ABM Industries Inc. (ABM) is our insider buying stock of the week. ABM Industries Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides janitorial, parking, security, and engineering services for commercial, industrial, institutional, and retail facilities primarily in the United States. It operates in four segments: Janitorial, Parking, Security, and Engineering. The Janitorial segment provides floor cleaning and finishing, window washing, furniture polishing, and carpet cleaning and dusting, as well as other building cleaning services for customers in various facilities, including commercial office buildings, industrial facilities, financial institutions, retail stores, shopping centers, warehouses, airport terminals, health facilities and educational institutions, stadiums and arenas, and government buildings.

On July 9th, ABM’s Sr. VP, Corp. Sec. and Gen. Counsel, Ms. Sarah Hlavinka McConnell, purchased 1,445 shares for a total of almost $25,000. Her timing may have been fairly good as ABM recently printed a positive MACD crossover, one of our favorite technical analysis buy signals. In our view, the stock could trade up to $19 fairly quickly. If it can break and close above $20 a share, then $21.50 is a strong likelihood.

Warning shots are being fired.

For the first time in many weeks one of our indicators has delivered a sell signal. Our market leadership model needle is pointed at sell. We also noticed the breakdown on the charts as the NASDAQ crossed under the S&P 500 in terms of performance. The NASDAQ has led the way during this rally up, pay close attention to the lead dog. If it stops pulling the sled, eventually the sled stops moving in that direction.

Last week Coal stocks nearly make a worst to first move and reversed a technical analysis sell signal into a buy signal. That’s the first time we can remember that combination happening in a long, long time.

Yesterday the S&P 500 followed the NASDAQ into positive territory for the year. This is good news for investors as long as it lasts. We expect to see most sectors in the green again next week as the indexes should continue to rise a bit before finding the next level of resistance.

Synnex Corp. (SNX) is set to report earnings after the
market closes on Thursday, March 26, 2009.

Founded in 1980, Synnex
is a leading business process services company offering a
comprehensive range of services to original equipment manufacturers and
software publishers, or (OEMs), and reseller customers worldwide. The
company provides outsourcing services in IT distribution, contract assembly,
logistics management and business process outsourcing. SYNNEX distributes IT systems, peripherals, system components, software and networking equipment for OEM suppliers such as HP (HPQ), IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Seagate (STX).

LHC Group, Inc. (LHCG) is set to report earnings before the market opens on Wednesday, March 11th. LHC Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides post-acute healthcare services primarily to Medicare beneficiaries in rural markets in the United States. The company offers various home-based services primarily through home nursing agencies and hospices; and facility-based services principally through long-term acute care hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation clinics.

LHGC is expected to earn 46 cents for its 4th quarter. We expect the home nursing company to announce earnings that slightly beat investors’ and analysts’ expectations as LHCG beat the number 11 of the last 13 quarters.

MasTec, Inc. (MTZ) is set to report earnings after the market closes Monday, March 2nd. MasTec is a leading specialty contractor for communications companies, utilities and governments throughout the United States. MasTec designs, builds, installs, maintains and upgrades infrastructure that is the backbone of the nation’s economy – telephone, high-speed Internet, electric, water, sewer and natural gas – as well as provides installation and maintenance services for satellite and cable television services.

MTZ is expected to earn 25 cents for its 4th quarter. We expect the construction company to announce earnings that will slightly beat investors’ and analysts’ expectations. MasTec has topped consensus estimates 6 quarters in a row and we believe they will make it a lucky 7. Management called MTZ’s 3rd quarter “our best quarter in years and a true indication of our improvement and success.”

The market appears to be stuck in neutral. Our momentum models are posting buy signals while our leadership models are reading sell.

According to our technical analysis, the charts paint a clearer picture. If we don’t make a move up right about now, we could have some selling pressure. As you will see on the chart below, all 3 of the major indexes are at the cusp of delivering a sell signal.

Our weekly technical analysis of industry charts uncovered potential in some stocks that have been pummeled; gambling stocks. Since these stocks present more risk than a hand of blackjack, we recommend owning a few and maintaining stops. Risk is not always a bad thing; in this case we hope to be dealt a One Eyed Jack and an Ace of Spades.

National Semiconductor (NSM) is set to report earnings after the market closes Monday, December 8. National Semiconductor Corporation is a semiconductor company that engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of semiconductor products, primarily analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits.

NSM is expected to earn a profit of 21 cents for its 2nd quarter. We expect the tech company to announce earnings that will miss investors’ and analysts’ expectations as we believe the environment for chipmakers is tougher than most expect.

AeroVironment, Inc. (AVAV) is set to report earnings after the market closes this afternoon. AeroVironment, Inc. engages in the design, development, and production of unmanned aircraft systems and energy technologies for various industries and governmental agencies.

AVAV is expected to earn a profit of 27 cents for its second quarter. We expect the defense/alternative energy company to announce earnings that will beat investors’ and analysts’ expectations. Aero has had no problem handling consensus estimates surpassing the expected numbers for seven straight quarters.

We screened through all the top performing industries looking for companies that might be potential buy candidates. We found just one that interests us, Orthovita Corporation (VITA).

Orthovita is a spine and orthopedic biosurgery company with proprietary biomaterials and biologic technologies for the development and commercialization of synthetic, biologically active, tissue engineering products. It develops and markets synthetic-based biomaterials products for use in spine surgery, the repair of fractures and a broad range of clinical needs in the trauma, joint reconstruction, revision and extremities markets.

We recently wrote about Mortgage Finance companies as potential targets for some major upside. We screened all the companies in the sector looking for potential buy candidates and came away with one: Radian Group (RDN).

Radian Group is a leading provider of credit enhancement for the global financial and capital markets. RDN evaluates credit risk, provides products and services in mortgage insurance, public finance, structured finance, reinsurance and other financial services help clients and investors manage risk.

MasterCard (MA) is set to report earnings before the market opens on Monday, November 3rd. MasterCard Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides transaction processing and related services to customers principally in support of their credit, deposit access, electronic cash and automated teller machine payment card programs, and travelers cheque programs.

MA is expected to earn a profit of $2.25 for its 3rd quarter. We expect the processing company to announce earnings and provide guidance that will not live up to investors’ and analysts’ expectations.