February Winners

Although February hasn't been what most hoped it would be, there have been some interesting winners out there if you take time too look for them.

I spent some time today looking through a screen of a little over 100 stocks that trade above $5 per share and which have gained more than +15% in February. Here's the spreadsheet. Even if you're not interested in stock prospecting you may find it of interest to see which industry groups are highly represented within this list of winners.

Whenever I review a list like this (and I try to do so frequently), I make it a goal to find 5 stocks I haven't been watching and which I think may offer an interesting trading setup in the days based purely upon the technicals. When I did that today, I found at least 16 setups. Yes, that many! I was surprised a little bit by that as I usually only find a couple, but it serves as a reminder that we all tend to focus too much on the market's daily performance while real winners can be found below the surface if you take the time.

So, as homework tonight, review this list and see if you find a few watchlist candidates. In my view, the very fact that these stocks have been able to outperform so much this month is justification enough to undertake this exercise. And, even if you have no desire to buy a single stock in this environment (a common complaint these days) you need to do everything you can to stay mentally sharp by building and monitoring watchlists of this nature so that you'll be ready when conditions improve to your liking. In fact, you may discover as I have that while the overall market is crummy, some low hanging fruit is ripe for picking.

Go get to work!