Why I study stocks up 25% plus in a month everyday

TZOO- Travelzoo Inc

Come rain or shine, everyday the last thing I do in my daily market analysis routine is to run a scan for stocks up 25% plus in a month. I run the scan, boil myself a pot of tea and systematically study each of them. I want to know:

1.  what makes a stock go up 25% plus in a month. 
2. How does it start the move
3. What are the volume patterns during the move
4. What are the price patterns during the move
5. What was its momentum ranking before the move started
6. How did its momentum ranking progress during the move
7. What kind of pullback did it have
8. In how many days did it make 25% plus move
9. What is its float
10. What was its dollar volume at breakout
11. What was its p/e, p/s, roi, margin, p/b, peg, debt to equity, 
12. What was their eps growth
13. What was their sales growth
14. What was their IBD ranking
15. How far are they from 52 week high or low
16. What was its price trend for last 1, 3, 5 years
17. What was their sector relative strength
18. What was their short interest
19. What was the insider buying trend
20. What was the trend intensity readings at breakout
21. How did the trend intensity readings progressed
22. What was the news on the stock for last one month
23. How far is this stock from last earnings or upcoming earnings
24. When did the stock IPO
25. 25 What is its fund holding trend

and so on. 

All this information is publicly available freely. The tools I use to do this analysis are:

1. Finviz
2. Moneycentral
3. Google Finance
4. Dailygraphs
5. Investor.com

On most days there are not many stocks meeting this condition so it takes 15 minutes to do it. Once in a while you get 200 plus stocks, then it takes a hour to do this.

The objective is clear to develop a model of stocks that make big move in short period of time and try and capture couple of moves in a year. The understanding from the exercise goes in to building better scanning criteria and validating or invalidating commonly touted trading wisdom or beliefs.

You will find answer to questions like :

1. does significant earnings surprise move stock
2. does nearness to 52 week high matter
3. should you focus on high priced or low priced stocks
4. should you focus on high daily average volume stocks or low daily average volume stocks
5. does IBD eps ratings matter
6. does float matter
7. what period relative strength/momentum  is best 
8. why prior period gains are most critical to picking winners

While it is difficult to generalize things because every phase of market has different kind of stocks making 25% plus moves, there are certain common themes you can find and the common themes in terms of factors that drive a stock to make 25% plus move in a month are:

1. Prior neglect
2. Catalyst. Big moves start with some catalyst.
3. Sector momentum is best predictor of short term probability of a stock making a big move
4. Price momentum is next most important criteria
5. Float, low price, low dollar volume prior to breakout are good

Rest of the factor really do not matter. In the short run fundamental factors do not matter. Immediate catalyst and sector momentum is most critical factors on a month time frame. 

How can you use this information in day to day trading. Focus on stocks with high sector momentum or sector catalyst (Bluefin Sector+price momentum and Emerging Opportunities scans). Focus on stock with immediate catalyst (Episodic Pivots). All things being equal low priced, low dollar volume and low float stocks tend to make biggest move.

But above all almost every move of 25% plus in magnitude in a month starts with a 4% breakout signal. Now how valuable is that information to you if you know how to exploit it.....

Stocks up 25% plus in a month:

