- The Stock Market Companion -

15Minute Market Update

February 17, 2012

—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980′s ——

Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95

Today's SMC Watchlist

-Executive Summary-

- Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings -

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Mitek, Inc.	MITK	Holding	1/12/2012	+33%
2	EBAY, Inc.	EBAY	Holding	2/1/2012	+8%

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

- Market Trends -

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

- Market Perspectives -

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) -

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

- Today’s Highlights -

Yesterday and today, the markets in the USA showed a healthy behavior that we haven’t seen in quite a while.  Here’s what we mean -  On Wednesday, the markets all exhibited downside reversal days = high volume,  downward thrusting move from a lateral consolidation.  Over the past couple of years, this would have meant that the markets would follow through to the south and begin a retracement.

This didn’t happen.  The next day = Thursday, the markets “righted” themselves and pushed Wednesday’s gloomy behavior aside.  This occurred largely because of the excellent economic news that we received from various sources yesterday -

1. Initial Jobless Claims for the previous week.  On Thursdays, the jobless claims for the previous week are reported.  The number reported on Thursday was 348,000.  This is the lowest jobless claims number since 2008 (4 years ago) and confirms that jobless claims are in a downtrend.  This is good.  It means that companies are shedding fewer jobs.  This means that U.S. corporations and small businesses are making evaluations that their labor forces are in balance with what they are seeing ahead in the economy.  Our last U.S. Non-Farms Payroll Report showed a strong INCREASE in jobs, and drove the top-line unemployment number firmly below 9%.  That’s good news (although we all know that these statistics have their limitations and biases).
2. New Housing Starts INCREASED to 699,000 in January vs. expectations of 645,000.  That’s good.
3. Building Permits INCREASED 676,000 in January vs. expectations of 650,000.  That’s good too!

So what we have is very good corporate earnings combined with increasingly favorable economic indicators.  This is providing a nice foundation to the markets that we haven’t had in a while.  Thus our investments in Mitek Systems and Ebay, and our heads-up on Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) are each pushing Strongly higher this week.

- S.I.M.P.L.E.  Stock Investingtm -

- (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) -

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts -

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

Today in our Executive Summary, we mentioned that Seattle-based, Cell Therapeutics (CTIC $1.35)  jumped approx. +25% in value as the European Advisory Council for their FDA-like organization recommended the CTIC drug for patients with late stage Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma = a terrible and aggressive cancer.

Let’s quickly apply our S.I.M.P.L.E. investing model to this one -  Please click on these three – SHORT – 5 minute Successful Investing Video segments for this useful analysis and to see what we are looking for next!

• CTIC Video I
• CTIC Video II
• CTIC Video III

- Benchmarks “At a Glance” -

- The Stock Market Companion -

15Minute Market Update

February 15, 2012

—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980′s ——

Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95

-Executive Summary-

- Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings -

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Mitek, Inc.	MITK	Holding	1/12/2012	+29%
2	EBAY, Inc.	EBAY	Holding	2/1/2012	+3%

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

- Market Trends -

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

- Market Perspectives -

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) -

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

- Today’s Highlights -

There is something afoot in the markets.  How do we know this?  Leading stocks like Apple, Inc (AAPL $497.67) reversed hard to the south on very strong volume = the strongest volume that we have seen in Apple shares since the October 4th reversal in the markets.  The same thing took place at other market leading stocks like Deere (DE) – after posting excellent earnings today.

To us at Stock Market Companion, the  key catalysts  behinds today’s market action may be the combination of Iran’s move to possibly BAN oil exports 6 European Union nations and the uncertainty about whether European finance leaders will delay funding to Greece, and bring that nation closer to default and exit from the Euro -

1. Iran Oil Ban + Nuclear Advances (Reuters.com)
2. European finance leaders are not sure that promises will be fulfilled and are  considering NOT releasing funding to Greece. (Reuters.com)

We know this -

1. At Stock Market Companion we’ve been anticipating a pull-back in the markets after this very strong run off the October lows.
2. Market leading stocks – like Apple and Deere and others are showing signs of near term weakness. (Beginning today)
3. Geo-politically there has been some recent trouble associated with Israel and Iran (beyond the usual)… Oil has increased a few dollars / barrel since last week.

