4 Under-$10 Biotech Stocks in Breakout Territory

DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- At Stockpickr, we track daily portfolios of stocks that are the biggest percentage gainers and the biggest percentage losers.

Read More: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks

Stocks that are making large moves like these are favorites among short-term traders because they can jump into these names and try to capture some of that massive volatility. Stocks that are making big-percentage moves either up or down are usually in play because their sector is becoming attractive or they have a major fundamental catalyst such as a recent earnings release. Sometimes stocks making big moves have been hit with an analyst upgrade or an analyst downgrade.

Regardless of the reason behind it, when a stock makes a large-percentage move, it is often just the start of a new major trend -- a trend that can lead to huge profits. If you time your trade correctly, combining technical indicators with fundamental trends, discipline and sound money management, you will be well on your way to investment success.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at a several stocks under $10 that are making large moves to the upside.

Read More: 5 Stocks Set to Soar on Bullish Earnings

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (OGXI), a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes therapies that address treatment resistance in cancer patients. This stock closed up 4% to $3.38 in Tuesday's trading session.

Tuesday's Range: $3.25-$3.39

52-Week Range: $2.86-$14.25

Tuesday's Volume: 268,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 211,778

From a technical perspective, OGXI ripped higher here right off its 50-day moving average of $3.29 with above-average volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of OGXI within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if OGXI manages to take out some key near-term overhead resistance at $3.45 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in OGXI as long as it's trending above some near-term support around $3 and then once it sustains a move or close above $3.45 with volume that hits near or above 211,778 shares. If that breakout kicks off soon, then OGXI will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels $3.84 to $4.33. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give OGXI a chance to make a run at $5.

Concert Pharmaceuticals

Concert Pharmaceuticals (CNCE), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops small molecule drugs for central nervous system disorders, renal disease, inflammation and cancer. This stock closed up 5.6% to $9.29 in Tuesday's trading session.

Tuesday's Range: $8.80-$9.40

52-Week Range: $7.12-$16.26

Tuesday's Volume: 136,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 156,897

From a technical perspective, CNCE ripped sharply higher here right above some near-term support at $8.67 and back above its 50-day moving average of $8.92 with lighter-than-average volume. This strong move to the upside on Tuesday is starting to push shares of CNCE within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if CNCE manages to take out Tuesday's intraday high of $9.40 to some more near-term overhead resistance at $9.95 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in CNCE as long as it's trending above some key near-term support at $8.67 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 156,897 shares. If that breakout gets underway soon, then CNCE will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $10.44 to $10.87. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give CNCE a chance to tag $12 to $13.

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (ACRX), a development stage specialty pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of acute and breakthrough pain. This stock closed up 4.3% to $6.99 in Tuesday's trading session.

Tuesday's Range: $6.64-$7.01

52-Week Range: $6.04-$13.64

Tuesday's Volume: 723,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 1.13 million

From a technical perspective, ACRX ripped notably higher here right above some near-term support at $6.50 with lighter-than-average volume. This stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $6.11 to $6.06. Following that bottom, shares of ACRX have started to trend higher and it's now quickly approaching a major breakout trade. That trade will hit if ACRX manages to take out some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $7.15 to its gap-down-day high from July at $7.33 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ACRX as long as it's trending above some near-term support at $6.50 or above those double bottom support levels and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 1.13 million shares. If that breakout gets underway soon, then ACRX will set up to re-fill some of its recent gap-down-day zone that started at $11.38.

CytRx

CytRx (CYTR) operates as a biopharmaceutical research and development company specializing in oncology. This stock closed up 3.7% to $3.29 in Tuesday's trading session.

Tuesday's Range: $3.17-$3.36

52-Week Range: $2.00-$8.35

Tuesday's Volume: 973,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 1.41 million

From a technical perspective, CYTR jumped higher here right above some near-term support at $3.05 with decent upside volume flows. This stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $3.08 to $3.05. Following that bottom, shares of CYTR have started to spike higher and move within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if CYTR manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.42 to its 50-day at $3.66 and then above $3.74 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in CYTR as long as it's trending above those double bottom support levels and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 1.41 million shares. If that breakout develops soon, then CYTR will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at its 200-day moving average of $4.30 to $4.50.

To see more stocks that are making notable moves higher, check out the Stocks Under $10 Moving Higher portfolio on Stockpickr.

