Following our favoriate IPO anaylst, Francis Gaskins of IPO Desktop we have radared $DG which is scheduled to trade on Friday, November 13.  

While discount stores are booming in a down economy it is uncertain how this IPO will perform from a purely trading stand point.  Many IPO’s are good for an easy 5-15% gain or short gain.  We are still doing more research using information from the IPO Report. 

• Largest discount retailer in the United States by number of stores, with 8,577 stores located in 35 states as of July 31, 2009, primarily in the southern, southwestern, midwestern and eastern United States.
• New DG stores are typically cash flow positive in their first year, generally pay back capital in under two years, and, DG believes, deliver attractive returns relative to competitors.

While this all sounds positive the oracle of IPO’s doesn’t see it giving DG only a 7 out of 20.  Please write in with any feedback.

Never one to miss a good call, the hardware has been one of our most fun trading sectors trading heavily in $APPL, $DELL and $HPQ.  Each one of these has been around a 50% gain since or original July 2009 calls shown here. 

Apple (AAPL: 202.19*, +0.73, +0.36%) is perhaps the best-performing big company in America at the moment. Despite sluggish consumer spending over the past year, shoppers remained willing, even eager, to pay a premium for Apple computers, phones and music players.

$RZ looks to have bottomed out and could be getting ready to bounce. Target prices seem to be pointing well above their current levels and there has been some upward movement in todays trading since it bottomed. All things considered this looks like a good entry point albeit with some need for caution, i.e. averaging in might be the wisest course.

$ICAD was trading at $1.55 when first featured, @ $2.26 today the stock has done pretty well for us. It’s been bouncing off the newest resistance level lately with a good size dip today. It looks like it might be worth taking a look at if you were looking for a dip to enter on. It is definitely worth looking at given its strong charge into its current position. There are many folks in the know who believe the company will outperform and the target price of three bucks looks about right.

$SFI developed a new support after the big gains of last week, up $1.23 since first featured. We are also looking at how the stock is pushing forward with impressive resilience against resistance as it reaches intraday highs approaching four bucks a share.

$SFI gained a big 40% the day after we posted thusly,

ISTAR, You Star

$STSA has had some trouble lately as it has struggled and for the most part failed to meet some of its commitments.

Sterling Financial Corp. said it plans to defer paying interest payments on its outstanding junior subordinated notes, citing its “ongoing strategy to manage through the current economic cycle.”

The Spokane holding company for Sterling Savings Bank (NASDAQ: STSA) also said it will defer regular quarterly dividends on its $303 million in preferred stock.

The bank said it’s allowed to defer interest payments on its junior subordinated notes for up to 20 consecutive quarters without default.

This event having happened at the end of August seems to decrease in relevance as it shrinks in the rearview mirror. Also significant is that there has been little in the way of rumor and innuendo regarding the company, which may be a part of the reason for today’s jump in share price. We might test the waters out and keep you updated. The pessimism regarding the issue though seems to already be built into the share price.

STSA is the parent company of Sterling Savings Bank and Golf Savings Bank.

$SFI has moved respectably from $2.13 to todays $2.37 since first featured. The company has been buoyed by stability coming back into the commercial real estate business. Even with grumblings to the contrary I look at the stability that SFI has found thus far in its share price and it seems likely worth keeping your head screwed on and waiting on some more meaningful returns.