Small-Cap Hits and Misses

• Ian Wyatt
• On 5:00 pm EDT, Monday September 28, 2009

A couple of today's Top Gainers made the list due to buyouts. Aspect Medical Systems (Nasdaq:ASPM) jumped 55% after Irish healthcare tech company Covidien's $210 million buyout offer was accepted.

 

And GenTek (NasdaqGS:GETI - News) was up 40% on a $411 million buyout from private investment firm American Securities.

 

The biggest percentage gainer for the day was Tri-Valley (AMEX:TIV - News). Tri-Valley is a oil and mineral exploration company from California. It has oil properties in California and Alaska. And its recent demonstration that new extraction technology could make "tens of millions" of barrels of oil recoverable in California appears to be what's driving the stock higher.

 

Unfortunately, the company's press release doesn't say whether we're talking about 20 million barrels of oil or 90 million. And the difference is an important one. Because even in oil's heyday, Tri-Valley was losing money.

 

Tri-Valley has also been reporting that it has gold on its property in Alaska, though how much is unknown at this time.

 

Tri-Valley traded between $6 and $7 in 20007 and 2008 before the financial crisis hit. After today's +50% move, the stock is in the $2.70 neighborhood. There could be some nice upside here, if there is significant gold on its Alaska property. But be careful. Right now, the only thing rich is the stock's valuation. And if any of the promises here – gold or oil – don't pan out, the stock price will get crushed.

 

Luna Innovations (NasdaqGM:LUNA - News) responded to my criticism from Friday with a 16% follow through move today. But that is after it was up 60% in the early going. And to make the technical picture look even worse, the stock failed today with in $0.02 of Friday's highs. Now for my $0.02 – I expect Luna heads lower on Tuesday.

 

Dataram (Nasdaq:DRAM), another of Friday's Top Gainers, didn't spend a day making me look bad – it went right into sell-off mode from its opening gap higher, and finished the day down around 18%.

 

One stock I find interesting on the Top Gainers list is India Globalization Capital (AMEX:IGC). The stock ran 17% on a huge breakout in volume.

 

Though incorporated in Bethesda, Maryland, India Global is an infrastructure contractor in India. It builds roads, cement and steel plants and does some iron ore mining as well. Lack of available credit devastated the company from the 4th quarter of 2008. It still hasn't recovered, but a recent private placement of stock suggests the company make have some work, and a rise in revenue, coming soon.

 

We know one of India's most pressing needs is infrastructure. And if India Global can get back to business, there could be attractive upside for the stock. It traded between $5 and $6 for all of 2006 and 2007.

 

Finally, a stock that's familiar to my SmallCapInvestor PRO readers made the Top Gainers list today. Up 28% Ramtron International (Nasdaq:RMTR) was one of the stocks featured in my latest Special Report titled The 10 Most Profitable Small Cap Stocks for 2010, Part I. This Report features 10 of my top small cap stock choices going forward. And they aren't just small caps, they are micro-caps, with excellent growth prospects. The biggest market cap among them is $236 million.

 

Now, as you might guess from the name of this report, I've only released the first 5 stocks. The next 5 come out tomorrow in the Special Report titled The 10 Most Profitable Small Cap Stocks for 2010, Part II. You can get a copy at www.pro.smallcapinvestor.com.

 

And if you buy a copy of my book The Small-Cap Investor: Secrets to Winning Big with Small-Cap Stocks and you'll get a coupon good for $50 off an annual subscription to SmallCapInvestor PRO. With this $50 coupon, it's like getting 3 months of the top-performing SmallCapInvestor PRO for free. And you'll also get The 10 Most Profitable Small Cap Stocks for 2010, Part I and Part II so you'll be on board the next time one of my top small cap choices hits the Top Gainers list.

 

You can get your copy of my book at Amazon.com by clicking here now . And you can get your $50 coupon HERE.

 

Unfortunately, the company's press release doesn't say whether we're talking about 20 million barrels of oil or 90 million. And the difference is an important one. Because even in oil's heyday, Tri-Valley was losing money.

 

Tri-Valley has also been reporting that it has gold on its property in Alaska, though how much is unknown at this time.

 

Tri-Valley traded between $6 and $7 in 20007 and 2008 before the financial crisis hit. After today's +50% move, the stock is in the $2.70 neighborhood. There could be some nice upside here, if there is significant gold on its Alaska property. But be careful. Right now, the only thing rich is the stock's valuation. And if any of the promises here – gold or oil – don't pan out, the stock price will get crushed.

 

Luna Innovations (NasdaqGM:LUNA - News) responded to my criticism from Friday with a 16% follow through move today. But that is after it was up 60% in the early going. And to make the technical picture look even worse, the stock failed today with in $0.02 of Friday's highs. Now for my $0.02 – I expect Luna heads lower on Tuesday.

 

Dataram (Nasdaq:DRAM), another of Friday's Top Gainers, didn't spend a day making me look bad – it went right into sell-off mode from its opening gap higher, and finished the day down around 18%.

 

One stock I find interesting on the Top Gainers list is India Globalization Capital (AMEX:IGC). The stock ran 17% on a huge breakout in volume.

 

Though incorporated in Bethesda, Maryland, India Global is an infrastructure contractor in India. It builds roads, cement and steel plants and does some iron ore mining as well. Lack of available credit devastated the company from the 4th quarter of 2008. It still hasn't recovered, but a recent private placement of stock suggests the company make have some work, and a rise in revenue, coming soon.

 

We know one of India's most pressing needs is infrastructure. And if India Global can get back to business, there could be attractive upside for the stock. It traded between $5 and $6 for all of 2006 and 2007.

 

Finally, a stock that's familiar to my SmallCapInvestor PRO readers made the Top Gainers list today. Up 28% Ramtron International (Nasdaq:RMTR) was one of the stocks featured in my latest Special Report titled The 10 Most Profitable Small Cap Stocks for 2010, Part I. This Report features 10 of my top small cap stock choices going forward. And they aren't just small caps, they are micro-caps, with excellent growth prospects. The biggest market cap among them is $236 million.

 

Now, as you might guess from the name of this report, I've only released the first 5 stocks. The next 5 come out tomorrow in the Special Report titled The 10 Most Profitable Small Cap Stocks for 2010, Part II. You can get a copy at pro.smallcapinvestor.com.

 

And if you buy a copy of my book The Small-Cap Investor: Secrets to Winning Big with Small-Cap Stocks and you'll get a coupon good for $50 off an annual subscription to SmallCapInvestor PRO. With this $50 coupon, it's like getting 3 months of the top-performing SmallCapInvestor PRO for free. And you'll also get The 10 Most Profitable Small Cap Stocks for 2010, Part I and Part II so you'll be on board the next time one of my top small cap choices hits the Top Gainers list.

 

You can get your copy of my book at Amazon.com by clicking here now . And you can get your $50 coupon HERE.

Buzz up!