Top Performing Stocks of the Past Quarter

Submitted By Trader Mark
Usually we do a weekly top performer list but let's save the trouble this week - it looks almost identical to last week - loaded with gold stocks with a few natural gas stocks thrown in. Nothing else was really working despite a relatively benign fall in the market indexes. I was relatively accurate when 2 Saturdays I wrote in the top performers list:

I've lowered the % gain threshold this week to 7%, but its still a sparse group (understandably considering the bad week in the markets) - what can I say - fertilizer, coal, and natural gas (and/or oil exploration) continue to dominate. This is not a bipolar market.... this is plainly an incredibly narrow market where you have to be in teeny slivers of subsectors to make any money. It's harsh out there.

My gut (just a hunch) tells me this could be one of the last (if not last) weeks these same groups will be on this list ... if the 'rotational' selloff does in fact continue per previous patterns. Some of these stocks in the "blessed sectors" are nowhere near even minor support levels, so there are some major "air pockets" below if they do begin to sell off.

We have been moving away from these 'blessed' groups for a few weeks (too early, as we left some upside on the table, but you can never nail the tops or bottoms) and just this week we kept fleeing [Jul 1: Cutting Some Generals] but even the remaining exposure to said generals whacked us this week. This is why I fear going "long oil" right now. Because when it reverses I think it's going to make some of the moves we saw this week in coal, fertilizer and the like look like child's play. But I could always be wrong.

Anyhow, we've looked at the top performers for the year a few weeks ago, so let's look at something a little longer than a week but shorter than the year to date time frame. To review, after a horrid March, the markets suddenly turned up without looking back (literally) on April 1st - rallied well for nearly 2 months on hopes of the '2nd half recovery', and then had the worst June since the Great Depression - wiping out all those gains. So let's see what stood out during that period. I just used an arbitrary 20% gain for the quarter as a cut off - this returned a solid 127 names; but dominated by a few sectors. Sectors thankfully we were in. (fertilizer, oil, coal, natural gas)

However, by being cautious about the economy as a whole and thinking surely this nearly 2 month rally (April, May) cannot continue on Kool Aid alone - I retarded our performance somewhat as we owned some of the biggest winners in large % of holdings (coal) but we cut them back to smaller holdings after realizing very good gains, only to watch them go on to stupendous gains. Frankly it is always harder to sell than to buy in my opinion... momentum takes stocks far further than you ever imagine. I thought coal was a 2009 story so the stocks would begin to react later in 2008, so to see this thesis already working out surprised me. On the other hand, don't want to beat ourselves up too much because we made the flip to Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) (+110%) from Peabody Energy (BTU) (+48%) and that doubled our gain in that 1 portion of the fund. [Apr 8: Changing Coal Allocation - Peabody Energy Out - Alpha Natural Resources In]

Criteria as always
  1. Market capitalization $2B+
  2. Average trading volume 100K+
  3. Stock price $10+
Green we own, blue we have owned or discuss in the blog. (note - ENER & WLT are marked green but we did not own them during the quarter - although we highlighted both in early May. Ouch.) Considering we generally own 50-55 issues on the long side, and we owned roughly 15 of this top 127 throughout the quarter - it shows just how bad the rest of the market was since it still was like pulling teeth to make money. A lot of former holdings we have since sold off did great this quarter as well - PCX, FFIV, BTU, SGP, CNX, BRCM, NIHD, FTI, CAM


