I have been using Twitter and StockTwits for approximately two months and have highlighted 18 different stocks. Of the 18 stocks, 15 are currently showing a gain and 3 are showing a loss for an average gain of 20% per position. I only analyze stocks that I am about to buy/sell or would possibly buy/sell. I don’t talk about any old stock for the sake of posting tweets and wasting people’s time.

The average gain of the stocks showing a profit is 26%.
The average loss of the stocks showing a loss is 11% (-5%, -8% and -21%).

The top performing position is DXO, currently up 65% with a peak gain above 70%. Following DXO is EJ at 56%, STAR at 50%, RVBD at 40%, FRPT at 32%, ARST at 26% and V & VMW tied at 25%.

Visa (V) has appeared the most with a total of eight mentions (I may be biased since it’s my largest personal holding). DXO has also been an active play of mine since 2008 so it has been the second most popular ticker in my tweets, appearing five times over the past two months (DXO first appeared on this blog last November as a speculative oil play).

I would like to emphasize that the stock down 21% (APEI) would have been cut for a smaller loss using simple money management tools but for purposes of this update, we’ll assume everything is still being held.

Below is the list of stocks highlighted on my Twitter account, listed in date order (starting on March 31, 2009):

• HTS: +7%, $26.15 from $24.35 on 3/31/09
• V: +25%, $69.28 from $55.60 on 3/31/09
• VMW: +25%, 32.59 from $26.12 on 4/1/09
• RVBD: +40%, $21.52 from $15.37 on 4/2/09
• STAR: +50%, $22.45 from $15.00 on 4/5/09
• CXO: +14%, $31.90 from $27.96 on 4/5/09
• DXO: +65%, $4.48 from $2.72 on 4/20/09 (1st posted on 4/6/09 at $3.07)
• EJ: +56%, $16.78 from $10.79 on 4/9/08
• ARST: +26%, $18.19 from $14.46 on 4/9/09
• FRPT: +32%, $9.36 from $7.09 on 4/13/09
• WMZ: +12%, $19.85 from $17.70 on 4/14/09
• CTCT: +10%, $20.14 from $18.36 on 4/20/09
• TNDM: +15%, $30.78 from $26.81 on 4/20/09
• CFL: +11%, $30.60 from $27.50 on 4/26/09
• PAR: +3%, $11.27 from $10.94 on 6/2/09
• APEI: -21%, $34.56 from $44.00 on 4/2/09
• MDAS: -5%, $15.90 from $16.79 on 4/23/09
• MELI: -8%, $23.62 from $25.60 on 5/12/09

If you haven’t joined already, take the few seconds to follow me on Twitter as the bulk of my analysis appears there weekly, if not nightly.

P.S. – the bragging title of this post probably signals a short term top in the market! As I wrote yesterday:

“The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many men as possible.” – Bernard Baruch

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Visa (V), $65.75: As I mentioned on Twitter last week, the stock is building a cup with handle pattern. A down-sloping handle is currently forming with a pivot point breakout at $68.55. I will be looking to add shares on a breakout. FYI: I currently own shares from 2008.

See the post Visa, from December 17, 2008 for further details:

Why do I like VISA’s potential?

• $1o Billion would represent the second largest IPO ever!
• Revenues are expected to grow steadily as consumers continue to use their cards
• VISA processed 44 billion transactions totaling $3.2 trillion in 2006 (Mastercard processed 23.4 billion transactions totaling $1.9 trillion)
• VISA has made $771 million on $3.7 billion in revenue during the first nine months of 2007
• VISA makes their money from the fees it charges to card users and merchants using its network

BEST OF ALL:

• Because it acts as an intermediary, Visa doesn’t sustain losses when consumers don’t repay the debts run up on credit cards bearing its brand. Those liabilities instead fall to the banks that issue the cards and set the terms of repayment
• Most of Visa’s major stockholders are banks. They include: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which owns 23.3 percent of the company’s Class B Stock; Bank of America Corp., 11.5 percent; National City Corp., 8 percent; Citigroup Inc., 5.5 percent; U.S. Bancorp, 5.1 percent; and Wells Fargo & Co., 5.1 percent.

Let’s see what happens. The gov’t here in the US scares me these days when it comes to credit cards so pay attention to what they are doing. I wish they would just butt-out and go back to doing what they are meant to do.

