Big Weekly Winners: Swing Trading with PowerRatings

We opened this last trading week with the market slightly oversold after a modest pullback the previous Friday. The pullback continued throughout Monday’s trading as the market edged further into oversold territory and our expectations were set for an extended pullback, while those of you who are trading volatility watched VXX shrink even further. By the end of Wednesday we had reached extremely oversold territory, but with very thin trading due to the Jewish holiday mid-week our focus was set towards the month-end upward bias as we closed out September. By Friday the market had risen back into neutral territory – no big surprise as a 2-period RSI reading of 1 for SPY rarely lasts very long. The week wrapped up with the S&P 500 securing a 3rd consecutive quarter of gains after reaching new highs not seen in almost 5 years earlier this month. The top-performing stocks from this trading week came from the services and technology sectors.

The stocks and ETF in this week’s Big Weekly Winners: Swing Trading with PowerRatings all earned PowerRatings of 8 or higher one week ago on September 21, 2012.

To learn more about PowerRatings, including how to swing trade stocks and ETFs with PowerRatings, click here.

Performance of 9/21/12 – 9/28/12 Trading Week

AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (AHS)

After dipping 1.7% to close last Friday’s trading, shares of AMN Healthcare Services Inc. rallied all week to secure a 15.23% gain. Having opened on Monday trading above both its 50 and 200-day moving averages in oversold territory, AHS spiked on Thursday to gain 5.7% and continued to rise – ending the week with a new 52-week high at 10.06.

• 9/21/12 Entry Price: 8.73 with a PowerRating of 8
• 9/28/12 Exit Price: 10.06
• Gain: 15.23%

American Greetings Corporation (AM)

Shares of American Greetings Corporation had a substantial move this week amid the announcement of a proposed plan to go private and buyout current shareholders. Gapping-up on Wednesday, AM jumped 17.3% to 16.82 right after crossing over into very oversold territory on Tuesday with a 2-period RSI reading of 5.62. AM remained overbought throughout the rest of the week to close Friday at 16.80 for a 13.67% weekly gain.

• 9/21/12 Entry Price: 14.78 with a PowerRating of 8
• 9/28/12 Exit Price: 16.80
• Gain: 13.67%

InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC)

Opening the week trading above both its 50 and 200-day moving averages, shares of InterDigital, Inc. also had a strong week and will be replacing Quest Software Inc. in the S&P MidCap 400 as of Friday’s close. Gapping-up on Wednesday to gain 7.1%, IDCC gained a further 4.4% on Thursday and closed out the week Friday in extremely overbought territory with an 11.09% weekly gain.

Learn how to swing trade using PowerRatings! Click here to launch your free trial to PowerRatings today. Free trials include full access to our entire database of stocks, ETFs and leveraged ETFs, as well as swing trader training videos.

Joshua Glasgall is Editor in Chief of Connors Research