- S.I.M.P.L.E.  Stock Investingtm -

- (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) -

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts -

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

Here are two short Stock Market Companion Successful Investing Videos that will give a good picture of what we see happening with two leading stocks -

1. Apple, Inc (AAPL) share price action today.
2. Apple, Inc. and Deere, Inc. (DE)

- Benchmarks “At a Glance” -

- The Stock Market Companion -

15Minute Market Update

February 13, 2012

—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980′s ——

Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95

Today's SMC Watchlist
From 2/8

-Executive Summary-

- Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings -

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Alcoa, Inc.	AA	SOLD	1/3/2012	+5%
2	Dendreon, Inc.	DNDN	SOLD	1/11/2012	-2%
3	Mitek, Inc.	MITK	Holding	1/12/2012	+29%
4	EBAY, Inc.	EBAY	Holding	2/1/2012	+2%
5	Cree, Inc.	CREE	SOLD	1/18/2012	+18%
6	Apple, Inc.	AAPL	SOLD	1/30/2012	+9%

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

- Market Trends -

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

- Market Perspectives -

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) -

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

- Today’s Highlights -

Today the market was focused on perceived favorable news out of Greece that the legislature there had successfully passed the austerity package necessary to receive additional funding from the European Central Bank, European Union and the IMF.  At Stock Market Companion, we aren’t sure yet how this is all going to wrap up.  European Finance Ministers still have opportunities to veto what is going on.  That’s good – Because promises to make cuts from politicians are NOT worth very much.

This week is loaded with important economic data to be released -

Tuesday – January Retail Sales

Wednesday – January Industrial Production

Wednesday – Crude Oil Inventories ending 2/11.

Thursday – Initial jobless claims for last week.

Thursday – Housing starts and building permits

Thursday – Philadelphia Fed (Greater Philadelphia Area Business + Manufacturing Conditions)

U.S. political actions related to the Fiscal Year 2013 budget and upcoming payroll tax decision point.  February 29th marks the deadline for a decision on what to do about U.S. payroll taxes.  If nothing is done, they will return to 6.2% from 4.2%.  At this moment, conservatives in Washington are considering extending the payroll tax reductions through the rest of the year, without finding a way to fund these losses in revenue for the government.  This would be a return to the idea that somehow as a nation we can proceed with both tax cuts and no spending cuts, which we know doesn’t work.  We’ve proved that for the last decade – which is why we are in such terrible shape financially as a nation.

Today the price of oil jumped $2/barrel as tensions in the Middle-East rose between Israel and Iran.

All of the above items will have an impact on the markets.

From Friday, here’s what we know -

• The market is due for some form of pullback.
• The catalyst for this pullback was the trouble in Europe regarding Greece.  We covered this on previous days and in an SMC Intra-Day Alert early this morning.  See below.
• Some market leading stocks like Apple, Inc., have not yet shown much weakness (so the situation doesn’t YET look too grave, although this could change if Greece does default).
• Corporate earnings are good, but stocks have traveled a long way higher in many cases.  Strong profit taking can set-in.
• The U.S. economy is expanding slowly.
• Many stocks are behaving predictably.  There are some disappointments, like Dendreon (DNDN) however.  It’s come right back in from its excellent breakout.
• The employment situation in the U.S. – although bleak – has improved some.
• Opportunities are continuing to unfold – like Alcatel-Lucent this morning and others like Mitek Systems…etc…
• The banking industry and housing industry is in the early innings of “righting-itself”
• We have followed our S.I.M.P.L.E. investing strategy and engaged the market well at key transition points.
• The Federal Reserve is being very accommodative – which is good for stocks.