-- Written by Roberto Pedone in Delafield, Wis.

RELATED LINKS:

>>3 Stocks Spiking on Unusual Volume

>>5 Hated Earnings Stocks You Should Love

>>These 5 Toxic Stocks Could Be Poisoning Your Portfolio

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Roberto Pedone, based out of Delafield, Wis., is an independent trader who focuses on technical analysis for small- and large-cap stocks, options, futures, commodities and currencies. Roberto studied international business at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and he spent a year overseas studying business in Lubeck, Germany. His work has appeared on financial outlets including

CNBC.com and Forbes.com.

You can follow Pedone on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zerosum24 or @zerosum24.

Benzinga Weekly Preview: Putin And Poroshenko Set To Discuss A Peace Plan

Related BBY Yellen's Speech Not Enough To Keep Dow, S&P 500 In Positive Territory GameStop Up As Q2 Earnings Surpass Estimates on Higher Sales When Rate Hikes Come, They Will Ripple Across U.S. Economy (Fox Business) Related DG Yellen's Speech Not Enough To Keep Dow, S&P 500 In Positive Territory FBR Says Dollar Tree To Meet Or Beat Dollar General On Family Dollar Family Dollar Rejects Dollar General Proposal (Fox Business)

Ukraine will be in the spotlight next week as Russian President Vladimir Putin finally meets with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also travel to Ukraine to help find a lasting solution to end the nation’s ongoing crisis. With Russia and the West caught up in a sanctions war over the situation in Ukraine, the talks are an important milestone in Ukraine’s crisis.

Key Earnings Reports

Next week investors will be waiting for several key earnings reports including Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Dollar General (NYSE: DG), Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) and Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF).

Best Buy

Best Buy is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.32 on revenue of $9.01 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.32 on revenue of $9.30 billion.

On August 16, S&P Capital IQ gave Best Buy a Hold rating with a $25.00 price target. The analyst team at S&P sees mixed results as the company attempts to compete with its online counterparts.

“We see BBY taking action to improve service and reduce costs in an attempt to compete profitably with Internet retailers as the consumer electronics category migrates online. We expect mixed results in light of an intensely competitive environment, and we think necessary price investments and ongoing deflation in certain categories will limit the beneficial impact of effective cost management.”

On June 11, Credit Suisse gave Best Buy an Outperform rating with a $40.00 price target. The analysts at Credit Suisse see the company thriving due to its inventive business strategy.

“One of the concerns about brick and mortar retailing is that store rent, an essentially fixed cost in the near term, is similar to a ball and chain around a retailer's neck, a cost that becomes heavier as traffic and productivity decline. Yet one retailer, Best Buy, has figured out how to turn this into an advantage by renting out the space to its primary suppliers, not only reducing rent and employee costs, but creating a better shopping experience for customers. Yesterday at Best Buy's annual meeting, Hubert Joly commented on the success of the store-within-a-store and strongly indicated that we will see more of this. We view this as one of the more insightful changes this superb management team has instituted at BBY.”

On August 14, Merrill Lynch gave Best Buy a Buy rating with a $36.00 price objective, noting that upcoming product cycles will likely benefit the company in the near term.

“We forecast 2Q EPS of $0.28 versus $0.32 last year and consensus of $0.32. Our estimate could be conservative and we note that continued outperformance in expense reduction could offset soft comps. While 2Q and 3Q will likely be impacted by a relative lack of new products coming to market, industry trends should fare much better in 4Q and into 2015. In particular, we expect a TV cycle driven by 4K sets (which boast 4x the resolution of HD TVs). BBY stands to benefit from meaningful product cycles in TV’s, gaming and appliances.”

Dollar General Corporation

Dollar General is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.83 on revenue of $4.77 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.77 on revenue of $4.39 billion.

On August 21, S&P Capital IQ gave Dollar General a Sell rating with a $59.00 target price, noting that the company’s customer base has remained conservative about spending.

“We believe DG will face more intense competition in FY 15 after its closest peer Family Dollar (FDO 66, Sell) reported negative comparable store sales growth during the holiday and winter seasons and a negative outlook for the fiscal year. Additionally, we believe the company's core low-income customer remains under intense economic pressure due to a weak job growth market and following cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.”

On August 18, Credit Suisse upgraded its rating for Dollar General from Neutral to Outperform with a $74.00 price target shortly following the company’s bid to buy Family Dollar.

