Sabrient Select Opportunity Virtual Portfolio

July 22, 2010 –  Close Partials in XRTX, Sell Short FHN

The market has shown remarkable resiliency, rallying whenever things look bleakest. Some good earnings reports and decent economic news helped further today. Nevertheless, this doesn’t feel like the start of a new bull market, and I’m quite skeptical of the upside potential. So I want to be positioned with another short, particularly after closing two short positions at Tuesday’s close (TEX and MON).

First, I’d like to close another 1/3 long position in XRTX into today’s strength. Although it’s still one of the top rated stocks in our system, it just seems to be a bit sluggish, so I’ll take another 1/3 off today at a price of $13.40 (9% gain from $12.30 entry on July 6). Recall that we closed the first 1/3 at the 10% profit mark on July 9. I’ll hold the last 1/3 in anticipation of further upside.

First Horizon National (FHN) is a regional banking holding company. It carries a SELL rating in the Sabrient Ratings Algorithm, and dismal Company Outlook Score of 2 and Value score of 38. Furthermore, it has badly lagged the market this week and over the past 3 months. I am adding it as a Short position to the Select Opportunity Virtual Portfolio at a price of $11.23.

I’ll place a stop of a closing price above Friday’s closing price of $11.79. 

Best Regards,