Investment Editor
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Small caps are back. After a miserable 2008, some momentum has returned to the Venture Exchange. The S&P/TSX venture composite index is actually one of the best performing indexes in North and South America this year, up 22 per cent. It's a long way back from a 71-per-cent loss last year, but it's a start. Let's see what stocks are leading the charge.
MORE ABOUT TODAY'S SCREEN
It's a simple screen today, ranking small caps by return for the year to date. Have a look at the moving averages by price and volume over 50 and 200 days to see if momentum is improving or faltering. If the 50-day averages are higher than the 200-day averages then it is a sign that the stock has more legs.
We'll stick to stocks that are trading above 25 cents for this screen so that we can get some meaningful percentage changes. That narrows the number of stocks to be ranked to 474 from more than 2000 on the Venture Exchange.
WHAT DID WE FIND OUT?
More than half the stocks on the list are up this year and about one third have returns in excess of 20 per cent. Speculative mining stocks are on the move again. The top name, Southern Arc Minerals Inc. is exploring for gold and copper in Indonesia.
| Small caps on the Venture Exchange, ranked by YTD return | ||||||||||
| 50-day | 50-day | 200-day | 200-day | |||||||
| $ Price | 52-wk | 52-wk | YTD % | 1-yr % | moving | avg daily | moving | avg daily | ||
| Company name | Symbol | Mar. 25 | high $ | low $ | price chg | price chg | average $ | volume | average $ | volume |
| Southern Arc Minerals | SA-X | 0.38 | 0.78 | 0.05 | 533.3 | -46.5 | 0.17 | 74,203 | 0.20 | 125,478 |
| Bluepoint Data Storage | BLP-X | 0.30 | 0.42 | 0.04 | 436.4 | 15.7 | 0.09 | 23,278 | 0.14 | 8,170 |
| Guildhall Minerals | GDM.H-X | 0.32 | 0.70 | 0.06 | 392.3 | -23.8 | 0.16 | 20,876 | 0.42 | 12,445 |
| Gleichen Resources | GRL-X | 0.47 | 0.58 | 0.09 | 327.3 | 40.3 | 0.26 | 23,383 | 0.26 | 20,267 |
| Amex Exploration | AMX-X | 0.33 | 0.37 | 0.05 | 282.4 | 47.7 | 0.25 | 82,445 | 0.16 | 28,185 |
| Ascot Resources | AOT-X | 0.36 | 1.28 | 0.05 | 260.0 | -60.0 | 0.26 | 65,915 | 0.29 | 101,745 |
| Northern Freegold Res. | NFR-X | 0.57 | 0.90 | 0.14 | 235.3 | -3.4 | 0.52 | 228,355 | 0.43 | 124,395 |
| Louvem Mines | LOV-X | 1.24 | 1.25 | 0.25 | 226.3 | 148.0 | 0.71 | 16,832 | 0.46 | 5,341 |
| Avion Resources | AVR-X | 0.28 | 0.68 | 0.04 | 223.5 | -27.6 | 0.19 | 131,517 | 0.21 | 94,902 |
| QHR Technologies | QHR-X | 0.47 | 0.47 | 0.14 | 213.3 | 59.3 | 0.29 | 15,406 | 0.23 | 10,279 |
| SNS Silver | SNS-X | 0.27 | 0.76 | 0.05 | 211.8 | -65.1 | 0.21 | 191,493 | 0.19 | 145,221 |
| Coniagas Resources | CNY-X | 0.40 | 0.55 | 0.06 | 207.7 | 33.3 | 0.32 | 68,370 | 0.22 | 25,623 |
| West High Yield Res. | WHY-X | 0.39 | 0.45 | 0.09 | 200.0 | 6.9 | 0.22 | 54,693 | 0.18 | 43,231 |
| Intercable ICH | ICH-X | 0.36 | 1.28 | 0.03 | 200.0 | -53.9 | 0.28 | 12,648 | 0.45 | 14,901 |
| Seair Inc. | SDS-X | 1.47 | 3.00 | 0.35 | 194.0 | -36.1 | 0.71 | 8,878 | 1.10 | 12,085 |
| Sparrow Ventures | SPW.P-X | 0.44 | 0.45 | 0.08 | 193.3 | 0.29 | 22,200 | 0.23 | 12,020 | |
| East Asia Minerals | EAS-X | 0.52 | 1.85 | 0.12 | 188.9 | -70.3 | 0.43 | 84,316 | 0.54 | 123,328 |
| Genterra Inc. | GIC-X | 0.60 | 0.75 | 0.20 | 179.1 | 71.4 | 0.34 | 4,598 | 0.30 | 4,093 |
| Silverstone Resources | SST-X | 1.89 | 2.95 | 0.35 | 177.9 | -32.0 | 1.10 | 904,528 | 1.16 | 409,385 |
| Maya Gold & Silver | MYA-X | 0.40 | 0.45 | 0.10 | 175.9 | 0.33 | 47,830 | 0.24 | 22,050 | |
| Mega Silver | MSR-X | 0.72 | 1.70 | 0.15 | 171.7 | -55.6 | 0.54 | 64,147 | 0.47 | 53,212 |
| Alberta Oilsands | AOS-X | 0.28 | 1.14 | 0.08 | 166.7 | -56.3 | 0.15 | 383,065 | 0.32 | 233,149 |
| Rockgate Capital | RGT-X | 0.39 | 1.15 | 0.10 | 165.5 | -30.0 | 0.33 | 168,294 | 0.45 | 109,815 |
| Stina Resource | SQA-X | 0.59 | 1.41 | 0.17 | 162.2 | -41.0 | 0.47 | 12,078 | 0.58 | 15,389 |
| Romarco Minerals | R-X | 0.45 | 0.49 | 0.09 | 161.8 | 161.8 | 0.33 | 396,710 | 0.20 | 196,526 |
| Avante Security | ASY-X | 0.39 | 0.50 | 0.15 | 160.0 | 25.8 | 0.31 | 20,360 | 0.35 | 8,660 |
| Chesapeake Gold | CKG.WT-X | 1.95 | 3.50 | 0.75 | 153.3 | -37.1 | 1.63 | 1,561 | 2.19 | 1,246 |
| SOURCE: GLOBE INVESTOR |