Top Short Squeeze Oil Stocks

Oil related stocks have dropped long and hard, and many short sellers have profited handsomely. However, at some point, the short sellers need to cover their position. The first sign of a rise in the price of oil could cause a short squeeze.

One trading technique is buying short squeeze stocks. Here is what a short squeeze stock is and what a short squeeze is.

When you short a stock, it means that you expect to make money from a drop in the price of a stock. Technically what happens is that you borrow shares of a stock, sell those shares, then buy back those shares at a hopefully lower price so that those shares can be returned. Of course, this all happens electronically, you don't actually see all the borrowing and returning of shares; it just shows up on your computer screen as a negative number of shares.

Short sellers can make a lot of money, but sometimes when the stock moves against them, the stock starts to move up, and the short sellers jump in at once to buy shares to cover their position. This is called a  short squeeze. When a short squeeze takes place, it can cause the stock to rise fast and hard. Any type of positive news can trigger the short squeeze.

So other traders take advantage of this situation buy looking for stocks to buy that may have a potential short squeeze. Here is what they look for:

• Short Percentage of Float ~ The float is the number of freely tradable shares and the short percentage is the number of shares held short divided by the float. Amounts over 10% to 20% are considered high, and potential short squeeze plays. 
• Short Ratio / Days to Cover / Short Interest Ratio -This is probably the most important metric when looking for short squeeze trades, no matter what you call it. This is the number of days it would take the short sellers to cover their position based on the average daily volume of shares traded. This is a significant ratio as it shows how "stuck" the short sellers are when they want to buy in their shares without driving up the price too much. Unfortunately for the shortsellers, the longer the number of days to cover, the bigger and longer the squeeze.
• Short Percentage Increase ~ This is the percentage increase in in the number of short sellers from the previous month.

Here are some stocks that are heavily shorted that may warrant a closer look. Remember that some stocks are heavily shorted for a reason.

Stock	Symbol	Short Interest	Days To Cover
Rex Energy Corporation	REXX	43%	7.7
CARBO Ceramics Inc.	CRR	43%	9.7
EP Energy Corp	EPE	42%	7.1
Basic Energy Services, Inc	BAS	41%	7.9
Chesapeake Energy Corp.	CHK	37%	8.6
Transocean Ltd	RIG	35%	9.1

Beware of the risks. For other stock ideas, check out many of the free stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Third Week of April

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends,' also commonly referred to as 'Dividend Capture.' This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, and the yield.

Buckle Inc.	BKE	4/13/2015	1.9%
Chesapeake Energy	CHK	4/13/2015	2.5%
Clarcor Inc.	CLC	4/13/2015	1.2%
Consolidated Communications Holdings	CNSL	4/13/2015	7.3%
Freeport McMoran	FCX	4/13/2015	1.0%
Fifth Street Finance	FSC	4/13/2015	10.0%

WD-40 Co.	WDFC	4/14/2015	1.8%
Zep Inc.	ZEP	4/14/2015	1.4%
Bon-Ton Stores Inc Com.	BONT	4/15/2015	3.1%
Legg Mason BW Global Inc.	BWG	4/15/2015	8.9%
Bowl America Inc. Cl. A	BWL-A	4/15/2015	4.7%
Cracker Barrel	CBRL	4/15/2015	2.7%
Foot Locker	FL	4/15/2015	1.6%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com. Most of the lists are free. 

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Book now available: Buying Dividends Revised and Expanded

Book now available: Stock Market Trivia Makes a Great Gift!

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Third Week of July

  

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends,' also commonly referred to as 'Dividend Capture.' This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, and the yield.

Chesapeake Energy	CHK	7/14	1.1%
Idex Corp	IEX	7/14	1.2%
Kadant Inc.	KAI	7/14	1.6%
Sesa Sterlite Ltd ADR	SSLT	7/14	0.9%
Saul Centers  REIT	BFS	7/15	3.3%

Cracker Barrel	CBRL	7/16	4.0%
Colgate-Palmolive	CL	7/16	2.1%
Comtech Telecommunications	CMTL	7/16	3.1%
CommonWealth  REIT	CWHO	7/16	6.6%
Foot Locker	FL	7/16	1.8%

 The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com. Most of the lists are free. 

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Book now available: Buying Dividends Revised and Expanded

Book now available: Stock Market Trivia
A Great Gift!

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Third Week of January

 Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, and the yield.


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City Holdings	CHCO	1/13/2013	3.2%
Chesapeake Energy	CHK	1/13/2013	1.3%
Consolidated Commun	CNSL	1/13/2014	7.9%
Gas Natural Inc.	EGAS	1/13/2013	6.5%
Freeport McMoran	FCX	1/13/2013	3.3%
Fifth Street Finance	FSC	1/13/2013	10.8%

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Shaw Communications	SJR	1/13/2013	4.1%
Trinity Industries	TRN	1/13/2013	1.1%
Aetna	AET	1/14/2013	1.3%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com. Most of the lists are free.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Book now available: Buying Dividends Revised and Expanded

Book now available: Stock Market Trivia
A Great Stocking Stuffer!

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Huge Dividend Increases are a Sign of an Economic Turnaround

What better indication of a company's health than an increase in dividend. And if lots of companies raise their dividend across various sectors, it is a positive sign for the economy. If you own a high yield stock for the long term for its income, and the stock increases its dividend, then you really don't have to care about the day to day or week to week fluctuations in the stock price.