“We are upgrading DG to Outperform from Neutral and raising our target price to $74 from $59 to reflect the company's announced bid for FDO. While not yet accepted by FDO and the eventual purchase price could be higher if DLTR counters, we believe there is a strong likelihood of DG eventually winning the asset now that their interest has been confirmed and see the combination creating significant value for shareholders. DG clearly has the ability to pay much more than DLTR, as we estimate synergies could approach $1 billion in cost and revenue benefits and see accretion at $1-2 per share. We also believe this combination makes much better strategic sense than a DLTR/FDO deal and it would clearly provide the next leg to what has already been one of the most attractive investments in retail.”

On August 18, Merrill Lynch gave Dollar General a Buy rating with a $73.00 price objective, taking into consideration the company’s proposal to acquire Family Dollar.

“Dollar General announced today a proposal to acquire Family Dollar for $78.50 per share in cash, in a transaction valued at $9.7bn on an EBITDA multiple of 11.6x. The offer is greater than the $74.50 offer by DLTR announced on July 28th, 2014and would be an all cash deal vs. DLTR’s cash/stock offer. DG stated it has already secured committed financing of $12.3bn including a revolver, term loan, and notes. The financing would also include the $305mn termination fee payable to DLTR. DG’s adjusted debt to EBITDAR would be 5.5x and the company believes it could return to investment grade within 3 years. The company estimates that the proposed transaction would be low DD accretive to earnings in the first year.”

Abercrombie & Fitch Company

Abercrombie & Fitch is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.11 on revenue of $909.22 million, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.14 on revenue of $945.70 million.

On August 16, S&P Capital IQ gave Abercrombie & Fitch a Hold rating with a $42.00 price target, noting that the company’s shares are currently quite fairly valued.

“We view the shares as fairly valued at recent levels, as ANF navigates a transition period amid intensifying competition in the U.S. from fast-fashion retailers such as Forever 21 and H&M. We think it is particularly crucial for the company to improve the fashion of its female business. While we think ANF needs to invest more in differentiated fashions and store remodels to regain a competitive edge, we look for expense cuts and ongoing rationalization of ANF's U.S. store base to support higher sales productivity and margin recovery in FY 2015. Also, we are encouraged by a continued strong growth trajectory for the DTC business.”

On July 31, Merrill Lynch gave Abercrombie & Fitch a Neutral rating, noting that the company’s clothing has finally caught up with current fashion trends.

“Abercrombie has been slow to react to fashion changes in the women’s department and we view the new Fall assortment as the biggest change that we have seen at the brand in years. The addition of the color black, a more feminine aesthetic and a lack of logo were the biggest changes. The new fashion was priced higher than fast fashion competition, but we expect it to be put on promotion at strategic times. Still, we think the new look will attract some interest.”

Tiffany & Co

Tiffany & Co is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.85 on revenue of $987.86 million, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.83 on revenue of $925.88 million.

On August 16, S&P capital IQ gave Tiffany & Co a Hold rating with a $100.00 target price, noting that the company’s shares are currently fairly valued.

“We view the shares as reasonably valued at recent levels. In the quarter ended April 30, 2014, worldwide same-store sales (on a constant currency basis) increased 11%. By region, same-store sales rose 8% in the Americas, 30% in Japan, 18% in the U.A.E., and 10% in Asia-Pacific, but were down 35 in Europe. Through retail, product and marketing investments, we see TIF successfully growing its global high end customer base, which is supporting strong sales of statement, fine and solitaire jewelry (i.e., higher priced jewelry with diamonds and/ or other gemstones).We also believe the company is attracting new customers through its lower priced fashion jewelry assortment.”

On August 13, Credit Suisse gave Tiffany & Co an Outperform rating with a $104.00 price target, pointing out the company could face some headwinds from Asia.

“We are concerned about broad-based evidence of slowing demand trends in APAC, particularly soft Macau casino revenue, weak Hong Kong watch and jewelry sales, tepid Swiss watch exports, and softness in fine wine and liquor sales. Perhaps the clearest indicator lies in watch and jewelry sales in Hong Kong, where April/May/June 2014 sales are down an average of 30% Y/Y. Some of this decline is due to lapping of heavy gold buying on favorable pricing last year, but we see potential for spillover into high-end jewelry and watch purchasing. Swiss watch exports also remain weak, with 2Q sales up a modest 1.4% (up 2% in Hong Kong) versus 4.1% growth in 1Q (7% Hong Kong).”