- S.I.M.P.L.E.  Stock Investingtm -

- (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) -

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts -

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

Please click here for a SMC Successful Investing Video (5 minutes) that provides an overview of the broader market, and two stocks of interest that we brought to your attention on Friday -

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU $2.19)

Clearwire (CLWR $2.27)

- Benchmarks “At a Glance” -

- The Stock Market Companion -

15Minute Market Update

February 10, 2012

—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980′s ——

Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95

Today's SMC Watchlist
Wednesday’s

-Executive Summary-

- Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings -

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Alcoa, Inc.	AA	SOLD	1/3/2012	+5%
2	Dendreon, Inc.	DNDN	SOLD	1/11/2012	-2%
3	Mitek, Inc.	MITK	Holding	1/12/2012	+29%
4	EBAY, Inc.	EBAY	Holding	2/1/2012	+2%
5	Cree, Inc.	CREE	SOLD	1/18/2012	+18%
6	Apple, Inc.	AAPL	SOLD	1/30/2012	+9%

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

- Market Trends -

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

- Market Perspectives -

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) -

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

- Today’s Highlights -

We ended our last 15Minute Market Update with, “The market is likely to pull-back some soon…?”  Well – Today marks the beginning of the pull-back.

The markets generally do NOT go straight UP, yet many individual stocks have that appearance at this time.  We have been announcing here in your 15Minute Market Update that it was mostly unsuitable to be purchasing stocks at this time without buying on a pullback.

Here is what we know -

• The market was due for a pullback.
• The catalyst for this pullback was the trouble in Europe regarding Greece.  We covered this on previous days and in an SMC Intra-Day Alert early this morning.  See below.
• Some market leading stocks like Apple, Inc., have not yet shown much weakness (so the situation doesn’t YET look too grave, although this could change if Greece does default).
• Corporate earnings are good, but stocks have traveled a long way higher in many cases.  Strong profit taking can set-in.
• The U.S. economy is expanding slowly.
• Many stocks are behaving predictably.  There are some disappointments, like Dendreon (DNDN) however.  It’s come right back in from its excellent breakout.
• The employment situation in the U.S. – although bleak – has improved some.
• Opportunities are continuing to unfold – like Alcatel-Lucent this morning and others like Mitek Systems…etc…
• The banking industry and housing industry is in the early innings of “righting-itself”
• We have followed our S.I.M.P.L.E. investing strategy and engaged the market well at key transition points.
• The Federal Reserve is being very accommodative.

Here is what we don’t know now -

• How far this pull-back will go.  The degree of pull-back that is upon us is mostly aligned with the degree to which Greece and the EU are able to contain and make progress on their problems.  The worse-case scenario is this – Greece decides to remove itself from the European Monetary Union and default on the bonds they have issued.  So far this worse case scenario appears only to be a distant possibility.  There is however a legislative vote to take place in Greece on the latest negotiated austerity package.  Outcome of this vote = “No one knows”.

- S.I.M.P.L.E.  Stock Investingtm -

- (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) -

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts -

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

We are alert to possible opportunities unfolding at ALU and CLWR.  These are both sub-$5/share stocks and are therefore increasingly speculative.

We transmitted these SMC Intra-Day Alerts -

1. Dear Subscriber-Friend,

Due to the size of our holdings, at SMC we have sold all holdings of Alcoa, Apple, Dendreon, and Cree.  We have sizeable profits in each – with the NOTABLE exception of DNDN.

We will re-consider our portfolio balances into next week.

To avoid any misunderstandings, please remember that we do NOT make any investment recommendations for any individual.  We cannot know the investment suitability and risk tolerance of each member.  Each investor is on their own.  Please see our disclaimer below.

Your – Stock Market Companion

2. Dear Subscriber-Friend,

This morning, shares of Alcatel-Lucent (Ticker: ALU $2.23) are moving higher after the company reported its first annual profit in over 6 years!

Here’s our SMC Successful Investing Video that covers this development.

To avoid any misunderstandings, please remember that we do NOT make any investment recommendations for any individual.  We cannot know the investment suitability and risk tolerance of each member.  Each investor is on their own.  Please see our disclaimer below.

Your – Stock Market Companion

3. Dear Subscriber-Friend,

The markets are behaving as we discussed yesterday = Pull-Back!  We summarized things yesterday with this, “It boils down to this – for “short termers” now may be a good time to book some profits.  For those interested in seeing where this market can go longer term with excellent stocks, it’s probably suitable to keep these stocks in a deep drawer and not over-analyze them.”

The markets have come a long way in 4.5 months.  Profit-taking was DUE.  The catalyst behind today’s profit taking is the trouble in the EU.  This is exactly the problem that Mr. Dimon at J.P. Morgan-Chase identified on his conference call last month.  The Europeans are NOT working together to fix the problem.  Negotiators work in good faith, the Greek government agrees to aggressive cuts, and then the 16 EU finance ministers demand more after the agreement has been created and possibly settled.

