A pink sheets microcap in the Fortune 500? Did you know that there is a pink sheet stock with a market cap below $100 million in the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest companies? What’s even more astonishing is that this is no one-hit wonder. According to the company’s press release this is the second [...]

Las Vegas ticket broker Tix Corporation (TIXC) hit new highs today after it announced that it had settled a proxy contest with its largest investor, Baker Street Capital.  Under the settlement, Baker Street will appoint three members to the board of directors. Under the terms of the agreement, Tix has expanded its Board of Directors [...]

Most retail spot forex accounts offer zero commissions.  Sounds great, but its not really doing the trader any favors.  Forex brokers typically take the other side of the trade and make their money by fixing a hefty spread — often 3 to 6 pips.  A five pip spread, depending on the pip value of the [...]

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According to the folks at Russell, the following stocks are scheduled to be added to the Russell microcap index as part of the 2011 reconstitution:   1ST CONSTITUTION BANCORP FCCY Financial Services ACCELR8 TECHNOLOGY CORP AXK Health Care ACCESS NATL CORP ANCX Financial Services ACNB CORP ACNB Financial Services ACTIVE POWER INC ACPW Producer Durables [...]

Yongye International (Nasdaq:YONG) broke out of a five-month downtrend after investors learned that Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia would make a $50 million equity investment in Yongye, purchasing preferred shares that are convertible at various price points up to $15/share.  The transaction closed today.  Simultaneously, Yongye announced that its Chairman and CEO, Zishen Wu, would purchase up [...]

Did you know that there is a pink sheet stock with a market cap below $100 million in the Fortune 500 list of America's largest companies?  What's even more astonishing is that this is no one-hit wonder.  According to the company's press release this is the second year in a row that it has made [...]

Zacks issued a positive note today on Chembio Diagnostics (OTCQB:CEMI).  Zacks currently rates CEMI "Outperform" and has a $1.10 price target (about 115% above today's price).  Thanks to reader Steven for pointing this out:   Chembio Diagnostics, Inc (CEMI) continues to make progress in commercializing its Dual Path Platform (DPP) rapid diagnostic tests in both the [...]

Three weeks ago I bought medical test manufacturer Chembio Diagnostics (OTCQB:CEMI).  I loved the long pattern of consolidation near multi-year highs, confirmed by positive fundamental news and relatively modest valuation.   All it took was a hint of positive news to propel Chembio to new highs, which have held.  The stock is up over 20%, [...]

The strangest thing happened this weekend.  I got a margin call in one of my smaller accounts on a Saturday afternoon.  Markets were closed, and the account had a comfortable buffer when markets closed on Friday.  At first I thought it was an error, but after investigating I learned it was triggered by a 4-1 [...]

Though I naturally gravitate towards deep value, I'm trying to devote more capital to buying strength.  Here is what I look for in a strong-trending microcap: multi-year highs achieved within past few months consolidation following new high no signs of paid promotion preferably recently reported either: (i) record financial results; (ii) a shift from losses [...]

Microcap nursing home and skilled care provider Advocat Inc. gapped up on strong fourth quarter results, and appears ready to challenge 2-year highs.  What is even more impressive than the gap itself is that the entire gap held even during a series of weak days for the overall market in general and microcaps in particular.  [...]

It seems odd to use the word "invest" in the same sentence as the Pink Sheets.  For over a decade, the Pink Sheets has been the cesspool of publicly-traded companies.  It was a price quotation system for pump-and-dump penny stocks, companies delisted for fraud, and other companies generally unworthy of an investment.  That has changed [...]

MarketWatch bills itself as a financial news site.  But pull up any stock, and you will see that the "news" listings are several years old.  This morning, for example, I pulled up microcap pharma company IVAX Diagnostics (IVD).  Look at the 2004 items that MarketWatch claims to be "news": Come on Rupert!  Under your watch [...]

What's the difference between the next Zynga and a blank-check company? To a lot of microcap stock traders, the answer is apparently American Idol backer Robert FX Sillerman.  Sillerman has an impressive background.  He launched SFX Broadcasting, before being bought out by radio pioneer Steve Hicks.  He then rolled than money to SFX Entertainment, and [...]

No time for a full post, but here is one stock I am buying with a very pretty chart.  Consolidation + a small inverted head and shoulders developing over the past five months improve the odds of a breakout to new highs.  DISCLOSURE: Long WYY.

