Tag - RAME

We see that in the fact that U-6 rate is climbing faster then the official U-3 rate. People are losing jobs, and those that have lost them can't find another one. Some are giving up hope for an immediate solution.
 
That's why President Obama has extended federal jobless benefits by 20 weeks -- people need help.  The U.S. government's Trade Adjustment Assistance Program is getting swamped with applications.  This program pays benefits to people whose jobs have been shipped overseas or wiped out due to foreign competition.

Ironically, we will probably see the official rate of unemployment, the U-3 rise before unemployment improves. At some point, the U-6'ers will pick up the search again. That will move them back into the U-3 tally. Then hopefully they will get a job, and the official rate will decline.

So what does this mean for small-cap stocks? A couple things…

The first support line is the 50-day moving average.  Almost this entire group of stocks bounced at or near this support line.  The chart below shows this for Tri-Valley, which performed perfectly.  It is not always this precise, but if you look at charts for the others you'll see similarities.  If this group can hold their 50-day moving average lines, that support level is a good entry point.  If they break lower, look down to the 200-day moving average.  That's quite a drop...

Finding an energy industry small-cap stock forces investors to drill down and sift out the shams from the legitimate possibilities. It’s a rocky process, but with oil prices soaring, smaller oil and gas producers are attracting more notice for their potential to help satiate the world’s craving — and enrich shareholders.

Ram Energy Resources, Inc. (Nasdaq:RAME) is one of those well-established, independent oil and gas companies, ramping up its expansion in size and scope beyond its principal exploration focus on Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. No multinational here, Ram Energy’s attention has remained with its core operations.

Analysts who follow Tulsa, Okla.-based Ram Energy appear to find its prospects enticing, with four of the six analysts tracked by Thomson Financial giving the stock a rating equivalent to a “strong buy;” the remaining two have it at “buy.”

The median price target at Thomson is $7.25, roughly a 50% upside potential from where Ram Energy has traded in recent months. Shares closed Thursday at $4.80,and have not cracked $5 since early January.

The 52-week high for Ram was $5.64, seen last July 17, while its low point was $4.17 on Aug. 20. Shares appear to have topped out at $7 just once, in May 2006. Trading volume is typically low, and with 41 million shares outstanding, insiders hold roughly a third of them; institutional investors claim an 18% stake.

Ram Energy began in 1987, and Larry Lee (one of the founders), remains as company chairman, president and CEO, and is the largest shareholder. Many of the senior managers have been associated with the company for more than a decade.

Last October, Ram Energy announced plans to acquire privately held Ascent Energy of Plano, Texas, for $289.5 million. The acquisition was completed in late November. The purchase of Ascent added 18.6 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) of proven reserves, daily production of . . .