Here’s a summary from an AP article that covers it well (written by Pan Pylas) -

Investors breathed a sigh of relief that the agreement would allow Greece to get a euro130 billion ($173 billion) bailout package and avoid a bankruptcy next month that could send shockwaves around the financial markets.

But finance ministers from the other 16 eurozone states threw a spanner in the works late Thursday and insisted that Greece had to save an extra euro325 million ($430 million), pass the cuts through a restive parliament and guarantee in writing that they will be implemented even after planned elections in April.

The renewed hurdles in the way to the avoidance of a Greek default, which could send shockwaves around the global economy, dented sentiment in the markets Friday. Stocks were down through the Asian session into Europe’s, with the benchmark index in Athens 1.6 percent lower by midday local time.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.3 percent at 5,876 while Germany’s DAX fell 0.9 percent to 6,728.

A “spanner” is a term used  to describe a wrench.

We teach at Stock Market Companion that market pull-backs during a defined uptrend, are an excellent opportunity to find shares of companies that are simply quieting down and showing good relative strength in comparison to the broader market.  Company stocks that are in strong uptrends that quiet down and build nice, lateral consolidations offer possible good entries for investments.  Other stocks that re-trace along with the markets and find support at key technical support levels like 50 day moving average in price lines also offer often good entries.

To avoid any misunderstandings, please remember that we do NOT make any investment recommendations for any individual.  We cannot know the investment suitability and risk tolerance of each member.  Each investor is on their own.  Please see our disclaimer below.

Your – Stock Market Companion

- Benchmarks “At a Glance” -

Grow your money – on your own – inside your retirement accounts (IRA, Roth IRA… ) or in your traditional brokerage account… Follow how we apply our successful “S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing” process – “Where excellent investments begin with a Story and end with Earnings”  to grow our own money.  You can decide on your own whether to do the same or simply watch and learn. It takes just a few minutes a day.

Start YOUR FREE 14 Day TRIAL of Your 15Minute Market Update and Watchlist TODAY!

Only $49.95/month… Month-by-Month Subscription.  Cancel Anytime.

Click here for a glimpse of the SMC Investment Returns.

Please remember – at the Stock Market Companion we do not and cannot give individual investment advice. According to the State of Washington RCW21.20.005 the Stock Market Companion is not a Registered Financial Advisor and we do not render any advice on the basis of the specific investment situation of a particular individual. This information is for a wide readership and is not intended for any particular individual,  and under no circumstances should our Free Report, Market Update or Watchlist be considered an investment recommendation or plan for any specific individual.  By accessing this material, you agree that the Stock Market Companion will not be held liable for any actions taken by a subscriber or other parties.  Please seek the counsel of a broker or other licensed investment professional for accurate pricing and concerning the suitability of all investments that you may be considering. Disclosure : You understand that the Stock Market Companion holds positions in the above mentioned securities.  Based on market related or personal events these positions may change without notice.

* Past performance is of course no guarantee of future performance.  All investing involves risk!

- The Stock Market Companion -

15Minute Market Update

February 8, 2012

—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980′s ——

Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95

Today's SMC Watchlist

-Executive Summary-

- Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings -

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Alcoa, Inc.	AA	Holding	1/3/2012	+9%
2	Dendreon, Inc.	DNDN	Holding	1/11/2012	+6%
3	Mitek, Inc.	MITK	Holding	1/12/2012	+23%
4	EBAY, Inc.	EBAY	Holding	2/1/2012	+2%
5	Cree, Inc.	CREE	Holding	1/18/2012	+18%
6	Apple, Inc.	AAPL	Holding	1/30/2012	+5%

- Markets “At a Glance” -

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

- Market Trends -

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

- Market Perspectives -

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) -

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

- Today’s Highlights -

Here’s what is happening -

The equities (stock) markets have been moving HIGHER since October 4, 2011 (“THE” Key Upside Reversal Day – which we identified with our special report to members).