On July 2, Merrill Lunch gave Tiffany & Co a Buy rating with a $115 price objective, saying that improving consumer spending in the U.S. could have positive effects on the company.

“Our Price Objective for Tiffany of $115 is based on a P/E multiple of 24x our F2015 EPS estimate. This represents a premium to the luxury peer group average of 19x. We think a premium is justified given reaccelerating US trends, an immature business in key regions where other luxury companies are struggling to grow, and the outsized growth potential of watches and fashion jewelry versus peers. Risks to our PO: further deceleration in Asian and European comps, Yen headwinds, commodity cost increases, deteriorating health of the global luxury consumer.”

Economic Releases

Next week will be a busy week for economic releases with the U.S. set to put out several important reports. Housing data is expected to show a rebound in new home sales, but home prices likely increased more slowly.

Daily Schedule

Monday

Earnings Releases Expected:  CNinsure (NASDAQ: CISG), Adept Technology (NASDAQ: ADEP), OSI Systems (NASDAQ: OSIS) Economic Releases Expected: U.S. new home sales, U.S. services PMI, German Ifo business climate index

Tuesday

Earnings Expected: Bob Evans Farms (NASDAQ: BOBE), Analog Devices (NASDAQ: ADI), TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), DSW (NYSE: DSW) Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ: SAFM) Economic Releases Expected: U.S. consumer confidence, U.S. house price index, U.S. Redbook, U.S. durable goods orders

Wednesday

Earnings Expected: The Wet Seal (NASDAQ: WTSL), Express (NYSE: EXPR), Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF) Economic Releases Expected:  U.S. oil inventory data, German consumer climate, Italian consumer confidence

Thursday

Earnings Expected From: Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), Dollar General (NYSE: DG), Genesco (NYSE: GCO), Constellium NV (NYSE: CSTM) Economic Releases Expected:  Japanese retail sales, Japanese industrial production, Japanese unemployment rate, British consumer confidence, U.S. GDP, eurozone consumer confidence, German unemployment rate, Spanish GDP

Friday

Earnings Expected From: Noodles & Co. (NASDAQ: NDLS) Economic Releases Expected: U.S. Consumer Sentiment, Canadian GDP, Italian GDP, Italian CPI, eurozone unemployment rate, eurozone CPI, German retail sales, Spanish retail sales, Japanese housing starts

Posted-In: Earnings News Guidance Previews Economics Pre-Market Outlook Markets

Week's Winners & Losers: Airlines Soared, Toymakers Tottered

www.hasbro.com There were plenty of winners and losers this week, including a major airline doing something that it hasn't done in 34 years and more toymakers cutting play time short. Here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders. American Apparel (APP) -- Loser Some retailers are struggling more than others. American Apparel is shaking up its board to try to get a new lease on life, and one of the appointments announced this week was adding RadioShack (RSH) CEO Joseph Magnacca. Really? RadioShack is one of the few publicly traded retailers with a lower stock price than American Apparel. It's losing gobs of money and closing down stores. Is that really the kind of vision that American Apparel needs in the boardroom? Perhaps more importantly, should RadioShack's CEO be spreading himself thin this way at a time when his own company is struggling just to survive? American Airlines Group (AAL) -- Winner There were a lot of milestones achieved by the parent company of American Airlines and US Airways on Thursday. The biggest takeaway from its report is that the adjusted profit of $1.5 billion that it reported for its latest quarter is an all-time record for the once-struggling air carrier. The acquisition of US Airways last year and improving industry fundamentals have gone a long way to improving its fiscal viability. However, American Airlines Group also initiated a quarterly dividend of 10 cents a share. That may not seem like much, but it's the first time that the airline has offered a cash distribution since 1980. Wow. That was back when folks could still smoke in the back of the plane, and it didn't cost extra to check your luggage. It's not the only way that American Airlines Group is returning its money to its shareholders. Backed by its healthy profitability, its board cleared the way for a $1 billion stock buyback. Airlines have historically been a wealth destroyer. The cyclical swings in the business can get fierce. However, sector consolidation and an improving global economy make it a compelling place for investors to be in the near term. Toymakers -- Loser This was another hard week for the makers of traditional playthings. Hasbro (HAS) shares took a hit on Monday after posting a 12 percent decline in game sales. Other categories were more than enough to offset the weakness in games, but the stock still took a nearly 3 percent stumble on the report. Two days later it was JAKKS Pacific (JAKK) shares experiencing a nearly 14 percent plunge after it posted uninspiring results. When you combine these two reports with Mattel (MAT) falling out of favor last Friday thanks to a 15 percent drop in Barbie sales, it's easy to get worried about the state of traditional toymakers as we stroll toward the holiday shopping season. Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) -- Winner We're seeing a lot of eateries drum up excuses for why patrons aren't eating at their establishments anymore, but then we have Chipotle reminding us that it's doing just fine. The fast-casual darling posted blowout quarterly results this week with revenue soaring 29 percent to surpass $1 billion for the first time. It's not just expansion driving the spike in sales. Comparable-restaurant sales jumped 17.3 percent for the quarter. Chipotle's net income of $3.50 a share landed well ahead of the $3.09 a share that the pros were targeting. Chipotle doesn't need scapegoats when it's rolling like its signature burritos. General Motors (GM) -- Loser Another week, another major GM auto recall. The automaker giant is calling back another 717,950 vehicles to correct more safety issues. More than half of the cars in Wednesday's recall involve a potentially defective bolt that adjusts the height of car seats. GM is aware of only a couple of injuries resulting from the bad bolt, but it's yet another embarrassment for the car manufacturer. GM is now closing in on 30 million cars being recalled this year. It's not just about the near-term financial hit as recall-related costs swallowed up most of GM's profits in its latest quarter. At some point, all of these reports have to hurt the perceived quality of GM's cars. More from Rick Aristotle Munarriz
•Norway Is Giving Disney the Cold Shoulder Over 'Frozen' •An Old Favorite May Save Apple from Being All About iPhones •Disney Wants You to See Dumbo Fly Again - in Live Action

