On Friday, biotech company Biocurex closed at $1.15, up from a close of 76 cents, Thursday. Obviously, it appears that something might be going on and to address the activity, the company released a short update after the close.

Friday the shares traded over 800,000 shares and hit a high of $1.25. We have been covering BOCX since October, 2003 when Biocurex was trading at 17 cents and guided the readership to both sell and accumulation points over that time. While the shares are still quoted on the Pink Sheets, Friday’s announcement updated the company’s progress in eventually returning its shares to the OTCBB.

We will of course bring you news once any further public disclosures are made by the company. Your comments and opinions are welcome.

I just got one of my credit card statements, and just when I thought these carpetbaggers couldn’t extract any more money out of me, they have. Get this: the new rule is that if I don’t pay off last month’s balance in full, even if I fully pay off the card this month, I will be charged interest on new purchases. No grace period on new purchases unless I have paid off the card in full the previous month. Un freakin’ believable.

Check your card terms or call your credit card company. These mooks have actually figured out a way to legally collect unearned interest. Shameful. I will be turfing this card and any others that employ this usurious practice. I suggest you consider doing the same. I won’t mention the BANKS name, as I suspect they will all jump on this bandwagon. Maybe not, but please check and see if you’re a victim. There’s always the possibility that my Bank’s the last to do this and I’m preaching to the choir.

No matter, it still sucks out loud.

Got a stock or market opinion? Share it at the comments button below or send me an email at the icon at the title’s end.

Searching for a bottom, Yahoo almost broke $30 Thursday. As you may recall, we suggested at $38 and $34 that this Internet darling was overpriced and should be sold. One analyst came out and downgraded both Yahoo and Google this am, roiling the shares which had been weak anyway all week. Get a couple more to jump on the ‘me-too’ bandwagon and they may start to look interesting. If I wanted exposure to these, I’d use the options. Usually, when stocks look weak, the call premiums contract. Might want to wait a bit to see if the shares drift below $30, which seems likely given both the individual weakness and our feeling that the NASDAQ could back up to roughly 1982. It’s 2030 at the mo.

Did a piece on Apple yesterday and received a number of emails from the faithful. Have a read, but again, options may make sense here as the Jan 06 $85 calls are quoted at around $17. If you write those against a partial position, you’ll receive the equivalent of $102 a share if exercised. The $90 calls are trading for around $14.50, so those may make sense with the shares at around $89. As I said, I like Apple, but I like profit too. The options will split right along with the stock on February 28th. One $85 call will turn into two $42.50 calls.

The title refers to the progress of the market recently and the good news is that some we’re following are trading at better prices. Might they go lower? Sure. Do they represent better value now? I’m guessing yes.

First up is Micromuse which we profiled a few weeks ago. the shares have slipped under $5 (we profiled them at around $5.50) and the company still warrants attention. Nothing has changed other than the price. We see decent support in the $4.75 area, which it touched in Tuesday’s rout and seems to be consolidating here. Reread the piece for our reasons for optimism.

Nortel finally broke down through $3 which is annoying but bears–no pun intended– watching. A decent rally in the market–even a day or two–usually throws up a good trading opportunity for this one. Long term it’s worth owning. Short term it has to be traded.

Two other I still like are Flextronics arguably the best in the resurgent electronic manufacturing sector, and payment solutions concern Bottomline Technologies. The former is consolidating around our original Trading Alert price of $13.55 and represents decent value here. Bottomline is still a couple of bucks above our $10,85 profile price and has hit $17 in the interim. Both look to be good adds to the aggressive portion of a portfolio.

Haven’t forgotten Thermogenesis. When we first mentioned this stock, we suggested investors might wait and get the shares in the mid-$4 range. Hasn’t broken $5 yet, but darned close. might be worth starting to accumulate this blood products biotech.

More later. If you own any of these, let me know your feelings re prospects. And watch the market. Weak rally of the last couple of days looks to fail. If so, the point decline will likely be less than the sentiment change. Nothing like a couple of snap drops to wash out the riders.

