Look at ABK. Bad news keeps coming out, poor fundamentals.... They are a bond insurer who got involved in the RMBS and CDOs and they've been pounded.
I got in at $1.04 in early April, rode it to $2.09 in early May, and decided that since I had been jumping ship on other stocks too early that I was going to weather the sell off and be on the train for the next upswing. Well, two months later I'm still waiting for the upswing as it closed at .81 today. Purely a gamble stock but I still like it.
From a non technical stand point I like it because....as with a lot of other stocks in this price range, it has shown huge upside potential over the past year. Last year at this time it soared from just over a dollar to just under nine in less than 2 months. The dowturns are just as severe though, so having an exit strategy is a must. Wish I would have had one.
Just prior to this most recent downturn, huge blocks of shares were being bought up in after hours trading -- 6 figure trades between $1.10 and $1.30. Regular hours trading remained well below its average, and pre and after market trading have been normal -- except for those few days.
Also, just before the most recent downturn, a huge amount of Janurary $2.50 call options were bought. Very unusual, as this is a heavily shorted stock.
A lot of rumors that this stock isn't going to survive, but I'm just not getting those vibes. Always a risk with these penny stocks, but what the hell...I'm trying to make a score, and it's my belief that it's stocks like these to do it with. Hopefully a year from now the so called experts will be recommending to buy a $7 stock that I bought for a buck.
The price started dropping about 3 weeks ago when they announced they were postponing efforts to launch a seperate insurance branch because they couldn't get outside investors to come in on favorable terms. I think a lot of people were holding this stock with the hopes that they would get the go ahead, and when they made the announcement the sell off started. This is also the point where huge trades were made after hours. The news wasn't exactly unexpected as they had been trying to get their seperate insuranace arm going for a year and even stated in the last quarterly report that this wasn't going well.
ABK has stopped writing new business and are focusing now on loss reduction and other "possible business ventures". The ratings agencies -- cocksucking Moody's and S & P -- downgrade them every time the stock begins to show positive momentum. Management, although quiet for the most part, continues to speak of future endeavors when they do release a statement. I just don't get the bankruptcy vibes as I did with SIX, SBKC, and obviously GM. I am long on this stock, as I think it will survive. It was a $100 stock prior to the economic downturn, was the number one business in the industry, and also one of the oldest in the field.
If I was well versed and an expert at assessing a stock, there's no way in hell I'd buy this. But this is where I'm spending my gambling money.