It’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted a Breakout Highlights report… my apologies for the limited posting of late, but with some projects I’m working on for SelfInvestors.com and the lackluster market it’s been both difficult to find the time and enthusiasm to write about the markets of late.  Once the project is done in a couple weeks, I’ll be posting much more frequently.  Although with the bulk of earnings coming up this week, don’t forget to check out the Earnings Highlights posts each morning which take a look at stocks moving big either way on earnings.  That will begin tomorrow.

It’s no secret that breakout stocks don’t fare well in a sliding market as we’ve seen over the past several weeks.  In the past 2 weeks the SelfInvestors.com database tracked a limited number of unsuccessful breakouts.  Just two of the 15 breakouts finished the period with a gain – Cascade Bancorp (CACB) and Cash America (CSH), both up 2%.  Twelve finished with losses (and they were fairly steep with an average loss of around 9%).  Despite the poor performance, just 3 stocks made what I would call failure moves (an 8% or more drop AND below the first major level of support).

Now is certainly not the time to try and chase a bottom, especially with CPI and PPI data, FOMC minutes and Mid East violence all expected to create big time volatilitly in the coming days.  However, there are some opportunities in this top breakouts list worth putting on the ‘ol watch list for future consideration.

To see the larger image of the list

The best opportunity in the list that I see is Cascade Bancorp (CACB) which broke out with force following an outstanding earnings report on Thursday.  Technicals look for very strong as well with a nice shallow base followed by the high volume breakout to a new all time high.  It’s returned to a buyable range today, but it’s probably best to wait to see how it reacts to the upcoming inflation data on Wed and Thurs, which would weigh heavily on the Fed’s decision with future rate hikes.