1. Markets are markedly higher over the last two months at a rate that is NOT sustainable.
2. The broader market (S&P 500) is right up against resistance imposed by the July 2011 highs.
3. The European markets are weak today due to uncertainties in Greece concerning Greece’s commitment to their austerity programs.

We are now in earnings season and corporate earnings have largely been very good.

The recent U.S. Department of Labor Non-Farm Payroll Report was surprisingly GOOD.  This has given the market extra push.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has announced that interest rates will stay low for an extended period of time.  This means that the economy is NOT robust in the eyes of the Fed and they want to do everything in their power to improve things.  Low interest rates help push money into higher yielding (and higher risk) investments like equities.

The U.S. primary election season is under-way and there is lots of media attention there.

In Europe, at this moment in time it’s beginning to look as if the situation in Greece will get resolved – as long as Greek citizens go along with it.  Greece has announced some strong cuts, such as a -22% reduction in the minimum wage there…  We’ll see.

The market is likely to pull-back some soon…?

- S.I.M.P.L.E.  Stock Investingtm -

- (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) -

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts -

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

Today another SMC Holding = Mitek Systems, Inc. (Ticker: MITK $10.31) jumped STRONGLY higher.  At one point today, the shares were over +25% higher than yesterday’s close.

Let’s apply quickly our S.I.M.P.L.E. investing model to Mitek -

S = Story = The company has created the system that allows companies like banks and insurance companies (and others) to offer their customers abilities to take pictures of – in the case of banks – checks with their smartphones and deposit them automatically into their bank accounts.   This optical data capturing and transfer system for smartphones can be used for many innovative and cost saving applications.  Please click here for a link to Mitek’s website section identifying different solutions that are offered by their innovative system.

I = Institutional interest / Investor Interest = The company’s shares have risen from $1.61/share in October 2010 to over $10/share today.  Trading volume is expanding.

M = Market = The market is in a clearly defined UPTREND since  October 4, 2011.

P = Person or Product = The product is very innovative and is associated with the explosion in smart phone use.  The product is a very practical tool, AND requires careful testing with the customers (banks and insurance co’s) who want to adopt it.  So there are some barriers to entry from competitors.

L = Leader = Mitek’s share appreciation certainly places it in the leading stock category for stocks under $10/share in price.

E = Earnings = The company has posted its FIRST quarter of profitable earnings on +151% in sales revenue over the same quarter last year.  Gross operating margins for their product is over +90%! That’s fantastic.

So there you have a quick application of our S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing method as applied to Mitek.

Now – staying with MITK – Please click here for our Stock Market Companion Successful Investing Video where we talk about the technical developments taking place with the shares. Please remember to right click on the video icon to bring up commands that allow you to rewind, replay, or stop the video.

When you are done with the video, please click here to a link to the Quarterly Report directly from Mitek, Corp. You will find it an excellent read.

- Benchmarks “At a Glance” -

Grow your money – on your own – inside your retirement accounts (IRA, Roth IRA… ) or in your traditional brokerage account… Follow how we apply our successful “S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing” process – “Where excellent investments begin with a Story and end with Earnings”  to grow our own money.  You can decide on your own whether to do the same or simply watch and learn. It takes just a few minutes a day.

Start YOUR FREE 14 Day TRIAL of Your 15Minute Market Update and Watchlist TODAY!

Only $49.95/month… Month-by-Month Subscription.  Cancel Anytime.

Click here for a glimpse of the SMC Investment Returns.

Please remember – at the Stock Market Companion we do not and cannot give individual investment advice. According to the State of Washington RCW21.20.005 the Stock Market Companion is not a Registered Financial Advisor and we do not render any advice on the basis of the specific investment situation of a particular individual. This information is for a wide readership and is not intended for any particular individual,  and under no circumstances should our Free Report, Market Update or Watchlist be considered an investment recommendation or plan for any specific individual.  By accessing this material, you agree that the Stock Market Companion will not be held liable for any actions taken by a subscriber or other parties.  Please seek the counsel of a broker or other licensed investment professional for accurate pricing and concerning the suitability of all investments that you may be considering. Disclosure : You understand that the Stock Market Companion holds positions in the above mentioned securities.  Based on market related or personal events these positions may change without notice.

