We've got some real worst-to-first games going on here.
I have flagged the Alcoa (AA) renaissance endlessly now, adding the chart work of Ed Ponsi to the mix. The stock can truly go much higher and has no real resistance to it.
Bank of America (BAC) has hung in as one of the best performers and I think that's going to be the case for some time.
But now I am seeing the real dogs starting to do better. Have you looked at Nordic American Tankers (NAT)? The day rates are up on average about 5x what they were last year at this time and this stock is starting to reflect those gains. I always fear more equity deals, which is why I have pronounced this one only a trade. But holy cow, is this thing ramping.
Take a look at Baker Hughes (BHI). This oil service company had the lowest expectations going into the quarter, yet the company was positively giddy on the call and now I see numbers going up for 2015 in the notes that have come out today. There's this moment on the call, by the way, where CEO Martin Craighead simply says, "I am excited," and then says when asked whether he is excited "about the growth potential," he answers, "I am very excited." No wonder the stock jumped huge.
If you are like me, you are tired of hearing about the disappointments from the voice recognition company Nuance (NUAN). The Siri partnership with Apple (AAPL) hasn't generated upside. Nor has the Icahn position. But this huge upside surprise is getting it going for sure.
Even Linn Energy (LINE), which had become the dog of the master limited partnership group, has gotten some love, this time from Howard Weil, which is important. Some of that is the company's natural gas exposure. Those companies have been going crazy with the cold. Some of it is the Wolfcamp windfall (60,000 acres ready for horizontal drilling) and some of it is the Berry Pete closure. But probably most important is the pause in rates, which has a lot of MLPs and utilities and REITs going higher.
The love doesn't extend to every dog. AMD (AMD) and IBM (IBM) certainly aren't getting much. But then again, IBM had held in after the last few miserable quarters, I think because of Warren Buffet's buying. AMD went up because of the console business.
They both really didn't deliver.
Not every dog has its day.