Natixis to Fund Study on Investor Behavior

It’s the perpetual balancing act for investors — achieving greater investment returns versus not wanting to take risks.

In an effort to help investor’s overcome this, Natixis Global Asset Management will fund a three-year, $1 million research project with the intentions of creating automated, customized processes to help investors make better investment decisions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it announced Monday.

“The research we’re funding at MIT will lay the foundation necessary to revolutionize traditional investment strategies designed to help investors build better portfolios and increase their chances of long-term success,” said John Hailer, chief executive officer of Natixis Global Asset Management in the Americas and Asia, in a statement.

Hailer is hoping the research project will bring “added focus on helping investors develop a personal, outcome-based approach to achieve success. It’s time to introduce a new paradigm for investing,” he said in a statement.

According to a Natixis survey released in May, 70% of investors globally face an ongoing psychological battle between the hunt for investment returns and the preservation of capital [67% in 2013], and tied to this, 86% of investors seek to balance risk and return [84% in 2013].

The 2014 Global Survey of Individual Investors, which surveyed 1,050 investors across the U.S. as part of a survey of nearly 6,000 investors in 14 countries, also reported that only 56% were willing to take just minimal risk to achieve high yields.

The survey stated, “the modern day investor is conflicted, wanting to move forward in pursuit of asset growth, yet not at a velocity that creates exposure to additional risk and the potential polar opposite effect on portfolios – decreasing rather than increasing value.”

The research project, led by Andrew W. Lo, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and director of the Laboratory for Financial Engineering (LFE), will focus on investor behavior and personal benchmarks and will utilize data from Natixis global Investor Insights surveys of individuals, financial advisors and institutions.

“Many companies and experts have been talking about the need for change for years now,” said Lo, in a statement.

“The Holy Grail of developing automated, customized processes for making better investment decisions is not unique to our times or the financial industry,” said Lo, who is also the founder, chairman and chief investment strategist of AlphaSimplex, in a statement. “But what is unique is the confluence of breakthroughs in financial technology, computer technology and institutional infrastructure that, for the first time in the history of modern civilization, makes automated personalized investment management a practical possibility.”

Lo and his research team will study the industry practice of using an index as a benchmark to develop a more modern approach to benchmarking based on an individual’s unique circumstances as well as current market dynamics. In order to examine the mistakes often made by investors, researchers will develop algorithms that mimic common, irrational investor behavior — like buying high, selling low and moving to cash for extended periods of time.

This will help them to then create new customizable benchmarks and indexes that adapt to changing market conditions and behavioral challenges.

