Today's 5 Best Small Caps

Today I used Barchart to sort the S&P 600 Small Cap Index stocks to find the stocks with technical buy signals of 80% or better and a Weighted Alpha of 50.00+.  The top stocks today were The Medicines Company (MDCO), Dycom Industries (DY), Central Garden & Pet (CENTA), Virtusa (VRTU), and LHC Group (LHCG).

The Medicines Company (MDCO)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 96% Barchart technical buy signals
• 95.35+ Weighted Alpha
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 10 new highs and up 38.77% in the last month 
• Relative Strength Index 74.46%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 41.52
• Recently traded at 43.31 with a 50 day moving average of 34.51

Dycom Industries (DY)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 96% Barchart technical buy signals
• 153.62+ Weighted Alpha
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 10 new highs and up 15.49% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 70.06%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 76.55
• Recently traded at 79.32 with a 50 day moving average of 68.48

Central Garden & Pet (CENTA)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 96% Barchart technical buy signals
• 112.63+ Weighted Alpha
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 9 new highs and up 31.17% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 83.18%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 14.94
• Recently traded at 16.20 with a 50 day moving average of 12.14

Virtusa (VRTU)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 88% Barchart technical buy signals
• 51.12+ Weighted Alpha
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 9 new highs and up 7.31% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 60.25%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 52.53
• Recently trade at 53.38 with a 50 day moving average of 50.54

LHC Group (LHCG)

Barchart technical indicators:

• 88% Barchart technical buy signals
• 98.51+ Weighted Alpha
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 4 new highs and up 3.52% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 66.01%
• Barchart computes a technical support level at 46.73
• Recently traded at 49.16 with a 50 day moving average of 44.00

Central Garden & Pet Co - Chart of the Day

Central Garden & Pet Company (CENTA) is the Barchart Chart of the Day.  The consumer products company has a Trend Spotter buy signal, a Weighted Alpha of 95.90+ and gained 73.85% in the past year.

The Chart of the Day belongs to Central Garden & Pet Company (CENTA).  I found the consumer products stock by using Barchart to sort the Russell 3000 Index stocks first for the highest technical buy signals then again for a Weighted Alpha greater that 50.00+.  Next I used the Flipchart feature to review the charts.  Since the Trend Spotter signaled a buy on 8/6 the stock gained 34.88%.

The Company is a leading innovator, marketer and producer of quality branded products for the pet and lawn and garden supplies markets. The pet products include pet bird and small animal food, aquarium products, flea, tick, mosquito and other pest control products, edible bones, cages, carriers, pet books, and other dog, cat, reptile and small animal products. These products are sold under a number of brand names, including Kaytee, All-Glass Aquarium, Oceanic, Kent Marine, Zodiac, Pre-Strike, Altosid, Nylabone, TFH and Four Paws. The lawn and garden products include grass seed, wild bird food, weed and insect control products, decorative outdoor patio products and ant control products. These products are sold under a number of brand names, including Pennington, Norcal Pottery, New England Pottery, GKI/Bethlehem Lighting, Lilly Miller, Matthews Four Seasons, AMDRO and Grant's.

The status of Barchart's Opinion trading systems are listed below.  Please note that the Barchart Opinion indicators are updated live during the session every 10 minutes and can therefore change during the day as the market fluctuates.  The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com web site when you read this report.

Barchart technical indicators:

• 100% Barchart technical buy signals
• 95.90+ Weighted Alpha
• Trend Spotter buy signal
• Above its 20 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 12 new highs and up 35.48% in the last month
• Relative Strength index 89.35%
• Barchart computes  a technical support level at 14.12
• Recently traded at 15.16 with a 50 day moving average of 11.67

Fundamental factors:

• Market Cap $750.87 million
• P/E 23.74
• Revenue expected to grow .40% next year
• Earnings are estimated to compound at an annual rate of 10.00% for the next 5 years
• Wall Street analysts do not have recommendations on the stock
• The individual investors on Motley Fool voted 22 to 9 that the stock will beat the market

None of the normal technical trading strategies have been reliable on this stock so I would advise a trail stop loss about 20% below its recent high.