Since it’s a holiday, not much to report, other than a press release issued by internet solution provider Superclick. Over and above the fact that the shares closed at 94 cents on Friday, the company has issued Q1 revenue guidance that it hopes to report $1.4 million for the period, up 380 percent over the same quarter 2004 and the fifth consecutive quarter of increasing revenues. For Q4, 2004, the company reported $1.37 million and $2.8 million for the year.

The salient point here is that SPCK issued this impressive guidance for a period that is historically weak for service companies–holidays, vacations etc. The Press Release also delineates the myriad corporate successes for 2004.

Looks like the company is on the right track and knows the value of sharing information with shareholders.

In an effort to unleash the dogs of interactivity, I’ve put an email link to my mail box at the end of the title of each article. Send me your thoughts, they won’t get posted without your permission. I’m sincerely interested in your thoughts and ideas.

When SmallCap brought Superclick to our readership a year ago, the shares were 46 cents. Yesterday they closed at 94 cents, banging against our 93 cent resistance for the second time on very nice volume. While we like a double, there’s likely more to come. Here’s the chart:

Technically, the 93 cent area represents a 61 percent retracement from the last bottom to last top. Risk-oriented investors could begin or continue to accumulate, based mainly on the progress of the company over the last year as a proxy for the next. Details are in the newsletter from January 28th. Strategically, the trade now would be to pick up shares under 90 cents, preferably around 85 cents, put in a stop loss at 75 cents and be patient. The company has gone from merely an idea to almost $3 million in revenue in just over a year and now has excellent partners, potential,prospects as well as significant footholds in North America, Bahamas and Europe.

The internet access sector, especially in the hospitality industry is still woefully underserved and with partners like Verizon and Locatel, Superclick is carving out decent influence and marketshare. Might be worth putting some–or more– in the spec end of a portfolio. I have no knowledge or opinion of whether the Verizon/MCI deal will affect SPCK, other than how can it hurt?

Old friend Spectrum piece yesterday. Have a read. Impressive progress over the last year and recent acquisitions diversify its product mix and bring in great revenues with no stock dilution. Still $19 million in cash and no debt. Technically shares look good to $2.70 or better depending on news. Stop losses at the $2 level still warranted as this baby’s volatile.

We’re working on a couple of new ideas, both for here and the newsletter.Make sure you have access to both. We don’t usually give warnings.

Got some good email on our Friday Hewlett piece, although a couple took exception to my treatment of Carly Fiorina. Thought it was pretty balanced, but when emails begin with “I only had to read the first few sentences…” kind of takes all the wind out of the argument that follows. Encouraged to get predominantly positive responses, opinions and lots of interest in learning more about options. We’ll use them more in the future.

As far as HP is concerned, numbers and commentary will be out tomorrow–Wednesday–after the close and should be very interesting. Management had BETTER have a plan.

That’s it for now. Trade smart, be safe.

As promised, did a piece on an interesting new smallcap Wednesday, Micromuse Inc, a biz intelligence software concern. Won’t rehash here, but lots of cash, no debt and the space looks to have great growth potential. See? If you don’t get the SmallCap Digest, you could miss a lot. Wednesday morning trading pretty wild as the market tries to digest HP’s news, Dell earnings to come tonight and Google getting pounded prior to the unlocking of the 177 million share lockup on Valentine’s Day. Love the one you’re with, it seems. For now…

Tomorrow, I’ll take swing in the newsletter at the recent Hewlett Packard goings on and what investors can do now. I’ll have some trading ideas and commentary on this situation that will likely get you thinking. Kind of tricky, as I don’t really have a focused opinion on the shares, but given the fact that the CNBC wallies mention it every 5 minutes, it bears comment. At least that’s my story. Watch your inbox.

What else… Force Protection split a week ago and the trade has been good. Visions of a sell off didn’t materialize likely due to, as I’ve stated, the weakness of the shares pre-reverse split. The company has made a couple of announcements recently and continues to position itself as the vehicle of choice for the protection, safety and success of the troops overseas. The shares will likely continue to be volatile, but my belief is that news will be forthcoming to give more comfort to shareholders within this new capital structure. Keep an eye on this one and trade strategically. It seems to react well to news, especially deal news.