ACAT,Arctic Cat Inc
ACTG,Acacia Research Acacia Tech
ACTL,Actel Corp
AMKR,Amkor Technology Inc
APAGF,Apco Oil & Gas International
APEI,American Public Education` Inc
AREX,Approach Resources Inc.
ARII,American Railroad Industries Inc
ATML,Atmel Corp
AUMN,Golden Minerals Co
AVEO,AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc
BAK,Braskem Sa
BCPC,Balchem Corp
BID,Sotheby's Holding Cl A
BMTI,BioMimetic Therapeutics Inc
BONT,Bon-Ton Stores Inc
CATY,Cathay General Bancorp
CDXS,Codexis Inc
CGNX,Cognex Corp
CGV,Cgg Veritas
CKEC,Carmike Cinemas
CLU,Cellu Tissue Holdings Inc
CMCO,Columbus Mckinnon Cp(Ny)
CMTL,Comtech Telecommun Corp
COCO,Corinthian Colleges Inc
CPLA,Capella Education Company
CRAY,Cray Incorporated
CRXL,Crucell Nv Ads
DDMX,Dynamex Inc
DGII,Digi International Inc
DGIT,Dg Fastchannel Inc
DHIL,Diamond Hill Investment Group Inc
DHX,Dice Holdings Inc
DIN,Dineequity Inc
DMAN,DemandTec Inc
DSW,DSW Inc
DUF,Duff & Phelps Corp
EBIX,Ebix Inc
EDMC,Education Management
EPIC,Epicor Software Corp
ESI,Itt Educational Services
ETH,Ethan Allen Interiors
FMCN,Focus Media Holding Limited ADS
GBX,Greenbrier Companies Inc
GENT,Gentium SpA
GIFI,Gulf Island Fabrication
GPRE,Green Plains Renewable Energy
GTLS,Chart Industries Inc
GYMB,Gymboree Corp
HAWK,Seahawk Drilling Incorporated
HNR,Harvest Natural Resources Inc
HOS,Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc
HWKN,Hawkins Chemical Inc
ID,L-1 Identity Solutions Inc
IL,Intralinks Holdings` Inc.
INCY,Incyte Corp
INET,Internet Brands` Inc.
IOSP,Innospec Inc
IVN,Ivanhoe Mines Ltd
JASO,Ja Solar Hldgs Co Ads
JBL,Jabil Circuit Inc
JCP,J.C. Penney Company Inc
JDSU,JDS Uniphase Corp
JOBS,51job Inc Ads
KCP,Kenneth Cole Productions
KEI,Keithley Instruments Inc
KITD,Kit Digital Inc
KMX,Carmax Inc
KNOT,The Knot Inc
KNXA,Kenexa Corp
KVHI,Kvh Industries Inc
LBY,Libbey Inc
LCRY,Lecroy Corp
LDK,LDK Solar Co Ltd
LGL,LGL Group Inc
LINTA,Liberty Media Interactive Class A
LOPE,Grand Canyon Education
LULU,Lululemon Athletica Inc.
LYTS,Lsi Industries Inc
MAPP,MAP Pharmaceuticals
MDVN,Medivation Inc
MEAS,Measurement Specialities
MEDQ,Medquist Inc
MIM,Mi Developments Inc
MIPS,Mips Technologies Inc
MOTR,Motricity Inc
MSB,Mesabi Trust Cbi
MSCC,Microsemi Corp
MSFG,Mainsource Fncl Goup Inc
MSSR,McCormick & Schmicks Seafood
MXWL,Maxwell Technologies Inc
MYE,Myers Industries Inc
NVTL,Novatel Wireless Inc
NZ,Netezza Corporation
OCLR,Oclaro Incorporated
OICO,Oi Corp
OMAB,Grupo Aeroportuario Del Centro
ONE,Higher One Holdings Inc
PBH,Prestige Brands Holdings
PEGA,Pegasystems Inc
PGI,Premiere Global Services Inc
QLTY,Quality Distribution
QNST,QuinStreet Incorporated
RAX,Rackspace Hosting
RDWR,Radware Ltd
RECN,Rscs Connection
RVI,Retail Ventures Inc
SCOR,Comscore Inc
SCS,Steelcase Inc
SCVL,Shoe Carnival Inc
SGEN,Seattle Genetic
SGK,Schawk Inc
SNIC,Sonic Solutions
STEL,Stellarone Corp
STRT,Strattec Security Cp
STU,Student Loan Corp
SURW,Sure West Communications
SVNT,Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc
SWIR,Sierra Wireless Inc
TESS,Tessco Technologies Inc
TGA,Transglobe Energy Corp
THMD,Thermadyne Hldgs Corp
THO,Thor Industries Inc
THRX,Theravance Inc
TPCG,TPC Group Inc
TQNT,Triquint Semiconductor
TRGL,Toreador Resources Corp
TWI,Titan Internat Inc
TZOO,Travelzoo Inc
VHC,Virnetx Hldg Corp
VSEC,Vse Corp
WNC,Wabash National Corp
ZGEN,Zymogenetics Inc
ZNH,China Southern Airlns Co
ZUMZ,Zumiez Inc