Technical Trading Set-Ups with Entry/Exit points

11:16: (SWN) SW Energy - - Potential Short Candidate (80.89 -1.41) The stock sets up for a potential short as it looks like some profit-taking is underway after its recent strength. Looking at the 5-minute chart, we see the stock pulling back off this morning's low (79.28) and currently testing its 50-simple ma (81.54) and 62% retracement (81.28) of its opening range. Not to mention Monday's support area between 81.00/81.25 now acting as potential resistance. Would consider a short entry in the name, especially as it looks to break back under 80.90. Looking for a new session low under 79.28. A stop loss near 82.00 is prudent. Click for chart.

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10:37: (NTES) Netease.com gearing up for a breakout from its recent 2-week consolidation (73.59 +0.99) Add NTES to your watch list this week as it looks ready to stage a breakout from its 2-week consolidation along its 20-day exponential moving average. Consider a long entry on a strong breakout through its 73.87/73.91 range top. Click for Daily Chart.

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12:22: (STN) Station Casinos - - Potential Short Candidate (71.00 +1.15) As the stock notches a session high just above yesterday's Reversal High at 71.02, it may be worth a short entry for a corrective move lower headed into the afternoon. Note the stock is up over 9% from last week's low of 64.85 and looks due for some corrective action. A stop loss above its 62% retracement (71.17) would be prudent. More conservative traders may want to wait for a move under 70.80 before shorting. Click for Daily Chart.

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10:43: (MRO) Marathon Oil rangebound after this morning's gap up (72.31 +1.48) Keep MRO on the radar today...After gapping over 2% higher this morning, the stock has become range bound between 71.96/72.67 and should present a trading opportunity on a breakout or breakdown from this morning range.

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13:35: (AMX) America Movil SA - - Swing Long Candidate (23.68 +0.25) Another potential Swing Long candidate as it pulls back the last few sessions and starts to rises above yesterday's Doji. We particularly like how the pattern the last 3-weeks looks like a Bullish Flag, holding support along its 20-day exponential moving average (23.08) and August highs. A stop-loss under the 23.00 is prudent. Click for chart.

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09:50: (BBY) Best Buy - - Short Candidate (45.14 +0.35) -Update- Would consider BBY a short candidate as it gaps up this morning after yesterday's sell-off. Stop loss above the opening high of 45.54. Looking for an intial test of yesterday's lows near 44.67 or lower.

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10:36: (VLO) Valero Energy sets up for intraday long above initial recovery high (110.6 -0.13) Stock dropped more than 7% from last Thursday's high to today's early low. Was able to rebound as high as 110.84 this morning with a sideways range forming thereafter. Would consider a long above the bounce high for an intraday upside extension.

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10:48: (HOV) Hovnanian Entrpr slipping back toward range floor (56.58 -0.45) The bottom of the four day trading range is just below at 56.51 (session low 56.55) with a breach exposing its 200 day sma/ema at 56.09/56.03 and the four month low from Aug at 55.90. Would consider a short under the range floor for a downside extension.

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10:29: (NIHD) NII Holdings approaching morning high at 79.75 (79.59 +1.30) Stock pulled back 1.5% after opening gap/sprint to the session high of 79.75 in the opening minutes. In recent action it has pushed back toward the best level of the day with a breach exposing the Sep high at 80.20. The Aug/52-wk high comes into play at 81.78. Would consider a long above the early high in this volatile name for a run at the monthly highs.

