PRGX is an Unusual Suspect. The stock showed up for the first time on the Unusual Suspect scan yesterday (having jumped 67% on over 19 times average volume). Folks who study my lists daily no doubt remember that PRGX made the Notable New Lows list all through late October and early November.

“PRG-Schultz International, Inc. and its subsidiaries provide recovery audit services to large and mid-size businesses worldwide. It operates through two segments, Accounts Payable Services and Meridian VAT Reclaim. The Accounts Payable Services segment provides services that entail the review of client accounts payable disbursements to identify and recover overpayments. It conducts business in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia. The Meridian VAT Reclaim segment specializes in the recovery of value-added taxes (VAT) paid on business expenses for corporate clients. It provides outsourced services, such as VAT reclaim process, audit and invoice retrieval, preparation and submission of VAT claims, and the subsequent collection of refunds from the relevant VAT authorities.”

The chart below is the one that Dummies care about. Once the scanner picks up an Unusual Suspect (a stock that is both unusually active and volatile), it’s just a matter of watching it for low-risk spots.

Congratulations to Ugly for being featured in the Electronic Investor section of Barron’s. He joins an elite group of solipsistic nobodies that Kathy Yakal and Theresa Carey have been kind enough to mention in print:

• The Kirk Report (487 Bloglines subscribers)
• Trader Mike (518 Bloglines subscribers, according to Feedburner)
• Random Roger’s Big Picture (156 Bloglines subscribers)
• MaoXian (216 Bloglines subscribers)
• Ugly Chart (108 Bloglines subscribers, across four feeds)

Did I forget anyone, or get the subscription counts wrong? Drop me a line if I did, and I’ll add/correct them later.

I picked these two because I’m amused that both Macro- and Micro- “visions” showed up on the Notable New Lows list at the same time.

“Microvision, Inc. engages in the design and marketing of information display and image capture products. The company offers scanning systems and related technologies that enable personal and projection displays, and image capture products. It primarily offers Nomad Expert Technician System, a wireless and wearable computer with a head-worn see-through display; and prototype color scanned beam displays, including hand-held, head-worn, and projection versions, as well as provides Flic laser bar code scanner.”

A Kurt Elling CD I got in London had copy protection from Macrovision, which made me furious when I tried to rip it. (I wrote about it but can’t find the post.) Anyway, I’m thrilled to see these digital rights management bastards making new lows.

“Macrovision Corporation provides electronic licensing, installation, and digital rights anagement technologies to entertainment producers and software publishers worldwide. Its value management solutions include anti-piracy technologies and services, embedded licensing technologies, usage monitoring for enterprises, and a host of related technologies and services from installation to update to back-office entitlement management.”

Light Poles Are Vanishing, and Baltimore’s Police Are Baffled, by Gary Gately:

“Thieves are sawing down aluminum light poles. Some 130 have vanished from Baltimore’s streets in the last several weeks … The poles… weigh about 250 pounds apiece … Last year, Baltimore, with a population about one-twelfth that of New York City’s, had a homicide rate more than five times as high. An illegal drug trade fuels much of the violence. Health officials say 40,000 addicts live among Baltimore’s estimated 650,000 residents. For at least a decade, addicts who cash in scrap metal to pay for their next fix have been ripping metal pipes, radiators and wires out of vacant houses, and prying cast-iron security grates and downspouts from buildings … thieves may be cutting the poles into pieces, then heading out of town to sell the scrap aluminum, which goes for about 35 cents a pound. It will cost about $156,000 to replace each pole, the metal arms that extend over roads and the glass globes.”

So the pole is worth $87.50 as scrap aluminum, but it costs $156,000 to replace?

FCX is a Notable New High, and PD is a Usual Suspect (it often makes my Tradeable Stocks list).

“Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, mining, and production of copper, gold, and silver. It also smelts and refines copper concentrates in Spain, as well as markets the refined copper products. The company primarily operates the Grasberg open pit and the Deep Ore Zone mines in Indonesia.”

I have exposure to the metals sector via four different things: the Basic Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB), the Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining fund (VGPMX), the Streettracks Gold ETF (GLD), and Pandas.

“Phelps Ddge Corporation engages in the production of copper, molybdenum, molybdenum-based chemicals, and continuous-cast copper rod primarily in the United States. The company operates in two divisions, Phelps Dodge Mining Company (PDMC) and Phelps Dodge Industries (PDI).”

I thought the following comment by Rob Reiner (taken from the Bonus Material on a Seinfeld DVD) is exactly right:

“What was wonderful [about the making of Seinfeld] is you had this kind of curmudgeonly, misanthropic, dyspeptic Larry David being pushed through this very accessible, likable Jerry Seinfeld … It was a marriage made in heaven.”

I watched a few episodes of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm while in the US last month. I liked it, but at the same time I thought: “this probably isn’t playing well in Omaha.” What’s the difference between niche appeal and mainstream success? Compare Larry’s constant and undeniably cruel smirk with Jerry’s big, toothy, goofy grin.

This bit from Michael Mauboussin’s recent piece, Are You an Expert?, caught my eye:

“Experts perceive patterns in their domain … Rather than focusing on the position of individual pieces, expert chess players perceive clusters of pieces, or chunks. Estimates suggest that chess masters store roughly 50,000 chunks in long-term memory. Notably, this pattern recognition does not represent superior perception ability. When chess pieces are placed randomly on the board, experts remember the positions about as well as novices. The difference amounts to a database of chunks, amassed through deliberate practice, from which experts can draw.”

I think that experienced day traders perceive and interpret intraday price patterns in chunks, at least I do. As the chart builds in real-time you suddenly recognize (unconsciously?) that a low-risk, high probability set-up is in place. Interesting, no?

Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns all made my Notable New Highs list yesterday. You have to follow the money….

The Oil Services HOLDRS made a new high yesterday. About three weeks ago I noted that SLB had broken out of a nice consolidation, and boldly stated that “the OIH hasn’t yet made a new high, but it will of course.” There’s no “of course” about it, of course, just a good guess. Schlumberger (SLB), Noble (NE), and Transocean (RIG) all made my Notable New Highs list yesterday.
“You can observe a lot just by watching.”

CMED and UPCS are Notable New Highs, both taken from my Stocks to Watch lists,

I don’t know anything about CMED even though it’s based here in Beijing. Maybe I should go over and have a tour of the plant, chat with management, etc. Write a little report, sell it online for a hundred bucks a copy. Nah, I don’t have the time.

I see that it has a float of around one million shares, which is mighty tight.

“China Medical Technologies, Inc., principally through its wholly owned subsidiary, Beijing Yuande Bio-Medical Engineering Co., Ltd., engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of products for the treatment of solid cancers and benign tumors principally in the People’s Republic of China. Its primary product is a high intensity focused ultrasound therapy system that is used for the noninvasive treatment of solid tumors in liver, breast, and kidney, as well as in the pelvic cavity or on bones, and tumors in the four limbs or superficial tissues.”

A nice high-volume breakout here in UPCS. Back in the depths of the bear market (October 2002) this stock sold for 20 cents a share.

“UbiquiTel, Inc. provides digital wireless personal communications services to markets in the western and midwestern United States. The company has an exclusive agreement with Sprint PCS to offer digital wireless personal communications services under the Sprint brand name. It provides various digital wireless personal communications services, including wireless voice and data services; and related retail products, including handsets and wireless devices.”