR, KEG, MIC, MPEL, MYL, PRFT, RES, and WYN.

Monster Day

What a day to be in the market. Pretty much everything I'd care to own went up. I'm sorry I sold anything earlier this week, and glad I bought what I did. How's that for 20/20 hindsight? :-)

My Feb KEG calls were still under water as of yesterday's close. Today I was able to sell calls for a bull call spread conversion that should close out with a very modest profit (green good, red bad).

My fingers are crossed for tomorrow.

If You Sell It ,They Will ...

... go up. At least it seems that way.

I closed out my Feb ABT and RES calls, -11.1% and -38.3% respectively. I had awful judgement on the petro calls this month. Let's sit back and watch RES run like crazy now.

I bought shares in MYL and PRFT, and Mar $20 calls for MYL.

Takin' out the Trash and Near Misses

One day earlier on ASGN would have been nice, up 14.5% today. Old fav TAL was up 10%, both on earnings reports.

Yesterday I closed out losing option positions (Feb calls) on ABT, PTEN, and RES (way OTM), -13.0%, -69.7%, and -96%. I still have more Feb calls for ABT, KEG, and RES to close out in another account. I should have put the brakes on PTEN and RES a lot sooner. Instead, I bought more. Don't do what I did. :-(

My MCHX shares drooped into the trailing stop and sold, +10.4%. No more MCHX.

I missed on my MYL buy but did pick up some Mar $11 HMY calls.

Shopping List

I'm looking to buy these picks from a recent screen. HMY is probably the most speculative.

Harmony Gold Mining Co. (ADR) (HMY)

EPS Growth Prev Yr Past Yr Growth P/E -0.09 0.08 188.9% - 0.01 -0.02 -300.0% - 0.03 0.16 433.3% - 0.10 0.30 200.0% 24.8 Next Two Quarters (est) 0.08 0.21 160.0% 19.91 -0.02 0.32 1680.0% 13.11

Sales Growth Prev Yr Last Yr Growth 336.0 422.0 25.6% 404.0 503.0 24.5% 422.0 550.0 30.3% 434.0 595.0 37.1%

Mylan Inc. (MYL)  :: Reporting Feb 21

EPS Growth Prev Yr Past Yr Growth P/E 0.01 0.01 0.0% - 0.20 0.24 20.0% - 0.17 0.34 100.0% - 0.35 0.37 5.7% 24.5 Next Two Quarters (est) 0.01 0.50 4890.0% 16.07 0.24 0.53 122.5% 13.23

Sales Growth Prev Yr Last Yr Growth 1351.8 1434.5 6.1% 1292.4 1449.0 12.1% 1368.5 1573.9 15.0% 1355.1 1575.8 16.3%

Perficient Inc. (PRFT) :: Reporting Mar 1

EPS Growth Prev Yr Past Yr Growth P/E 0.02 0.05 150.0% - 0.03 0.07 133.3% - 0.08 0.10 25.0% - 0.08 0.12 50.0% 37.1 Next Two Quarters (est) 0.05 0.21 326.0% 24.06 0.07 0.19 171.4% 19.04

Sales Growth Prev Yr Last Yr Growth 47.4 55.9 17.9% 48.9 56.2 14.9% 55.5 65.6 18.2% 54.6 70.2 28.6%

as well as CLMT and ASGN.

Charts Trump Numbers

Here's my overdue update:

MSCC spiked down and plowed through the stop loss trigger before rebounding and moving higher. I went from a 12% or better gain to close out my shares at +0.3%. Sigh.

I picked up some more shares of ARR when their secondary dropped the price.

This week's downturn took out shares in ROSE (+7.1%), NWPX (+4.9%), and BAS (-0.1%) when the 6% trailing stops triggered.

I closed out some calls in BAS and MPEL for +46.3% and +13.0% respectively.

I converted Feb calls in BAS, GTE, and MPEL to call spreads which should yield around 31%, 56%, and 54% less commissions.

I have KEG Feb $10 calls, and just bought Mar $12.50 calls on the dip.

I decided to trim losers RES and MCHX after doubling down on them and ignoring what are now some pretty obvious indicators, -6.9% and -12.4% respectively. At least the second MCHX buy is up 6.7% after Friday's [dead cat?] bounce.