* Past performance is of course no guarantee of future performance.  All investing involves risk!

- The Stock Market Companion -

15Minute Market Update

February 6, 2012

—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980′s ——

Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95

Today's SMC Watchlist

-Executive Summary-

- Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings -

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Alcoa, Inc.	AA	Holding	1/3/2012	+10%
2	Dendreon, Inc.	DNDN	Holding	1/11/2012	+14%
3	Mitek, Inc.	MITK	Holding	1/12/2012	+3%
4	EBAY, Inc.	EBAY	Holding	2/1/2012	+1%
5	Cree, Inc.	CREE	Holding	1/18/2012	+16%
6	Apple, Inc.	AAPL	Holding	1/30/2012	+3%

- Markets “At a Glance” -

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

- Market Trends -

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

- Market Perspectives -

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) -

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

- Today’s Highlights -

Although the equities markets (stocks)  in the U.S. are down a bit today, the selling is quiet – particularly in light of what could be taking place.  Consider that the market has been moving in an uptrend now for 4 months, there is plenty of room for some profit taking to emerge from those – like SMC members – who have been engaging the markets since October 4, 2011.   The catalyst for selling would be easy to find =

1. Markets are markedly higher over the last two months at a rate that is NOT sustainable.
2. The broader market (S&P 500) is right up against resistance imposed by the July 2011 highs.
3. The European markets are weak today due to uncertainties in Greece concerning Greece’s commitment to their austerity programs.

So far, instead of aggressive profit-taking occurring in the marketplace, what we are seeing is quiet action and even some stocks like Stock Market Companion holdings Apple, Inc., Dendreon, and Mitek each moving HIGHER.

There’s not that much more to talk about today – other than the awareness that the subject of Greece is beginning to pick-up attention again.  The U.S. dollar advanced today, re-establishing a hint of the inverse relationship we experienced throughout last year when the U.S. dollar increases the equities market decreases…

- S.I.M.P.L.E.  Stock Investingtm -

- (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) -

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts -

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

SMC Holding Dendreon pushed over +16% Higher today. At the beginning of that move today we sent out this SMC Intra-Day Alert – Identifying our ADD-TO to our SMC holdings of Dendreon (DNDN $16.75).  Our timing on this one was good and we hope that many of you have benefited from our repeated reporting and explaining about Dendreon in the context of our S.I.M.P.L.E. investing method.

Our initial entry was on January 11, 2012 at $14.44.  We added-to on January 25th, then trimmed our holdings some on the very next day to to a very untimely negative article in the press.  Our add-to entry was today at 7.09 am (PST) at $14.85.  At this moment the shares are UP tremendously at $16.75 for a +14% move higher in our investment from our break-even line.  We have every reason to believe that the shares can move higher from here and therefore are NOT taking our profits at this time.

Here’s the alert -

Dear Subscriber-Friend,

At SMC, we added-to our position on Dendreon (DNDN) this morning at $14.85.

We are applying our S.I.M.P.L.E. method and seeing a possible follow-through to the UPSIDE this morning above the important (for this stock) $15 line.  This stock has a lot of ground that it could possibly recover as it moves forward with its innovative, effective, and FDA approved prostate therapy.

To avoid any misunderstandings, please remember that we do NOT make any investment recommendations for any individual.  We cannot know the investment suitability and risk tolerance of each member.  Each investor is on their own.  Please see our disclaimer below.

Your – Stock Market Companion

We will create a Successful Investing Video on our Dendreon investment steps as soon as we can.

On Friday, we mentioned the tragedy that took place over at Micron, Corp. in Boise, Idaho with their young CEO – Steve Appleton- perishing in his single engine aircraft.  We mentioned that this sort of extremely disappointing surprise news can move the stock DOWN approx. 10% or more.  As an SMC rule of thumb, if a good CEO of a good company is suddenly removed from his position, you can count on the stock taking at least a -10% hit.

Shares of Micron (MU $7.75) are only down -2.5%.  Intel, Inc. received an upgrade to $33/share today – which is providing a little bit of support – broadly speaking to the semiconductor stocks.