SymbolCompany Name% Price Change Last Qtr.
PCXPatriot Coal Corp176.3
GDPGoodrich Petro Ord Shs168.9
HKPetrohawk Energy Corp142.1
CLRContinental Resources Inc118.1
ANRAlpha Natural Resources Inc110.0
CRKComstock Resources Inc105.5
MEEMassey Energy Co98.3
ENEREnergy Conversion Devices Inc97.9
XCOEXCO Resources Inc93.1
EACEncore Acquisition Co82.6
WLLWhiting Petroleum Corp71.0
SDSandRidge Energy Ord Shs68.9
JBLJabil Circuit Inc66.7
ESIITT Educational Services Inc65.9
ELNElan Depository Receipt65.4
WTIW&T Offshore Inc65.0
FFIVF5 Networks Inc60.7
PVAPenn Virginia Corp60.2
AGUAGRIUM INC59.0
SQMSociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile57.7
SMSt Mary Land & Exploration Co57.5
FCLFoundation Coal Holdings Inc57.4
CPXComplete Production Services Inc54.4
MRVLMarvell Technology Group Ltd51.1
SAFSafeco Corp49.9
CHKChesapeake Energy Ord Shs48.6
BTUPeabody Energy Corp48.5
FDGFORDING INC48.3
UNTUnit Corp47.5
PXDPioneer Natural Resources Co47.4
SOHUSohu.com Inc47.1
HPHelmerich & Payne Inc45.1
GTIGrafTech International Ltd44.3
CLFCleveland Cliffs Ord Shs43.9
NBRNabors Industries Ltd43.0
ACIArch Coal Inc42.6
CNQCanadian Natuaral Resources41.2
CXOConcho Resources Inc41.0
BZPBPZ Resources Inc40.9
SGPSchering-Plough Ord Shs40.5
APPXAPP Pharmaceuticals Ord Shs40.4
FSTForest Oil Corp40.0
BIGBig Lots Inc39.9
EDSElectr Data Ord Shs39.7
HEROHercules Offshre Ord Shs39.3
WLTWalter Industries Inc38.3
TSTenaris ADR38.1
FLIRFLIR Systems Inc37.8
NOVNational Oilwell Varco Inc37.5
VRTXVertex Pharmaceuticals Inc37.2
CNXCONSOL Energy Inc36.7
EWEdwards Lifesciences Corp36.0
FROFrontline Ltd35.8
CFCF Industries Holdings Inc35.6
GGBGerdau SA Depository Receipt35.5
WHQW-H Energy Services Inc34.7
OCROmnicare Ord Shs34.4
GDIGardner Denver Inc34.4
MDUMDU Resources Group Ord Shs34.3
KEGKey Energy Services Inc34.2
SWNSouthwestern Energy Co34.1
DRSDRS Technologies Inc33.3
MEMariner Energy Ord Shs33.3
BRCMBroadcom Class A Ord Shs33.1
OISOil States International Inc32.8
SCHNSchnitzer Steel Industries Inc32.3
POTPotash Corp31.9
STRAStrayer Education Inc31.9
HALHalliburton Ord Shs31.8
DVDeVry Inc31.8
PTENPatterson-UTI Energy Inc31.5
CTVCommScope Inc31.4
NIHDNII Holdings Inc30.4
MOSMosaic Co30.2
MYGNMyriad Genetics Inc29.4
CPOCorn Products International Inc29.0
HESHess Corp28.5
SPNSuperior Energy Services Inc27.7
EPEl Paso Corp Ord Shs27.5
VVisa Inc27.4
BUDAnheuser-Busch Companies Inc27.2
PXPPlains Exploration & Production Co27.1
TETECO Energy Inc26.9
PWRQuanta Services Inc26.6
VMWVMware Inc25.9
NXYNEXEN INC25.9
COSWFCanadian Oil Sands Trust25.5
FTIFMC Technologies Inc25.2
FMCFMC Corp25.1
HLXHelix Energy Solutions Group Inc25.1
DRCDresser-Rand Group Inc25.1
TRATerra Industries Ord Shs24.9
CAMCameron International Corp24.7
CCUClear Channel Communications Inc24.5
APOLApollo Group Inc24.5
WDCWestern Digital Corp24.3
WWYWM Wrigley Jr Ord Shs24.1
FLSFlowserve Corp23.8
CEDCCentral European Distribution Corp23.8
PBRPetroleo Brasileiro ADR Reptg 2 Ord Shs23.7
BUCYBucyrus International Inc23.7
ONXXOnyx Pharmaceuticals Inc23.7
ATWAtwood Oceanics Inc23.5
COGCabot Oil & Gas Corp23.4
CIGCompanhia Energetica Minas Gerais23.3
CXGCNX Gas Ord Shs23.3
NBLNoble Energy Inc22.9
SGMSScientific Games Corp22.7
CMICummins Inc22.6
CCJCameco Ord Shs22.5
TRMBTrimble Navigation Ltd22.4
STRQuestar Corp22.2
WFTWeatherford International Ltd22.1
NENoble Corp22.0
NFGNational Fuel Gas Co21.9
NDSNNordson Corp21.9
CMPCompass Minerals International Inc21.1
PCZPETRO-CANADA21.0
PSYSPsychiatric Solutions Inc21.0
SESpectra Energy Corp20.9
FLRFluor Corp20.9
PDEPride International Inc20.7
DRQDril-Quip, Inc20.5
EGNEnergen Corp20.4
MRMindray Medical International Ltd20.2
ESVENSCO International Inc20.1
EQIXEquinix Inc20.1


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