The last couple of weeks certainly hasn’t seen a flurry of breakouts with a total of 27 breakouts out of the nearly 800 stocks that I track.  A more typical 2 week period might see somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 – 50 breakouts.  However, the success rate was very good with 19 breakouts ending the period with a gain and none hitting an 8% loss.

As usual, here’s a screenshot of the top breakouts over the past couple of weeks with a link to a larger version (so you can actually read it – imagine that)

The biggest breakout of the period belongs to Kendle International (KNDL) with a 20% gain from the breakout point.  Kendle is a highly ranked provider of clinical research and drug development services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

The big loser.. well, there really weren’t any.  Two ended the period with a 2% loss (ASF and WEBX) and 2 ended the period with just a 1% loss (RL and VTIV). 

With oils and commodities no longer leading the market, new industries appear to be emerging to take the lead.  Medicals continue to do well, especially in the biotech arena.  Pay attention to this area.  I’ve never been a big fan of buying bank stocks but they have been showing signs of life and I’ve been noticing a pickup in breakouts in this sector.  The problem is most of them are highly illiquid.  If you don’t mind trading bank stocks that trade less than 50K shares a day, you may be able to find quite a few opportunities.  There is one bank stock that I like, which I’ve highlighted in the past – Wilshire Bank (WIBC).  Wilshire is the highest rated bank stock that I track and it broke out this week from a nice flat base with very heavy volume.

In the medical space, two highly rated companies broke out to new highs in the last couple weeks – Kendle (KNDL), which I mentioned above and A.D.A.M (ADAM), a company engaged in the creation and delivery of interactive health information marketed to health and educational organizations.

As you can see in the chart below, I’m calling the first breakout point above 26.44 as the stock cleared what could be called the middle peak of a funky looking double bottom base.  No it’s not perfect.  The second opportunity occurred after the stock cleared a new all time high above 29.50.  I probably would have avoided purchasing here given the quick rise.  I’d be more confortable initiating a position on an orderly pull back to around the all time highs (29 – 30) with declining volume.  It may be on its way to do that now, possible setting up another opportunity.

ADAM is a stock I’ve been watching for some time and have continued to be impressed with the technical action.  It rarely gets better than this.  Fairly tight price action, outstanding up vs down volume.. clearly there continues to be great demand for the stock.  The move up on Friday occurred with disappointing volume but other than that it still looks very good.  The selling of the past 2 days has not been particularly intense.  I would not be surprised to see the stock return to the breakout point at around 10 in the coming days, possibly setting up an opportunity for those who may have missed the initial move.  Just keep in mind that earnings are coming up on March 14th which will undoubtedly create some increased volatility.

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To wrap up this post I wanted to provide a link to the top breakouts of the first couple weeks in February.. it was a post I was in the process of writing before I developed the bursitus in the arm and never got a chance to finish it up.  Hope you find some opportunities in this list as well.