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Tricks & Tragedies of the Conventional Retail Industry

Retail sector is one of the oldest forms of business where the business directly interacts with the end customers in a big way. However, with time, it has also lost some of its gloss and with the entry of so many competitors the going in the sector has gone from tough to tougher. Nevertheless, as the saying goes- "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". Let us take a closer look at how the retail sector will move through the year.

With the advent of technology and ecommerce, modern day customers have become more informed than the consumers of the yester-years, and know more than the sales representatives at the counter. If we take a helicopter view of the retail sector we will be able to locate a distinct war between the online retailers offering cheaper price tags with beefed up service and the traditional retailers trying everything they could to fill the dent in their market share being created by online shopping. To understand how the conventional retailers are leaving no stone unturned to cope up with their online peers, let us look at their moves and the impact of those measures by peeping into the management strategies of the world famous retail giant, Walmart (WMT).

Source: Retailwire

Scan & Go

To keep pace with the tech ace of the online retailers, Walmart tied up with a Silicon Valley startup and created an app for the customers, Scan & Go. With this app in place, customers could scan the items they wanted to buy while they walked through the product aisles and at the end of their shopping simply pay up the total amount through their smart phone. This considerably reduced their invoicing wait time by successfully giving them the flexibility to move out through self-checkout.

But when a test was conducted on the viability of this app at 200 Walmart stores, customers showed utter confusion in understanding the working of the app. Hence, Walmart was forced to scrap the usage of the app at its outlets.

The inference drawn from this strategic move of WALMART is that the so-called traditional retailers are gradually moving more and more towards technology up-gradation to serve the tech savvy customers. Also instead of launching a technology after perfecting it for the customers, they are interested in launching the technology and getting it perfected on the go through real time customer usage. And after that if the strategy works out well, they prefer to roll it out nationwide.

Such moves are becoming vital for the conventional retailers facing huge cash dent resulting from lowered footfalls per day. They are not only trying to lure customers back but are also trying to offset the threat posed by online retailers such as Amazon (AMZN).

Door Step Service

Walmart also introduced the door step delivery facility on a test basis. During this test-drive, they started providing the customers with home delivery of products they ordered for in San Jose and San Francisco stores of California and Denver. The customers were given the flexibility of selecting a time slot of delivery, and if the order booking was done by 8 a.m. delivery was done on same day. The product range for this service covered groceries, fresh produce and other products. And the delivery charges ranged from $3 to $10Walmart also tested delivery of consumer durables ranging from toys to television sets which if ordered before afternoon in their Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis stores were delivered the same day. In this case, the delivery charge was fixed at $10 for an unlimited number of items.

In January this year Walmart's Denver store gave the facility of ordering items online and getting them either delivered at home or picking them up by walking into the store at some point of the day.

The same day delivery schedule opened at the San Jose, San Francisco, North Virginia, Philadelphia and Minneapolis stores received a lot of customer appreciation. Also the store pickup facility at Denver was well received by the Walmart patrons. But the home delivery plan did not work well in certain quarters. Walmart observers explained the failure in the home delivery program taking cue from customer trends seen in the U.S. where customers do not want to be held up at home waiting for their products to be delivered.

WALMART Subscription

Towards the later part of 2012, Walmart had launched the Goodies Company, a mail snacker subscription facility in which the subscribers were offered five to eight surprise snacks not available over the counter for a monthly subscription of $7. Through this experiment Walmart expected to identify the food habits and customer patterns in respective areas. This would aid in maintaining proper stock of items on their store shelves to optimize the stock and inventory management at the respective stores.

However, the surprise element backfired within a year of its launch and was shunned by customers resulting in Walmart's shutdown of the Goodies Company section. External analysts stated that customers were not interested to pay for surprise elements. Scott Shamberg, a managing director at a Chicago retail marketing agency quoted- ''I think any subscription service Walmart puts forth has to be aimed at the sweet spot of their shopper — straight up groceries and toiletries."

3-D PRINTING

In November last year, Walmart's U.K. wing ASDA launched the 3D printing technology that allowed the customers to get their own 8-inch figurines at a cost of $100. This service was offered from time to time at different stores across U.K. but was officially launched at the Manchester store in the month of June this year. According to Russell Craig, ASDA spokesman, the test has been so popular that the retailer is considering rolling it out to other stores.