When markets are at an inflection point, I find it helpful to look at longer-term charts.  The Russell microcap index — represented here by the IWC exchange-traded fund (ETF) — is the most widely-recognized microcap index.  The  IWC/Russell microcap index is imperfect.  For one thing, it does not include OTCQB or OTCBB stocks.  Also, many [...]

Unless you have a world-class spam filter or have been hiding under a rock, you are aware of how intense competition is among online pharmacies. Even when you look past the hundreds of viagra peddlers, mammoth drug dstributors and retailers from Medco to Walgreens have staked out their turf on the 'net.  As Drugstore.com (Nasdaq:DSCM) [...]

Few stocks have been as hot lately as mobile app stock Glu Mobile (Nasdaq:GLUU).   Glu Mobile's parabolic ascent has a lot of traders searching for the next big mobile app stock. Here are two under-the-radar stocks in the mobile app space. Poynt Corp  (Toronto Venture:PYN) Poynt Corp., which trades primarily on the Toronto Venture [...]

For several months China Redstone Group (OTCBB:CGPI) looked like it would exceed its $40M revenue guidance for FY 2011, which ends in March.  Today CGPI management announced January 2011 cemetery plot sales.   Crunching the numbers in that report, it looks like China Redstone has already exceeded $40M in revenues with two full months left in [...]

NOTE: This is the final installment of a 4 part series.  Read part 1,  part 2 and part 3. Sky-Mobi Holdings  (Nasdaq:MOBI) Like Bona Film Group, MOBI was a busted IPO.  It priced far below the $8-10 expected range, and went nowhere but down for the first five weeks of trading.  When that downtrend broke MOBI became a [...]

  NOTE: This is part 3 in a series.  Read part 1 and part 2.   China Sunergy  (Nasdaq:CSUN) The sun is shining on microcap solar stock China Sunergy (Nasdaq:CSUN).  Fueled by strong growth — and just as importantly collections of accounts receivables — CSUN shares look poised to break out of a 9 month ascending triangle [...]

NOTE: This is part 2 in a series.  Part 1 is here.   Asia Entertainment & Resources (Nasdaq:AERL) Asia Entertainment & Resources is a play on Macau gambling. AERL runs VIP gaming rooms in the MGM Grand Macau Casino, the Star World Hotel & Casino in downtown Macau, which is operated by Galaxy Casino, S.A, [...]

Almost two months ago, I first wrote about an actively-traded basket of Chinese smallcaps, microcaps and even penny stocks.  The China stock trade is currently the largest macro position in my portfolio.  Its off to a rocky start.  The basket over all has treaded water, shifting between slightly-above breakeven to slightly below.  However, that is largely [...]

I'm a heavy user of the MarketClub tools, and an affiliate.  MarketClub's smart scanner powers the Century Club scan I use to find small stocks with favorable technical patterns. They also put out a series of technical analysis videos.  Most of them are entirely off topic, but the latest one may be of interest to [...]

Yesterday morning, Rodman & Renshaw raised its quarterly earnings estimates for China Redstone Group (OTCBB:CGPI) by a penny, from 0.35 to 0.36 per share.  Rodman also characterized management's response to concerns raised by bloggers as "satisfactory."  We'll see.  I continue to believe that CGPI will more likely than not prove itself to be legitimate, but it remains [...]

China Media Express (Nasdaq:CCME) was one of the original stocks in my China microcap stock basket.  It was also one I felt held great promise, though as I noted in late January I took profits so I no longer hold shares.  That was just selling into a spike — my active trading demands that I consistently [...]

When I first exposed the Tradeshow Marketing (TSHO.PK) penny stock pump-and-dump in December 2009, an organized band of supporters challenged me to come back in a year and see how the stock has performed (see comments).   The TSHO pumpers have since disappeared, but I accept their challenge.  Its been almost fourteen months since I [...]

CGPI's investor relations folks inform me that the materials from China Redstone's company update have been translated into English.  Here they are: Land use permits CGPI corporate structure / photos operating approvals map of property local government policy Foguang cemetery license DISCLOSURE: Long CGPI.OB.

Take a dozen microcaps, and one of them will likely to turn out to be a fraud.  For Chinese microcaps, the odds are probably double.  That's why I spread my Chinese microcap stock positions over a basket of a dozen or more stocks (I trade them actively so the number tends to vary from 12-20). [...]