Stocks to Watch -- Wednesday, November 17

Visit the New Chat Room

Yesterday I was pleased that all twelve of my regular readers dropped by the new chat room. It's free and open to everyone, so come and say hello. It's a great opportunity to make comments on the website, ask the Chairman questions, etc. Remember, the room is only open for one hour prior to the market opening and closes at 9AM sharp.

Chart of the Day -- Penn National Gaming, Monthly Chart

It might seem like I'm on a gambling kick since I've featured Scientific Gaming, Wynn Resorts, and Shuffle Master, but this sector has been so strong, and PENN is no exception having hit a new all-time high yesterday. This company owns nine casinos, two racetracks (including Freehold Raceway, which I used to live near but never visited), and eleven off-track wagering shops.

PENN, Monthly Chart

Best and Worst Performing Small-Cap Stocks (last 52 weeks)

Every Wednesday I feature a stock scan from my universe of Small-Cap stocks. Last Wednesday I listed the best and worst performers over the last 4 weeks. Today I'm posting the list of the best and worst performers over the last 52 weeks.

Best:

• Synaptics Inc (SYNA)
  Up ~173% {user interface solutions for notebook computers}
• A.M. Castle & Co (CAS)
  Up ~154% {specialty metals and plastics distribution}
• UICI (UCI)
  Up ~149% {health and life insurance}
• Veritas DGC Inc (VTS)
  Up ~146% {provides integrated geophysical services to the petroleum industry}
• Southwestern Energy Co (SWN)
  Up ~146% {integrated energy company primarily focused on natural gas}

Worst:

• FLYi Inc (FLYI)
  Down ~80% {regional airline, formerly Atlantic Coast Airlines}
• Advanced Energy Industries Inc (AEIS)
  Down ~65% {vacuum process systems}
• Three-Five Systems Inc (TFS)
  Down ~62% {electronics manufacturing services}
• Odyssey Healthcare Inc (ODSY)
  Down ~61% {provides hospice care}
• Curative Health Services Inc (CURE)
  Down ~61% {chronic medical condition care}

Update on Short Crude Position

Fuzzy remains short crude from $53.75. I'll let you know when we cover the position. "Fuzzy" is a whimsical name for a sophisticated mechanical trading system. Anyone who thinks she can just goof around coloring bars red, yellow, and green to come up with a robust trading system is off her rocker.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures, 30-minute Chart

Eerie Similarities

The Dollar Is Down, but Should Anyone Care? by Edmund Andrews:

The question is how much longer will our "exorbitant privilege" last?

Thoughts on the Online Investor Index

I'm still trying to figure out if there's any reason to follow Ameritrade's Online Investor Index, which I first wrote about last Friday. It looks like it's generally useless, unless there's a huge discrepancy between buyers and sellers, in which case the Ameritraders seem to be on the "wrong" side. Of course I'm looking at only four days of data, so my conclusions may be a tad premature.

GOOG was heavily sold on the 11th as it rose, MSFT was very heavily bought on the 12th right before it went ex-div (which doesn't make any sense, does it?), and yesterday GOOG and LU were heavily bought as they fell. If anyone can figure out what the Ameritraders are thinking, I'd love to hear from you.