It’s time again for another rousing edition of top breakouts for the past two weeks.  Are you ready?  I know you can hardly wait, so lets get right to it.  The past two weeks saw a nice pick up in breakouts after a dismal last 2 weeks of August in which there were only 7 breakouts in my tracking system.  In fact the first 2 weeks of September saw a nearly 5 fold increase from the previous 2 weeks with a total of 33 breakouts..

Leading the way were big breakouts in Neoware Systems (NWRE) with a gain of 26% and Minas Buenaventura (BVN) with a gain of 18%.

On the downside, Stryker Corp. (SYK) led the way with a 7% loss as it reversed sharply after breaking out and has slipped below support of the 50 day moving average.

In looking at the data for the last 2 weeks, one industry group that stood out was steel.  Four steel related issues broke out in the first 2 weeks of September – Nucor (NUE), Commercial Metals (CMC), Quanex (NX) and Gerdau (GGB).  5 out of the top 10 breakouts listed below are metal related.

Here’s a snapshot of the top 10 breakouts (it should be noted that there were several companies with a total rank of 48 that broke out and the companies that appear in this image aren’t necessarily in better shape than those that don’t appear).  To see a larger, readable image please click here.

Topping the list this time around is Mechel Steel (MTL), the Russian steel provider.  The stock broke out a few days ago, but it was not an impressive breakout.  Just because a stock is highly ranked and looks good technically doesn’t mean it’s an automatic buy.  The volume at the breakout just wasn’t there, so this is a position I would have avoided.

 

Of the stocks on this list that remain in a buyable range, I think Pioneer Drilling (PDC) looks like a solid play at this point as does Essex Corp (KEYW), but I’d want to see Essex break above 25 convincingly.  It cleared the left side of a cup formation without forming a handle last week, but it appears it will form a high handle from here (so I’ll be adjusting the pivot in the database to reflect this).  Anyway, here’s a chart of Pioneer Drilling… it broke out of a range between 14 and 17 this week to all time highs and buy volume is good.  In fact, the buy volume vs. the sell volume has been very good over the past couple months after carving out that funky looking base.  That ugly base took the stock out of consideration for me a few months ago, but the action since then has been quite good.  An opportunity worth considering.

**********************************************************************************************************************

If you’d like to see the SelfInvestors.com Breakout Tracking database in action and get the full list of breakouts before they happen, you can try it out for free for 30 days with PayPal.  SelfInvestors.com free members may sign up by logging into there profile page or you may create a new account and sign up for the premium membership trial.

***********************************************************************************************************************