So what companies are providing these pleasant surprises to their shareholders? Target (TGT) bumped up its dividend by 20%, an increase of 5 cents to 30 cents a share per quarter. Target sports a yield of 2.6% and trades at 10.4 times forward earnings.

Caterpillar (CAT) boosted its quarterly cash dividend by two cents to forty-six cents per share. The stock has a dividend payout rate of 1.9% and a forward price to earnings ratio of 10.7.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) is increasing its quarterly dividend by 17% to 8.75 cents a share. The company trades at 8.9 times forward earnings and yields 1%.

Iron Mountain Inc. (IRM) announced announced a 33% increase in its quarterly cash dividend. Iron Mountain yields 2.4% and trades at 21.6 times forward earnings.

Stage Stores, Inc. (SSI) announced a 20% increase in the its quarterly dividend rate to 9 cents per share from the previous quarterly rate of 7.5 cents per share. The stock has a forward PE of 10.4 and a yield of 2.1%.

CR Bard Inc. (BCR) also recently announced a dividend increase. The stock yields 0.7% and has a forward PE of 15.4.

Even FedEx (FDX) boosted its dividend. The stock trades at 13.2 times forward earnings and yields 0.6%.

With all these dividend increases, an economic turnaround must be on the horizon. If you like high yield stocks, you should check out some of the downloadable high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns FDX.

By Stockerblog.com

Carl Icahn Pumps Gas

On Monday, it was announced that billionaire trader and investor Carl Icahn increased his stake in Chesapeake Energy (CHK) from from 16.6 million shares to 38.6 million shares, an increase of over 132%. This announcement set off a buying frenzy, causing the stock to jump almost 9% during the day. Of course, Chesapeake trades at 9.8 times forward earnings and is one of the natural gas utilities that pays a yield, giving its investors a payout of 1.3%.

According to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are over 25 natural gas stock paying yields as high as 7%. For example, Atmos Energy Corporation (ATO) is a Dallas, Texas based distributor of natural gas that yields 4.3%. As a matter of fact, the company just increased its payout from $0.335 per quarter to $0.34, and has increased its dividend every year since 1989. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 13 and recently reported a 20.9% increase in revenues.

TransCanada Corp. (TRP) is a Calgary, Alberta based natural gas distributor which has a dividend payout of 4.2%. It is also involved in electrical generation. The stock trades at 16 times forward earnings, with earnings rising for the latest quarter 13.3% on a 3.9% rise in revenues.

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NWN), which distributes gas in Washington, Oregon, and California, yields 3.7%. The stock has a forward PE of 16.7. However, revenues were down 18.6% for the latest quarter.

To see the entire list of natural gas stocks that pay dividends, which can be downloaded, sorted, and updated, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Get a 5% Yield from Morgan Stanley

If you are an income investor looking for high dividend stocks and are looking to diversify into investment banking stocks, you have several to choose from, but not with high yields. For example, the yield on Morgan Stanley (MS) is only about 0.8%.

However, there is another safer way to invest in the company and get a much higher yield, with inflation protection. Morgan Stanley happens to have a preferred stock called Morgan Stanley Floating Rate Depositary Shares Non-Cumulative Preferred A (MS-PA). This security currently sells for 20.15, a big discount to its par value amount of $25. The first call date is 7/15/2011.

The annual dividend payout is one dollar per year based on 4% of the par value, payable quarterly, giving the stock a current yield of about 5%. The dollar a year dividend is the minimum payout, as the yield is adjustable upwards if rates increase. The rate is based on the three month LIBOR rate plus 0.7%, subject to the minimum.

If you like these adjustable rate preferred stocks, you should take a look at How to Get a 6% Yield from Chesapeake Energy (CHK), How to Get a 4.9% Yield from Goldman Sachs (GS), and Lucent (ALU) Pays a Yield of 13%.

A list of about 20 adjustable rate preferreds, with yields ranging from 1.83% to 8.59%, is available at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. The list includes the minimum yield, the floating rate calculation, the par value, annual income and yield.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Dividends from ETFs? Yes!

Many investors who have never purchased an ETF or Exchange Traded Fund, think that ETFs are primarily for for traders. However, there are actually hundreds of ETFs which pay dividends, and WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has turned up more than 20 with yields above 5%. There are several ETF categories to choose from including high yield bond, real estate, and emerging markets bond. Here are a few examples.

The PowerShares High Yield Corporate Bond (PHB) ETF pays a yield of 8.8%, and attempts to track the Wachovia High-Yield Bond index. The fund has been paying monthly dividends since December of 2007. It has outperformed the High Yield Bond category over the last three months. Some of the largest holdings include bonds from Baldor Electric (BEZ) and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK).

The iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (PFF) ETF yields 7.9% tracking the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index. They have been paying dividends almost every month since May 2007. The ETF has outperformed its category and index over the last year. Larger holdings include preferreds from Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and Barclays plc (BCS).

Do your homework on these ETFs before investing, especially the yield calculations, since many of the yields are based on recent higher than typical dividends that may not be maintained in the future. Always check the historical dividend payment history. A good starting point for high yield ETF ideas is the free database at wsnn.com, which can be sorted, added to, and changed.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com