- Benchmarks “At a Glance” -

- The Stock Market Companion -

15Minute Market Update

February 3, 2012

—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980′s ——

Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95

Today's SMC Watchlist

-Executive Summary-

- Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings -

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Alcoa, Inc.	AA	Holding	1/3/2012	+10%
2	Dendreon, Inc.	DNDN	Holding	1/11/2012	-2%
3	Mitek, Inc.	MITK	Holding	1/12/2012	+3%
4	EBAY, Inc.	EBAY	Holding	2/1/2012	+2%
5	Cree, Inc.	CREE	Holding	1/18/2012	+18%
6	Apple, Inc.	AAPL	Holding	1/30/2012	+2%

- Markets “At a Glance” -

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

- Market Trends -

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

- Market Perspectives -

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) -

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

- Today’s Highlights -

Today is the first Friday of the month and this brings with it the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s Non-Farm Payroll Report.  Today’s report was a huge surprise!

Here is the summary of the details (Please click here for the details directly from the Bureau of Labor’s Report!) -

• Unemployment rate DROPPED -0.2% to +8.3%
• Non-farm payrolls +243,000
• Number of unemployed persons = 12.8 million (that’s a huge number)
• Average hourly earnings for all employees on private payrolls = $23.29 / hour (the median earnings would be a more interesting number).
• Previously reported payroll numbers for November and December were each adjusted HIGHER

Remember, at Stock Market Companion we keep an eye on “U6″ = Total Unemployed + total employed part time for economic reasons.  Last January the percentage of the labor force that fell into this category was +17.3%!  Last month, this number dropped to +15.1% = a significant improvement.  This U6 number is the number that no one talks about, but that we all feel the results of in our families, circle of friends, and on Main Street.

Please click here for the table that shows “U6″.

Of significance today = The NASDAQ, as measured by the Nasdaq ETF (QQQ $62.02) moved to 11 year high’s.  Keep in mind that SMC holding Apple, Inc. represents approx. 12% of the NASDAQ 100.

- S.I.M.P.L.E.  Stock Investingtm -

- (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) -

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts -

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

Today we sent out this SMC Intra-Day Alert – It say’s it all concerning the favorable nature of this current market environment.

Dear Subscriber-Friend,

It’s been a long time since we’ve had this kind of excellent market behavior for investing.  This morning the markets are UP again – in step with a very favorable U.S. Department of Labor “Jobs Report” (Non-Farm Payrolls).  We will report more about this and provide you a link to this report this afternoon.  We’ve made two short SMC Successful Investing Videos this morning to give you a picture of what is happening and to take a look at a few of our holdings. These are designed to be quick and to the point at 5 minutes each… Here they are -

1. SMC Successful Investing Video – Market and Alcoa (AA)
2. SMC Successful Investing Video – Cree (CREE) and Ebay (EBAY)

To avoid any misunderstandings, please remember that we do NOT make any investment recommendations for any individual.  We cannot know the investment suitability and risk tolerance of each member.  Each investor is on their own.  Please see our disclaimer below.

Your – Stock Market Companion

- Benchmarks “At a Glance” -

- The Stock Market Companion -

15Minute Market Update

February 1, 2012

—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980′s ——

Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95

Today's SMC Watchlist

-Executive Summary-

- Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings -

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Alcoa, Inc.	AA	Holding	1/3/2012	+4%
2	Dendreon, Inc.	DNDN	Holding	1/11/2012	-1%
3	Mitek, Inc.	MITK	Holding	1/12/2012	+2%
4	EBAY, Inc.	EBAY	Purchased Today	2/1/2012	-1%
5	Cree, Inc.	CREE	Holding	1/18/2012	+10%
6	Apple, Inc.	AAPL	Holding	1/30/2012	+1%

- Markets “At a Glance” -

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

- Market Trends -

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

- Market Perspectives -

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) -

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

- Today’s Highlights -

Broader perspectives are important now.   In 2011, the markets were confronted with -

1. The first significant Arab uprising in 2 generations, with consequences which could have significantly impacted the world economy due to oil supply disruptions.
2. Tsunami and nuclear meltdown in the world’s fourth largest economy = Japan.
3. The end of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s QE II program.
4. Downgrade of the U.S. debt rating to AA+
5. Continuous uncertainty facing the European Monetary Union.
6. Slowing economic growth in Europe
7. Unimpressive economic growth in the USA.

