Blue Horseshoe Stocks: NQ, RAD Reviews & More

NQ Mobile, Inc. NQ

NQ appeared at the top of our extended watchlist yesterday and stood out as the day’s top pick. The stock increased gradually all day long from an early low of 3.86, and touched 4.77 just prior to the closing bell. That solid intraday move was good for gains of up to 24% as NQ traded close to 6X its 3-month average volume.

The spike came on the heels of a big announcement from the company as it gears up for an $80M buyback program that will last for the duration of 2015.

BEIJING and DALLAS, Dec. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – NQ Mobile, Inc. (“NQ Mobile” or the “Company“) (NQ), a leading global provider of mobile internet services, announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program under which the Company may repurchase up to US$80 million of its shares over the next 12 months. >> FULL PR


Rite-Aid Corp. RAD

Just a reminder for those who might have missed our close coverage of RAD over the past week, we latched onto this stock last Tuesday, catching it at a low of 5.79. We’ve seen incremental gains from this play from that time, and yesterday it continued to press upward, setting a new high at 7.45. That marked an overall increase of 29% that we’ve observed in just one week.

The stock continues to push its way up in premarket trading this morning, having traded as high as 7.54 so far, so we’ll be certain to pay close attention as we close out the early portion of this split trading week, and once we return on Friday.

As we stated yesterday, according to the opinions of many analysts, RAD has room to see a PPS in the $8-range, and with the movements we’ve tracked over a short period of time we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see that happen.


The markets wrap up at 1PM this afternoon for the start of the holiday break. We want to take this opportunity to extend our warmest Season’s Greetings to all of our readers regardless of how you will be spending the hiatus. Be safe and well, and we will be back bright and early on Friday to close out the week! Cheers!


Extended Watchlist:
ISNS, DRD, HALO, WATT, LIQD(Gap-Down, Watching for Bottom)

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: RAD, ACHN Recaps & More

Achillon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ACHN

ACHN stood out amongst the stocks we discussed in yesterday’s morning report. The move came in conjunction with the announcement that the company’s Hep C treatment currently in trials had successfully cured all of the patients in the latest clinical test.

As a result ACHN ran from a morning low of 14.56 on up to 16.87 for a solid 16% intraday move, on its highest volume traded since June.

We’ve been tracking ACHN for over a month now, and in that time have observed a low of 12.00 (Nov. 12th). As of yesterday’s high, that represents an overall increase of 40% in a relatively short amount of time.


Rite-Aid Corp. RAD

We began paying attention to RAD on Tuesday of last week, and the stock has made some good progress since then. Yesterday was no exception, with RAD adding another 6% to the healthy upward movements we’ve already witnessed.

From the low of 5.79 we observed last Tuesday after adding it to our watchlist for the first time, to yesterday’s high of 7.19, equates to a move of 25% in a span of just five sessions. That’s more than enough to hold our attention as we head into the New Year.

It’s worth mentioning that the Cowen Group investment research arm upgraded RAD from a ‘Neutral’ to an ‘Outperform’ rating, with a price target of 8.50/share, and one of our favorite sites, BARCHART.com is currently rating RAD a 100% Short-Term ‘Buy’, with an 88% ‘Buy’ Rating overall.


Extended Watchlist:
NQ, ARIA, ALSK, CYTK, ICLD, DRYS

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: APP, CERS Recaps & More

American Apparel Inc. APP

It appears as if we brought APP back into the discussion yesterday at an opportune time, as the stock enjoyed a healthy intraday move on more than twice the 3-month average trading volume.

After briefly seeing a low of .63 the stock gradually built its way up to an afternoon high of .69, an increase of roughly 10%, and in the premarket this morning APP has already traded as high as .78. That pushes the overnight increase on APP to 24%

Yesterday we mentioned that breaking of the 200DMA of .74 was a key event that needed to take place and we’ve seen that happen this morning, so APP is certainly going to remain high on our watchlists as we head into week’s end.


Cerus Corp. CERS

CERS was included in yesterday’s extended watchlist, and made a solid move during the day’s session. From a low of 5.26 the stock made a run at a high of 5.94, a modest yet notable 13% increase.

It came on the heels of the announcement that the company had received the green light from the FDA on its product that limits the risk of infection-transmission in blood transfusions. We always like a good FDA-approval play so we will definitely be monitoring this play in coming sessions.

CONCORD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cerus Corporation (CERS) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the INTERCEPT Blood System for plasma. The INTERCEPT plasma system is approved for ex vivo preparation of plasma in order to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infection (TTI) when treating patients requiring therapeutic plasma transfusion. >> FULL PR


Eco Science Solutions, Inc. ESSI

We’ve still got ESSI on our radars, and wanted to remind our readers of this even as the stock has been trading in a tight channel between .20-.25 since we last took a look at it. The reason we still find ESSI attractive is that it boasts a tight share structure, and while we haven’t seen much in the way of volume, should that change, even the slightest amount of buying pressure could send ESSI flying.

From a business perspective, we’re also interested in the technology the company is working on, its innovative re-imagining on classic spark plug design. So despite not seeing much short-term activity, ESSI still has many of the hallmarks of a high-potential play that we’ll want to watch closely into the New Year.

We’ve drawn up a video on the current standing of the ESSI Chart, so take a look at that by clicking the graphic below:

If you missed our initial report on ESSI and its spark plug technology, go ahead and take a look now: ESSI Report


Extended Watchlist:
RAD, JNUG, EXXI, FRO, RGSE, AGEN, NQ, THCZ