I mentioned about a month ago that risk-oriented investors might want to take a swing at semiconductor, bomb detection etc, firm Isonics as it cruised under $5. Wednesday morning, the shares popped to a price of $5.38 as the company announced marketing of its Neutro test bomb detection gizmo. It’s apparent that investors have an appetite for news on the company’s initiative which seems to appear each time the shares look weakish. Now the trick will be to turn the promise into sales and we are certainly closer to that. The other divisions are clicking along nicely as well and looks to have continued upside potential.

If there’s anything else, I’ll add later. Stay tuned. And about those comments–other than the spam–send ‘em in, now…

I’ll likely add to this post later today, but that nifty SmallCap Digest newsletter idea I alluded to yesterday for publication today, will now appear, hopefully Wednesday. I won’t bother y’all with the details. You’ve waited this long. One more day shouldn’t matter. And I believe you’ll be impressed; or at the very least intrigued.

stay tuned…

Trading at $2.30, Spectrum continues to progress and impress. The company announced another skookum acquisition Monday morning which could apparently triple revenues and, since it was all cash–about $6.8 million–there is no share dilution. That leaves Spectrum with about $19 million in cash and still no debt. Cool. Here’s the chart:

In case you’re wondering, the numbers which intrude from the right side of the chart are percentage gains from the recent bottom to the previous top. So, as the price currently is around $2.30, that represents roughly a 40 percent retracement of the decline. Although SPSC is volatile, it appears that the next resistance is around $2.70 before a direction change. Suggest buying the pullbacks, but you could miss the run. A breather here would be constructive before heading higher.

That said, remember to keep stops at $1.90-$2 to protect profits and, watch out for the whipsaw. Again, that’s when a stock dips quickly, triggers a sell stop and then rises. This one bears careful watching and trading. So far, so good.

Tuesday’s Nifty New Idea

Tuesday’s SmallCap Digest will feature a Trading Alert on a nifty company in the software space. Lots of cash, no debt and good sector position. The projected 2006 earnings evidence a p/e of about 20 times and the growth looks compelling. We’ll bring you all the details then. Watch your inbox, Tuesday.

If you haven’t signed up for the SmallCap, what are you waiting for? Stick your email in the top left box and join the network. As always, no games with your info. It stays with us. Promise.

Even though the Force Protection Press Release stated that the 12 for 1 post split symbol for the shares would be FPRT, the symbol is actually FRPT on the OTCBB.

The shares had sold off prior to the split and closed at an equivalent post-split value of around $2.50. Needless to say, there is no chart as yet and the trading will be volatile as the shares settle into the new structure.

Investors need to adjust their positions to ensure proper trading numbers. Our view of the company and its prospects hasn’t changed with this action and believe that these measures will ultimately benefit both the company and shareholders.

Stay tuned.

BTW, here’s an article on FRPT’s Buffalo from Stars and Stripes, the Armed Forces newspaper. Give it a read for a battlefield perspective of the performance of this ballistic, bulletproof behemoth.

That might be the sound the shorts make on Wednesday when the markets open. Google reported Tuesday evening and even as one who thinks it’s overpriced I was impressed. Might put some more legs under the NASDAQ which has already been doing ok the past few sessions. Here’s the Googleage info. Q4 profits increased 7-fold. Yowsers…

Should be an interesting day.

Published a piece on payment solutions fave Payment Data after the close, Tuesday. Won’t rehash it here–have a read. New contract, expanding revenue streams. Stock is still in somewhat of a formative stage but the shares looks cheap to me when you factor in the deals announced and the potential within the sector.

Ah, Nortel. Stock popped nicely after it announced restated earnings which included the first half of 2004. Small profit first half ‘04 and the rest of the year will be filed soon. Shares are up nicely on that news and if the tone of the market stays constructive, should continue for at least tomorrow! Remember, if you want to buy NT, put in a tight stop loss. Last run from $3 took it to $4 quickly, but that was last time. The once and future Canuck tech giant is never dull.

And finally a quick run on Spectrum. $2 got sliced through and the shares hit some resistance today at $2.15. Keep those sell stops in place as it could grind around here for a while pending any developments. And in case I haven’t said it enough; Spectrum has been, is and will likely continue to be volatile. Be strategic with your trading.

Next time we’ll look at some of the big tech guns. Some interesting stuff there.