Well, this is about as hot as it gets these days! It’s been difficult to find solid looking stock charts that are trending higher over the past three to six months but I continue to research. The overall market is still very weak so the lack of individual leaders is understandable. It’s not smart to buy against the grain of the market; swimming against the current is just plain stupid if you ask me. However, my attempt today is to post up a few positive looking charts that are showing up on my screens as potential leaders if and when a small rally occurs. Several of these stocks have crossed my screens since late 2008 and have been highlighted on the blog but LOPE is new one to the bunch.

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE) has a great looking up-trending chart since the day of its IPO and started to show up on my daily screens in late December (the most successful IPO in a long time – out of the box). This is definitely a stock that I would purchase if the market was showing strength. For now, I will stay on the sidelines until I can see some form of a rally starting to take place.

The other stocks listed below are also displaying nice technical characteristics in this murky environment which leads me to believe that they have potential to become market leaders in a rally. APEI is closely related to LOPE as these stocks typically do well when the market is in a recession. GXDX and ENSG are related to the healthcare and/or science industry which seems to do well when the economy has turned sour as well. Stocks such as APOL, COCO and CECO were superstars after 9-11 in the months leading up to the rally of 2003. Medical related stocks were also topping my charts in late 2002 and early 2003. Times seem to be repeating so we’ll have to wait for a market signal before jumping into any of these candidates.

In any evert, keep them on your watchlist.

• APEI – American Public Education, Inc.
• GXDX – Genoptix, Inc.
• ENSG – The Ensign Group, Inc.

Several of these stocks have been highlighted in blog posts dating back to November – be patient! We’ll continue to sit on them until the time is right.

• Three Stocks to Watch
• “A”+ Stocks
• Strong Stock Charts
• Institutions Accumulating Shares

My wife and I went to see the movie, Marley and Me, last night and loved it. What a tear jerker. One scene got me good because it reminded me of my childhood lab, Sunshine, and my current lab, Bob. We highly recommend dog lovers, animal lovers and everyone else that is looking for a feel good movie to check it out.

We read the book a few years ago after it was released and I remember my wife couldn’t finish the last chapter, she avoided it for months and for good reason (the movie does a great job with this aspect of the book). Excellent book – good movie. Below is a picture galley of my Marley: Bob.

Marley and Me Movie
John Grogan Blog

Pictures of my wonderful lab, Bob:

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Stock of the Day – Update
Titan Machinery Inc. (TITN)
Friday’s Closing Price: TITN – $22.40

Titan Machinery Inc., which runs construction and agriculture equipment store,s raised its full-year guidance for revenue and earnings per share earlier this week. Its fiscal second-quarter profit more than doubled as all three of the company’s businesses posted revenue growth. Net income for the three months ended July 31 jumped to $3.3 million from $1.4 million a year earlier and revenue surged to $134.9 million from $85.8 million.

The stock has been holding up rather well despite the weakness in the current market (Thursday aside). Its relative strength rating is within the top 1-2% of all stocks trading and the EPS rating is in the top 1% of all stocks trading. Overall, TITN is a stock that I wouldn’t mind adding shares here at the long term moving average. Disclosure: I do own shares at this time.

Past (TITN) Titan Machinery Inc. Blog Posts

• 6/24/08: Money Makers: IPI and TITN
  

  I have been away for the past few days but IPI and TITN continue to make new highs. The two stocks are up 49% and 69% respectively.

• 6/2/08: Top Rated Stocks
  

  “TITN – 24.30, Titan Machinery Inc. is still making new all-time highs but did run into some selling pressure near the $26 level. The trend is higher and I am holding until told otherwise by the charts.”

• 5/19/08: Portfolio Stocks on the Move
• 4/25/08: Portfolio Snapshot: Growth
• 4/29/08: Young Stocks Moving on Volume
• 4/21/08: Titan Machinery (TITN)
  

  Potential Trade Set-up:
  Entry: $21.00
  Risk is set at 1.0% of total portfolio or $1,000 of $100k
  Stop Loss is 10% or $18.90
  Number of Shares: 476
  Position Size is $10,000
  Risk is $2.10
  Target is unknown (too little information)

• 2/25/08: Stocks Catching my Eye – TITN: $19.70
  

  “MTL is no longer a buy since it has become extended but TITN and RIO may be setting up for new 52-week highs.”