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Event-driven Stock Set-ups

15:19: (PEC) Pike Electric -- possible Hurricane Katrina play on fixing downed power lines (15.25 +0.75) We see Pike Electric (PEC) becoming a potential runner due to expectations for increased business driven by Hurricane Katrina. Pike's core activities consist of the maintenance, upgrade and extension of electric distribution and sub-500 kilovolt, or kV, transmission powerlines for more than 150 electric utilities, cooperatives and municipalities. The company serves a 19-state region, which includes Florida, as well as Louisiana, the two states hit hardest so far by Hurricane Katrina. We note that PEC is just expanding into Louisiana, due to its July '04 acquisition of contractor Red Simpson for about $194 mln. We called the company, and confirmed with the CFO that PEC has already dispatched its crews to Florida, and plans to dispatch them to Louisiana. Pike's historic growth without acquisitions has been in the 10% range historically, but that can be driven higher by unanticipated storms business. We note that the three hurricanes that hit Florida last year added about $112 mln of revs in that quarter; PEC says it only models about $30 mln in annual revs from storms (and it has done so this year). We believe that revs expectations could increase significantly due to Katrina, and that they may increase even more if another storm hits the Gulf or Florida before of this year's hurricane season. We note that pre-Katrina, expectations had been for PEC to post nearly $1.00 in EPS in fiscal '06, (ended June '07). While that number might have been a little high, EPS of even $0.90 a share represents a forward P/E of 16.8X, which is a discount to its major competitor Quanta Services' (PWR) forward EPS of 29.9X, based on '06 expectations. We think that analysts might boost EPS estimates above $1.00 for PEC due to anticipated storm-related business. We note several reasons for the legitimate value discrepancy between PEC and PWR: PEC has $275 mln in debt and little cash on its balance sheet (although the co also has lines of credit totaling about $70 mln). PWR is a more established public company, and it also is expected to post EPS growth of roughly 225% for PWR next year. But also, a lot of people on the Street probably haven't even heard of PEC; we know of no analysts who have initiated coverage on the name. We note that PEC is scheduled to report earnings and talk about guidance on or around Sept. 14.

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10:36: (DXPE) DXP Enterprises -- another name being picked up as a hurricane play (16.48 +1.08) Another Hurricane Katrina stock is DXP Enterprises, a Texas-based distributor of capital equipment and maintenance, repair, operating and production (MROP) products and services. In fact, the co recently acquired a company that specializes in remanufacturing pumps and pumping equipment with a primary focus on the oil & gas, pipeline, refinery and process industries. Last month, the co reported Q2 EPS up 100% yoy to $0.26 from $0.13 on sales of $45.5 mln, up 8.1% yoy. 10:36 DXPE DXP Enterprises -- another name being picked up as a hurricane play (16.48 +1.08) Another Hurricane Katrina stock is DXP Enterprises, a Texas-based distributor of capital equipment and maintenance, repair, operating and production (MROP) products and services. In fact, the co recently acquired a company that specializes in remanufacturing pumps and pumping equipment with a primary focus on the oil & gas, pipeline, refinery and process industries. Last month, the co reported Q2 EPS up 100% yoy to $0.26 from $0.13 on sales of $45.5 mln, up 8.1% yoy. Profitablity and a small float of 2.2 mln could get traders interested in the stock.

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12:31: (FUEL) Streicher Mobile -- Taking a Look (2.76 +0.48) Streicher Mobile is being picked up as a hurricane play this morning. The co provides commercial mobile fueling, bulk fueling, lubricant packaging, distribution and sales and fuel management outsourcing services for gov’t agencies, utilities, trucking companies, bus lines, etc. Its truck fleet delivers fuel to customers' locations on a regularly scheduled or as needed basis, refueling vehicles and equipment and re-supplying fixed-site bulk storage facilities. With fuel shortages in the south, FUEL's mobile services could be in demand. Co recently reported Q3 (Mar) revenue of $33.1 mln, up 44% yoy. The co is not profitable, but was EBITDA break-even in the qtr. Keep in mind these are March Q results, before the increase in gas prices this summer. Stock is highly liquid with an avg daily vol of 719K. Mkt cap $26 mln, float 3.2 mln.

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10:14: (WEGI.OB) Windswept Environmental -- Momentum Watch on Hurricane Katrina (0.17 +0.04) With some sketchy names being mentioned as hurricane plays out there, momentum traders are picking up Windswept Environmental Group this morning as probably one of the most pure play hurricane stocks out there. The problem is the stock trades at $0.17, and has a $12 mln market cap... The co provides a full array of emergency response, remediation, disaster restoration, mold and commercial drying services to a broad range of clients. Late Monday, the co announced that it was preparing to mobilize a large fleet of Commercial Drying Equipment, Generators, Labor etc., to the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama area to help rescue efforts from Katrina. For the 9 mos ending Mar 31 (co's year-end is June, 10-K not out yet), the co posted a small profit on $17.6 mln in sales, up 19% yoy. Co has a fair amount of debt, plus there are some convertible shares out there. Not sure we love the stock fundamentally, but momentum traders may want to check it out.