If you look at RES, PTEN, and MCHX you'll see estimates for strong double digit sales and earnings growth (YoY quarterly) and sequential earnings growth over the MRQ. But it hasn't mattered thus far. Winners keep winning, losers keep losing ... that's what the charts are saying.

Meh

Kind of a mixed day. DNS +97, -2, +1.

Trades:

My Jan $19 PTEN calls expired worthless, -100%.

Portfolios:

There was some improvement this week. The ESG port is at -9.05% with 14 of 37 positions above water. The value-sales port is at +9.65%.

Reversal alerts: (5).

The t2 script produced ABT, MMP, and PGN.

GOOG Down

9% after market. DNS +45, 19, +6.

UEPS was up another 11.3%,

Trades:

FMCN shares hit the trailing stop loss trigger, +3.4%.

I bought shares in BAS and ROSE, and Feb calls for BAS and RES.

I sold GTE calls in an untracked account.

My Jan PTEN calls need a miracle to expire ITM tomorrow.

Reversal alerts: (9).

By lowest forward P/E first:  XCO, UPL, SFD, PKD, AIMC, CHG, and ANTI. A pretty good bunch, all but two came from the t2 script.

Nice!

That's a solid "up" day. DNS +97, +42, +14.

Trades:

UEPS gapped up and was up around +28% and started trending down when I started selling. Calls +71.4%, stock +24.0%.

I'd been looking to sell my KOG Jan. calls ITM. Had to do an execute and sell, +2.0%.

That leaves me with stock in ARR, MSCC, FMCN, and KEG. Jan. calls for PTEN (OTM), and Feb. calls for GTE and KEG.

Reversal alerts: (16).

The less reliable HLR script produced seven alerts but only MCHX is of interest. If the numbers are correct, the sales and earnings growth looks phenomenal. The chart is abysmal. Institutional trading is strongly biased to the sell side (hard for it to be otherwise with that chart). The value is reasonable with a forward P/E of 28.

The t2 script alerted on a number of MLPs (with the best charts and reversal patterns) and my UEPS. By lowest forward P/E first: WTI (great growth, flat chart), AAN, EEQ, ENB, & KMR.

Why So Much Red?

... when the indexes are up? DNS +60, +17, +5.

ENER was at it again, up 45.2%.

Trades:

OAS was up 8%, so I tried selling ITM calls for a spread conversion. No takers. I couldn't get any time value for my calls either, so I did an "execute and sell". +92.3%.

Reversal alerts: (6).

First off, the t2 script alerted on KMB and LEG. Both have recent YoY quarterly sales growth around 8%. The forward P/Es are 15.8 and 18.2 respectively with dividend yields of 3.85 and 4.98%.

The HLR script alerted on ED, DUK, ANGO, and RGS. Most pay dividends.

Down But Up?

The indexes finished up for the week despite today's broad sell-off. DNS -49, -14, -6.

Penny stock ENER is up 326% over the last two weeks; up 63% just today. MY, ZAGG, and SMSI were up between 10 and 20% today.

Trades: none.

So far most of my buys were premature - I could have gotten better entry points on most of them. I decided to pause and wait and see if the market firms up.

Portfolios:

The ESG port is at -11.6 and the value-sales port is at +3.2%. Even the oil port lost 6 or 7 percentage points this week. I was thinking the ESG port might finally break into positive territory this week, but then the rest of the week happened.

Reversal alerts: (2).

IART and FRED. Neither is very interesting.

Oil, Ouch

Why is my part of the watchlist red? DNS +22, +14, +3.

MCP had a decent day.

Oil dropped a bit and took down many of my holdings, PTEN (-6.4%), KEG, OAS, and KOG. Bummer.

Trades:

UEPS seemed to be forming a bottom, at least until I bought shares in it. It has some compelling growth numbers if the estimates hold.

Being one to buy on weakness when I think the market is trending up, I bought calls in  KEG and UEPS, and added onto my January PTEN calls. Even after yeseterday's slide, PTEN continued to drift down. That one might leave a mark.

When SPRD moved up yesterday I put a 3% trailing stop under it. No way was I going to take a loss at the risk of not maximizing profit. It sold this morning before moving lower; +4.6%, held two days.

