Jim Van Meerten's  Instablog

Today's addition to my Wall Street Survivor portfolio is Edwards Life Sciences (EW) a leader in advanced cardiovascular disease treatments, the number-one heart valve company in the world and the global leader in acute hemodynamic monitoring. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif. EW focuses on specific cardiovascular diseases including heart valve disease, peripheral vascular disease and critical care technologies. Their global brands, which are sold in approximately a hundred countries, include Carpentier-Edwards, Cosgrove-Edwards, FloTrac, Fogarty, LifeStent, PERIMOUNT Magna and Swan-Ganz. Edwards Lifesciences, Carpentier-Edwards, Cosgrove-Edwards, Fogarty, PERIMOUNT Magna and Swan-Ganz are trademarks of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation and are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. LifeStent is a trademark of Edwards Lifesciences AG and is registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

I'd like to go through the process I use to select the stocks I add to my portfolio. First I look for the top ten stocks that are hitting new highs and use BarChart's stock screener for that. After I filter the stocks for other criteria and get my number one pick I go out on the Internet to sources I'm comfortable with to see if they agree with me. If they do then I'll add it to one of my portfolios. I'm not a contrarian, that's why my newsletter is called Financial Tides; I want to swim with the tide not against it. If I can't find a stock that makes it all the way through my screening process, I buy nothing that day. Let me go into detail on how this process works.

First I go to BarChart's 20 day new high -- new low list and sort for frequency. I only want the top 10 stocks that are trading at least 100K shares a day and have hit new highs more that 50% of the last 20 trading sessions. Next I take those 10 and see how they perform against the 13 technical analysis indicators that BarChart uses and eliminate all stocks not getting at least an 80% buy rating. I look to see if they have had positive price performance in the last 5 day to weed them down further. I then look at a chart that plots the price against the 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages to see if there is consistent price performance. I pick the one I like best and then research it.

I'll look at the news on Yahoo Finance, the analyst reports, the Wall Street Survivor check list, the Motely Fool CAPS ratings. I'm not looking for them to agree with me, I'm making sure they don't disagree with me. If I have a stock that I have chosen for recent technical price performance reasons that suddenly has a whole lot of negative press out there, I'd be a fool to think it will continue upward. I realize that the Wall Street analysts have a very poor record at finding winners but I also realize that if they turn out reports that a stock is a loser, then all their brokers will be calling their clients with sell recommendations. That stock should go down.

Remember, I don't recommend swimming against the tide. Tomorrow I'll go into more detail on Edwards Life Sciences and why I added it to my Wall Street Survivor portfolio.

Disclosure : I do not hold any positions in Edwards Life Sciences (EW) at the time of this publication

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below at email FinancialTides@gmail.com

On Financial Tides ETF's are mainly found by using the technical analysis tools from BarChart. This week BarChart has pointed to the IShare Chile ETF (ECH). Emerging markets are growing far faster than the US economy and Chile has one of the fastest recovering economies anywhere.

All 13 of BarChart's technical indicators say buy for a 100% buy rating. ECH has hit new highs in 9 of the last 20 trading sessions and is presently 5 for 5 in the last week. Its has had a 28.47 price appreciation in the last 65 days and isn't skipping a beat.

On other sites Mark's checklist on Wall Street Survivor has a Survivor Sentiment on 5/5 and on Motely Fool the all member rating is 88 to 2 with their All Stars rating it 26 to 1.

I'm adding this to my EFT portfolio on Marketocracy.

Recommendation: Buy IShares Chile ETF -- ECH around 52 with a protective stop loss no higher than 48.

Disclosure: I do not own ECH at the time of this publication.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who write on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please make a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

We all get a lot of junk electronic advertising and this week at AD:tech New York Acxiom Corp (ACXM) showcased many of their new products that make electronic advertising more targeted. ACXM warrants being today's addition to my Wall Street Survivor portfolio. ACXM integrates data, services and technology to create and deliver customer and information management solutions for many of the largest, most respected companies in the world. The core components of Acxiom's innovative solutions are Customer Data Integration technology, data, database services, IT outsourcing, consulting and analytics, and privacy leadership. Acxiom integrates data, services and technology to create innovative, real-time solutions that improve customer relationships and grow the bottom line. In a complicated IT world, they make it simple.

The fundamentals on this company look good. Both Todd Van Fleet of First Analysis and Daniel Leben of Robert W. Baird & Co. give the stock high marks. The analysts consensus is that although there may be modest growth in revenue of 3.7% year over year a positive earnings growth of 38.8% plus a more generous P/E growth as the market recovers should show good price appreciation. There have also been several positive articles recently on BusinessWire to create more buzz.

The stock came up on my BarChart screener with 13 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions and it is 5 for 5 lately. 12 of 13 of BarChart's technical indicators rate it a 96% buy with the other indicator having a rising hold. There has been price appreciation of 40.35% in the last 65 days so it will be coming up on a lot of buy lists.

On Wall Street Survivor Mark's checklist has the Survivor Sentiment as 5/5 and the technicals 5/5 also.

I'm buying Acxiom Corp (ACXM) for my Wall Street Survivor portfolio at around 12.10 with a protective stop loss around 10.00

Disclosure: I do not have any positions in this stock at the time of publication

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes about financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTIdes@gmail.com

The following stocks have been deleted becuase they are not trading above their 50 day moving average and did not trade positively in yesterdays market rally:

From the VMNHI -- SNWT -- San West Inc

From the VMSLO -- ICAD -- ICAD Inc

The follwoing stock was deleted from the short portfolio because it has been trading above it's 50 DMA:

VMSHT portfolio -- OHI -- Omega HealthCare

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides.  Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Disclosure:  I hold no positions in these stocks

On Financial Tides we realize there many 2 reasons to buy ETF's. You can make plays on the economy, the underlining fundamentals of a particular industry or country or just plain technical analysis.

DGL the Proshares double Gold ETF is just such a technical play. Gold has been rising and this ETF gives you leverage.

Right now DGL is within .33% of its recent high and has seen 4 new highs in the last 5 days and 6 new highs in the last 20. It's had an 18.41% price appreciation in the last 65 days.

BarChart's technical analysis indicators have a buy signal on 13 out of 13 indicators for a 100% buy signal. Over on Motely Fool the CAPS rating by their readers is 105 to 10 in favor of a further price increase.

Recommendation: If you think gold will go up and the dollar will continue to weaken then DGL the Proshres double Gold ETF is a buy at 40 with a protective stop loss no higher than 37.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Disclosure: I hold no positions in DGL at the time of this publication