Back in October 2008 I wrote a post about Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM). At the time the stock price went up by over 350% in just one week. Well the stock fell back down to it’s pre-spike price during the next three weeks, where it’s pretty much has been since then.
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Until Tuesday morning where it started it’s 113% price gain. That’s right the stock jumped after the earnings report was released showing that they’ve steered the company around to post a net income of $33.5 million or $3.31 per diluted share. What makes it interesting is that there are no analyst covering this company. As per Yahoo Finance.com, there is no info available for AGM.
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The main reason for such a great quarter was driven by the financial derivatives along with the trading assets.
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What I will say is that most of the gains in the share price happened before the markets even opened. Needless to say that means that most average Joes didn’t see much profits unless they jumped in the stock before the close of Monday trading hours. I you jumped in a the opening of the markets you would still have made over 7% with the trade. Typically a stock will continue on momentum for the next day or two, so don’t try to chase this stock since most of the gains have already happened. I may be wrong and it could take another good jump in price, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Especially since the financial sector took a beaten today and will most likely continue for the rest of the week.
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*DISCLAIMER* At the time of this post, I do not have a position in AGM.

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This past week has been great for profits in the stock market, but only if you get out before the momentum stops and the prices come back down from the profit takers. After the DOW fell below 7000 in the last month, there hasn’t been much of a bright side to making money in the markets unless you’ve been shorting stocks. Of course of you don’t have a margin account, you’re not able to short stocks.
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In the past week there has been great gains a many of the stocks that were beaten up during the fall of the DOW. The only way for you to hold on to those gains is to sell. If you don’t take your profits, then you didn’t gain anything if the prices fall again.
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With what’s going on in Washington, it stands to reason that the upward movement that we’ve just experienced in this week, is just a temporary one. Capitalism is under fire with all the spending that is going on in the government. Many companies are laying off people and it will continue throughout the rest of this year. Even though Caterpillar has announced today that they will be hiring back many of the 2,400 employees that were recently laid off, there are other companies that are not in the same position as them. Caterpillar will be involved in many of the infrastructure contracts that will be created by the stimulus bill.
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If didn’t get into Caterpillar when it fell below $22, then you missed out on some of the great gains that the stock has made. It’s not too late to buy into Caterpillar even at the $26 range. I expect good things for the stock over the next year.
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As for other stocks that have made some good moves over the last week, Sirius XM Radio has moved from their recent low of $0.05 in the latter part of February to where it sits now at $0.3362 per share. I’ve talked about Sirius in the past and still favor the company to come back from their near extinction. With it great move of 43% just today, I will be taking some profits and look to get back in on a pull-back.
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Remember to be aware that the turmoil is far from over and there will be pull-backs on most of these stocks that have had momentum gains. Trade carefully and don’t be greedy.
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Happy Trading.

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Everybody wants to trade penny stocks. The reason for that is that they have the reputation of having big percentage gains (or losses) in any given day. You can make (or lose) a load boat load of money real quick.
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A list of penny stocks can be found almost anywhere on the internet. Why not, these companies need to raise capital so they can expand their business or even to buy the needed equipment so their company can grow one day be one of the big dogs. There are so many penny stocks out there that are traded everyday, but where are they list? On which board do they trade?
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Most of these stocks are traded on the secondary boards, OTCBB (over the counter bulletin board), Pink Sheets and a few others.
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The main reason that they are so popular is because they are cheap enough where the average person can afford them. How cheap? Well, a stock is considered a penny stock when it’s price per share is less than $5. Many of them are actually less than $1 (they really are penny stocks).
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Just because they are that cheap doesn’t mean that you’ll make a ton of money. Some of these stocks will sit at those levels for months and in a few cases, years. Many amateur traders or newcomers feel that these stocks are on their way up and also feel they can’t get any cheaper. That can’t be further from the truth. If you look around on some of these lists of penny stocks, you will see some even trade in what is referred to as sub-penny. Stay away from these types of stocks. Only one out of thousand will ever get out of this range.

If you want a list of penny stocks, go to Yahoo Finance and type in pink sheet or OTCBB, you will get a list of stocks that you can pick through. Be careful and do your due diligence on the company before investing.
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P.S. Want to learn more about the stock market? take a free two week trail with Jim Cramer from TheStreet.com

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