XCO 5-30-08 to 7-1-08

August 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Event though I knew oil was topping (review my comments in the market commentaries when oil topped) soon, I know that some of the best big winners are the late stocks that make big surges. XCO bounced right off the 50 DMA, had strong fundamentals, and as you can see was preceded by a ton of accumulation and strong green to max green BOP along the way. Right before the bounce off the 50 DMA you will notice volume contracted. This is what made this a clear easy stock to go heavily long. Sadly, like I have been saying, the VIX is too low to give that 200-300% pop that used to come from patterns like this (those returns will return after the bear is done) but I still knew we could possibly have some big gains (remember returns in 2008 are nothing like they were in 2003) out of this CANSLIM quality long. If you went long, which most platinum members did, you received a nice 52% gain in only one month. I know it was short and that the stock gave few signs of topping but still it was nice to get some normal return in a market that has rewarded nothing. Your only key that it would be topping (but no one could no it was going to be the ultimate top) was by looking at a weekly arithmetic chart. There you can see the stock raced up the chart quite fast compared to past rallies and that was your clear sell signal. Especially with this happening in a bear market. I know it isn’t easy to learn when to sell but AFTER TIME AND HARD WORK you figure it out.

Posted by Joshua Hayes | Filed Under Best of 2008

DGLY 4-16-08 to 5-14-08

July 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

This stock is nothing short of a disappointment and sums up 2008. This has been BY FAR one of the best setups and one of the most correct executions of a new long since the consistency stopped in early 2007. However, after ONLY one month, the move that APPEARED to be the start of a big run-up was actually the top. So to say that the full 50% was gained is far from the reality. I was able to sell 20% around 50% based solely on the discipline of selling stocks as they rise in this market. Most of the gains were realized within the 20% to 30% range anywhere from 5/12 to 7/3. I sold my very last 10 shares with only a 15% gain. Considering I was up almost 55-60% in one month from 4/15 to 5/14 this was a clear disappointment. This is 2008 neatly wrapped up into a simple yet sad package. Luckily there was PDO and a few chemical, oil, metal stocks with high CANSLIM quality stocks in late 2007 and early 2008 that has made the late 2007 and early 2008 “lack-of-HOT-charts” period tolerable.

Posted by Joshua Hayes | Filed Under Best of 2008

PDO 5-9-08/6-5-08 to 6-24-08

July 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

PDO was an easy one for me to get very long and many subscribers had no problem getting the signal across either. From the first buy to the top, the stock gained 371% in one month and three weeks. However, I only got crazy about getting long the stock on the 6/2 and 6/5 buy. From June 5th to June 24th, the stock gained 110% in thirteen trading sessions. I made it clear how much I liked this one and I think a hindsight review of the chart will help some of you know what to buy a lot of the next time you (I) see it.

Posted by Joshua Hayes | Filed Under Best of 2008