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Set-ups in Improving Sectors

11:03: (NGAS) Mike Tarsala's StockWatch -- NGAS (5.79 -0.01) Out of all the oil and gas companies with a market cap of less than $100 mln that have had strong gains in recent days, (examples are GEOI 67%, BDCO 154% and MPET 30% since 3/1), the one that stands out to us is NGAS Resources (NGAS, mkt cap $84.58 mln). We note that many large oil and gas companies are now throwing off increasing amounts of cash, and instead of increasing their drilling, buying up smaller players could be a more cost-effective expansion alternative. We note that NGAS has had very strong increases in proved reserves year-over-year (up 111% in '04, and 45.8% in '03). We think increases in proved reserves (vs. gains in potential reserves) could be one of the most important factors an acquirer might be looking for. We also note that NGAS broke even on a per-share basis in Q3, and was profitable both in '03 and '02, and trades at less than 2x EV/sales on a trailing 12-month basis, vs. more than 3x EV/revs for many other competing oil and gas concerns we've seen.

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12:10: (HOKU) Taking A Look: HOKU Scientific -- Momentum guys picking up recent fuel cell IPO (6.48 +0.48) Hoku Scientific, Inc. designs, develops and manufactures membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) and non-fluorinated membranes for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Co did its IPO earlier this month at $6.00 share (3.5 mln shares priced). Deal was led by Piper, SG Cowen and Thomas Weisel... Hoku MEAs and Hoku Membranes are designed for the residential primary power and commercial back-up power markets, which we refer to collectively as the stationary market, and for the automotive market.... Co has very little in revs and is posting big losses. Without the recent interest in fuel cell names, don't think we would even mention this one. However, stock is in the right space at the right time and happens to have a small float.

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11:26: (TMY) Transmeridian Exploration -- set to export crude at substantially higher prices (2.28 +0.10) Oil and gas stocks have been big winners lately, with crude prices continuing to rise. Most of the obvious names in the group have run, but there are still some interesting small cap names that are just starting to attract attention. One name to consider is Transmeridian Exploration, which acquires and develops oil reserves in the Caspian Sea region of the former Soviet Union. Its first major project is the South Alibek Field in Kazakhstan and it is currently pursuing additional projects in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan... What makes this name interesting to us and is not well known by the Street is that all of TMY's crude oil sales in the first six months of 2005 were to the local Kazakhstan market. However, beginning in mid-June, sales to the local market were discontinued and all production was stored in anticipation of the commencement of export sales by rail under new sales arrangements at substantially higher prices. Q2 average price was $20.67/bbl. However, initial sales under the new arrangements were made in July at an average price of $39.00/bbl and the co expected further price improvement. Mkt cap $187 mln, avg vol 228K.

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14:12: (AEZ) American Oil and Gas -- a speculative energy play (5.69 +0.21) Exploration and production company American Oil and Gas (AEZ) rose to an intraday high of $5.70 today, a key resistance point, before it turned lower. We are now watching the stock in case it does break out above that $5.70 resistance on higher volume. We see AEZ as a very speculative play, but we are hearing from one source who has provided some useful information in the past that AEZ has moved the conventional drilling rig to the second of the planned initial two-well program at the cos' Fetter project. We have not been able to confirm that as fact. But if AEZ has indeed has started work on the second well, that could indicate that AEZ is close to announcing oil and gas flows from the first hole drilled at Fetter. The company began drilling in May. We think strong daily flows from the first Fetter would likely drive the stock higher. Consequently, low to no flow would drive the stock lower. The key background is that the cos' Fetter project area consists of about 51,000 gross acres. So far, the co has said only that the Fetter project has encountered significant pressures and intermittent natural gas flows (a good sign, but not proof of a payday). In our opinion, AEZ is simply not a quality name at this point, having just $2.8 mln in cash and eq, and revs of just $1.239 mln in its most recent qtr. It's hard to believe that the co has such a high market cap of $169 mln, given its current revs run rate. That said, we will keep an eye on it here. We're passing on the info., just in case speculative traders who may have the ability to gather some additional details on AEZ can make use of it.

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Other Stock Ideas Complete With Key Fundamental Information

12:49: (HOM) Home Solutions of America -- worth a look as a possible momo/value play (2.31 -0.17) A stock that could be a rare play on both momentum AND value is Home Solutions of America (HOM), a low float (15.1 mln shares) provider of home restoration services (think granite counter tops, new cabinets etc.) in a hot sector (building maintenance services, see FSRV and TUC). We note that it trades about 1.4x its book value, and co guidance is for $0.14 to $0.18 in earnings this year. That means it trades at 11.6x the high end of the cos' EPS guidance. We note that HOM reported 40% revs growth and more than doubled its net income in Q1. HOM made another acquisition since it provided full year guidance in Q1, which could add another few cents to its previously provided guidance range. We're thinking that a 20x EPS multiple on earnings of $0.18 would bring a price of $3.60... more than 50% upside from current levels. As a precaution, note that the co does not have a lot of cash on the books -- about $4.9 mln, vs $18.45 mln in debt. So we see the possible threat of dilution via a secondary offering or financing. Also, HOM has had a heck of a run, as it's nearly doubled from a July 7 trough. Yet we still think it's worth a shot going long the stock on a pullback, with a stop in the $1.80 area.