Reversal alerts: (4).

TRCR has 30 and 40% YoY quarterly sales growth but is pretty beat up. CL is moving to around 10% sales growth but has a great reversal pattern. However, neither has much earnings growth and are showing a P/E of 18 to 17 over the next two quarters.

Solar Flares

Today was mixed unless you held solar stocks. DNS -13, +8, 0.

Solar stocks boomed. From the watchlist: ENER, JASO (+34.7%), JKS, WFR, YGE, and PWER (+17%).

SUMR tanked 21.8% today.

Trades:

I picked up some Feb. PTEN calls.

Reversal alerts: (8).

A pretty sad lot all-in-all. [Any club that would have UAL and WBMD as members ...]

TYPE has modest growth, BGS is about the same, and SPSC is just plain expensive.

Buying

Today's action was encouraging. DNS +70, +26, +11.

LULU and VDSI had nice gains even after LULU gave some back.

Trades:

One minute I say I'm staying away from oil and Chinese stocks. The next I'm buying shares of KEG, SPRD, and FMCN, and Feb calls for GTE. So much for that plan.

I also added more shares of REIT ARR, and bought shares of semi MSCC.

Reversal alerts: (11).

I was thinking that it would be nice for this market to level out to a modest uptrend and start alerting on some quality stocks with good reversal patterns. Well we're not there yet but it was nice to see FMCN and SPRD pop up in the t2 alerts after buying them today.

Lowest forward P/E first: SPRD, ANH (good pattern and 14.97% dividend yield), FMCN, ESV (fourth try), NAVG, and ATRO. The last two are weak in the growth department but have a decent reversal pattern and are reversing in the context of a larger uptrend.

Buy or Sell?

There seems to be an air of cautious optimism that would lead me to say "Buy", but cautiously. DNS +33, +2, +3.

Did I mention last week that you should have bought NFLX? It's up again today, 13.8%. Yep, you should have bought NFLX ... or CAAS ... or HOV.

Trades:

Rather than wait for more bad news to hit MCP, I sold my January calls while there was some time value left, +8.95%.

I also sold my January CDE calls, +5.4%.

Rather than hope these mediocre trades can hold their relative highs, I decided to just sell them and be happy with the gains and better prospects of my KOG and OAS calls (both January).

Reversal alerts: (4), all too marginal to bother with.

They All Went Up

The three indexes held onto Tuesday's gain and closed up for the abbreviated week. DNS -56, +4, 3.

SPRD dropped over 22% today.

Trades: none.

Portfolios:

The ESG port is at -13.32% with 9 stocks above water. The value-sales port is at +2.08%.

Reversal alerts: (5).

TSCO is the only candidate here, but the reversal pattern isn't very compelling.

Rally To Flat

DNS -3, +22, +4.

My CDE pulled into the black today. OAS and KOG are well ITM, that just leaves MCP to rebound into the black.

With oil over $100, I can't get too excited over oil stocks that have already had a good run. Other than that, I don't see much direction.

In the "Paid to Wait" department, I'm happy with the incremental gains of ARR, and even happier with the monthly dividend (currently 18.46% annual yield).

Trades: none.

Reversal alerts: (2), junk.

Up Again, Sort Of

DNS +21, 0, 0.

NFLX and LULU had a good day, up 11.4% and 8.8% respectively.

Oil Portfolio

8 of 11 stocks in the oil portfolio were up with my OAS leading the pack.

Trades: none.

Reversal alerts: (2).

SPPI had great growth but seems to be leveling off.

Leading the Month

Watchlist stocks heading up the performance chart with 20% or better gains for the last 20 trading days are FRO (+48%), SSW, SIGA, SMSI, and SKH.

Fresh Start

Today's buying started the new trading year off with a nice rally. DNS +180, +44, +19.

The oil drillers did well today, particularly RES, up 12.4%. All 11 stocks the oil tracking portfolio (started Nov 4 2011, +7.78%) were up.

A few shippers were up well for the day: EXM, FREE, TNP, and DRYS.

Trades: none.

Reversal alerts: (9).

COOL, ROG, TZOO, and LOGM make the cut.