… Yet U.S. equities (stock) markets closed FLAT for the year last year.  Our broader market road map at Stock Market Companion – the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) closed at the end of December 2010 at 125.75 and at the end of December 2011 at 125.50.  Essentially UNCHANGED.   When you consider all of what happened last year – which we listed in points 1-7 (above), and the fact that the broader market closed even for the year, it shows us that investors are WILLING to hold onto their investments AND put money to work when the markets are weak.

2012 has begun with a strong UP thrust in the broader market in January.  The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is UP approx. 5.5% for the month of January alone.  That’s a very strong gain and is NOT sustainable.  The market is NOT going to go up +60 – 80% this year, but we are expectant that there are some individual stock stories that will emerge that we won’t want to miss!

In the absence of any earth-shaking geo-political (a stand-off with Iran comes to mind) or natural disaster, we need to now give stocks in this market room to breathe and to prove their earnings numbers and – for those which have the numbers and growth catalysts to attract institutional investor interest – to begin to gradually move higher.

At this moment in time, we are seeing more of a tolerance for risk and underlying strength in the equities (stock) markets than we have been since November 2009 – April 2010. (Just wait, now that we have made this bold proclamation, something will blow-up tomorrow!).   We are not saying that the economy is good, we simply see an underlying demand and an appetite for risk that we haven’t seen in a while.  Companies have – to a large degree – right-sized their businesses and made necessary adjustments to the current economy.

- S.I.M.P.L.E.  Stock Investingtm -

- (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) -

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts -

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

Today we sent out this Stock Market Companion Intra-Day Alert highlighting our SMC purchase of Ebay, Inc shares (Ebay $32.20)

Dear Subscriber-Friend,

We are careful and opportunistic investors.  We follow a strict investment routine defined by our S.I.M.P.L.E. investing model and therefore we watch the broader market like a hawk for signs of strength as well as deterioration or exhaustion.

Yesterday we trimmed holdings in two stocks that we felt a bit uncomfortable with at the moment – we didn’t like having 8 holdings on the market with the release of somewhat disappointing economic indicators – which we covered in detail yesterday.  Please see your SMC Alert email from yesterday for your review of these points.

Today however is a new day.  The market appears to be shrugging off the immediate implications of the economic indicators released yesterday and pushing higher in its uptrend.  This is fine, but we aren’t going to let the day-to-day gyrations in the market over-influence our activities.  We know that the market has been moving steadily higher from the October 4th – when we sent out our special alert notifying you of a possible key reversal day in the works and when we began to invest heavily in the market – resulting in very strong returns.  We’ve now had 4 months of rally, so we are a bit cautious as to how the market is going to handle this uptrend going forward in the face of weakening near term economic indicators.

Nonetheless, shares of Ebay are pressing HIGHER today out of a nice approx. two week tight consolidation following a gap higher from their recent January 18th quarterly earnings announcment that was simply excellent.  On January 18th, Ebay posted their best quarterly earnings in over 2 years at $0.60/share and +35.5% year over year quarterly earnings expansion*!   Ebay’s earnings and revenue appear to be expanding.

We are particularly interested in Ebay’s story.  The old Ebay story was their presence as the leading ecommerce site for residential and business people trying to sell things on the web using Ebay’s auction format.  The new story involves Ebay’s ownership of Paypal and the idea that Paypal may really have a growth spurt ahead as people begin using their smart phones for retail shopping, connected with their Paypal account AND AVOID using Visa and Mastercard.  Retailers would love to lower their transaction fees associated with Visa and Mastercard … and would certainly embrace Paypal.  We’ll have to see.

We purchased shares of Ebay at $32.37 and we are placing our stop at $29.75 to give this one room to move around some, and places our stop just below the January 18th lows for day – the day Ebay presented these very good earnings.

Please click here for your 5 minute SMC Successful Investing Video that covers useful details about Ebay and how we are viewing Ebay this morning.

Please remember that we are not recommending Ebay as an investment for any individual.  We obviously cannot know the investment suitability and risk tolerance of each member.  Each investor is on their own.  Please see our disclaimer below.

Your – Stock Market Companion

- Benchmarks “At a Glance” -