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14:39: (NETL) NetLogic -- watching for positive earnings and guidance (16.82 -0.30) We are hearing that NetLogic Micro (NETL) stopped shipping product even before its quarter was over -- possibly a good sign NETL will beat Q2 EPS consensus. We at BriefingTrader note that NETL beat Q1 estimates when it reported April 14 by a whopping $0.27 a share, but didn't get much credit on Wall Street, because it pulled in business from Q2 -- we're thinking NETL stopped shipping product to keep that from happening again. And we're hearing from one analyst who covers the company that NETL has a good chance of guiding EPS higher for Q3 (which would fit with our theory as to the reason the company stopped shipments early). The potential driver of Q3 business is expected to be additional orders from Cisco (CSCO). But one of our contacts is saying that new distributors (possibly BRCM and MRVL) may start incorporating and distributing NETL chips with their products as early as Q3. And while NETL's heavy reliance on CSCO as a customer (some 84% of revs) will remain, we expect to see others contribute more meaningfully to revenue -- in particular, the Alaxala joint venture between Hitachi and NEC, as well as Juniper Networks (JNPR). Technical keys: We would consider taking a look at NETL on a pullback near the $16 level (we see a potential pullback due to general market weakness), with support at about $15.80 (we wouldn't hold it below that point). We note resistance at the all-time high near $17.83. For more background on NETL, see our initial Small Cap Profile on March 28, when the stock traded at $12.77 (it's risen by roughly 32% since then).

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12:48: (LONG) eLong -- overlooked Chinese internet play (11.92 +0.03) Interest has returned to the Chinese internet/tech sector lately (moves over last few sessions: TOMO +23%, KONG +20%; new 52-wk highs today: CTRP, KONG, LTON, TOMO; NTES is up 25 pts in 7 weeks)... A name that has not participated is former momentum favorite, eLong. The co is an online travel agency in China. Growth has been very strong as Q2 revenue was US$6.3 mln, up 55% yr/yr and 33% sequentially. Of note, the co posted non-GAAP EPS of break-even vs a $0.09 loss last year. The co's balance sheet is solid with US$132 mln in cash. Perhaps most importantly, eLong is now a subsidiary of Expedia (EXPE), coming over from IAC Interactive. The co also recently announced that it signed a 3-year strategic advertising cooperation agreement whereby eLong will become SINA's exclusive hotel bookings partner in China. Ctrip.com (CTRP), another online travel company, has been a huge mover and continues to push to new 52-week highs. Yet, eLong has been largely ignored. With interest returning to the space, eLong has the potential to be a mover as traders look for secondary names.

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14:50: (WLB) Taking A Look: Westmoreland Coal (23.55 +0.21) With all the talk that coal may be used as a significant energy alternative to crude oil, we thought we'd take a closer look at Westmorland Coal (WLB), a coal stock that has been beaten down after Q2 earnings and a stock that may be poised to recover some ground. WLB's current operations include surface coal mining complexes in three western states and power operations in the east and west. The co produces roughly 28mln tons of coal and generating 2.8mln MW-hrs of electric power annually. WLB, a co with a very good operational safety record, should be a beneficiary of the recently signed Energy Bill, a bill that basically said coal was important in the future of U.S. energy. Mgmt was recently quoted as saying, "Given the dramatic increase in coal prices and coal consumer concerns about rail transport capacity and rates, we believe that we should see greater future returns from our location advantaged operations." A lot of the co's sales contracts are due up for renewal from now to the end of the year and that favors WLB b/c of the ramp up in coal prices which should lead to higher contract sales. WLB is not widely covered by Wall St. analysts and trades at 14.38X the single 2005 EPS estimate of $1.63 and 11.25X 2006 the single EPS estimate of $2.08. Shares of Colorado based Westmoreland Coal Co (WLB), which have paid out 13 consecutive dividend payments, are off 23% YTD.

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