Breakouts to Believe In: ARWR, QTWW, THLD

To see any stock in the black today is pretty freakin' amazing. What's even more amazing about Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: THLD), Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies (NASDAQ: QTWW), and Arrowhead Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ARWR) today is that these small stocks may have gotten over big technical humps today of all days.  

Take Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies for instance. The bears have had a couple of chances to unplug the recovery effort since May, but the buyers just keep coming back. In fact, this small stock is knocking on the door of new multi-week highs and a breakout above $5.75. Better still, the latest round of buying for QTWW is being backed by some serious volume.

What's sweet about all this I how the stock is actually starting to reflect corporate results. Revenues were up huge last quarter, and the loss was cut to practically nothing. At that growth pace, a swing to a profit for Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies isn't out of the question. That's not a "swing to profit" call for QTWW... just an observation about last quarter's progress. Still, investors are starting to reward what they see down the road.  

We've seen breakout efforts from Arrowhead Research Corporation before. Just none like this. This one has something others didn't, and that's volume. Today's buying volume for ARWR is already the strongest we've seen for this small cap stock since February's plunge, and the day isn't over yet. We've also seen a swelling of bullish volume over the past three weeks.

Sustainable? Yeah. There's no news prodding the stock upward today - this is all 'organic', meaning it's not built on something that will fade as soon as the PR blitz slows. What's going in is a concrete effort from Arrowhead Research to actually get and stay in the public's eye in a positive way.  And, now that this biotech firms cares as much about ARWR as it does its R&D, traders are taking notice. Worth a swing, and really, there's no clear ceiling.

Finally, it was only last Wednesday I mentioned that Threshold Pharmaceuticals was getting close to the tip of a wedge and was going to be forced out of it one way or another. And once it did, BAM! THLD would make up for lost time in that consolidation phase and be flushed out fast and far.

Well lookie (or is it looky?) here at this small stock today, up above both of the potential resistance lines (orange) that has previously been holding it down. I'm not crazy about buying into any stock in a bearish environment, but I think THLD is an exception to that rule of thumb. We've seen a longer string of higher lows than we have the other way around, and I just think there's a bigger bullish tide here for Threshold Pharmaceuticals that's starting to get traction again. I can see the $2.50 area being reached with relative ease.