Some of the stores of Walmart under Sam's Club in Montgomery, Ill., and another outside Fort Worth also launched this service in which they scanned the face of the customers and created resin figurines with the customer's face and the body of action heroes of one of the three Marvel characters.

Conclusion

In the race to compete with the online peers, Walmart introduced a number of innovative tactics to allure customers back to its stores from the online retail gamut. But none of the experiments were a 100% scorer, though all of them did do well in certain quarters. This strongly advocates the fact that more and more customers are moving towards the tech savvy online format of purchasing and the days of counter-sales are just getting duller. Online stores have already started eating into the market share of conventional retailers who are trying out from all aspects to keep their top-line secure, and in that list Walmart does feature on the top. Hence, Walmart is also pulling up its socks as it is thinking big on online sales and reducing its dependency on conventional shopping techniques which would in some time become a relic of the past.

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3 Stocks Spiking on Big Volume

DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- Professional traders running mutual funds and hedge funds don't just look at a stock's price moves; they also track big changes in volume activity. Often when above-average volume moves into an equity, it precedes a large spike in volatility.

Read More: Triple Your Gains With These 5 Cash-Rich Companies

Major moves in volume can signal unusual activity, such as insider buying or selling -- or buying or selling by "superinvestors."

Unusual volume can also be a major signal that hedge funds and momentum traders are piling into a stock ahead of a catalyst. These types of traders like to get in well before a large spike, so it's always a smart move to monitor unusual volume. That said, remember to combine trend and price action with unusual volume. Put them all together to help you decipher the next big trend for any stock.

Read More: 5 Stocks Set to Soar on Bullish Earnings

With that in mind, let's take a look at several stocks rising on unusual volume recently.

Astronics

Astronics (ATRO), through its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures products for the aerospace and defense industries worldwide. This stock closed up 3% to $63.87 in Wednesday's trading session.

Wednesday's Volume: 289,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 145,175

Volume % Change: 87%

From a technical perspective, ATRO ripped higher here right off some near-term support at $62 with above-average volume. This move to the upside on Wednesday briefly pushed shares of ATRO into breakout territory, since the stock flirted with some key overhead resistance levels at $64.24 to $64.45. Shares of ATRO tagged an intraday high of $64.58, before closing just below that level at $63.87. Market players should now look for a continuation move to the upside in the short-term if ATRO manages to take out Wednesday's intraday high of $64.58 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ATRO as long as it's trending above Wednesday's intraday low of $62.01 or above more near-term support at $60 and then once it sustains a move or close above $64.58 with volume that hits near or above 145,175 shares. If that move kicks off soon, then ATRO will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $70 to $70.40, or even its 52-week high at $72.99.

Read More: 5 Stocks With Big Insider Trading

Insmed

Insmed (INSM), is a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing inhaled therapies for patients with serious lung diseases. This stock closed up 10.8% to $13.09 in Wednesday's trading session.

Wednesday's Volume: 3.68 million

Three-Month Average Volume: 978,108

Volume % Change: 230%

From a technical perspective, INSM soared sharply higher here with strong upside volume flows. This stock recently gapped down big from just over $17 to under $13 with heavy downside volume. Following that gap, shares of INSM continued to trend lower with the stock hitting its recent low of $11.25. Shares of INSM have now started to rebound strong off that $11.25 low and it's quickly moving within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if INSM manages to take out Wednesday's intraday high of $13.15 to its gap-down-day high of $13.52 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in INSM as long as it's trending above Wednesday's intraday low of $12.01 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels volume that hits near or above 978,108 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then INSM will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap-down-day zone that started just over $17.

Read More: Do You Own These 5 Toxic Stocks? Watch Out!

AerCap

AerCap (AER), through its subsidiaries, is engaged in leasing, financing, selling and managing commercial aircraft and engines primarily in the U.S. and Russia This stock closed up 3.7% at $47.64 in Wednesday's trading session.

Wednesday's Volume: 3.59 million

Three-Month Average Volume: 671,388

Volume % Change: 356%

From a technical perspective, AER jumped higher here and broke out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $46 to $46.82 with high volume. This spike to the upside on Wednesday is starting to push shares of AER within range of triggering a major breakout trade. That trade will hit if AER manages to take out Wednesday's intraday high of $47.95 to its 52-week high at $48.81 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in AER as long as it's trending above Wednesday's intraday low of $46.11 or above its 50-day at $45.32 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 671,388 shares. If that breakout kicks off soon, then AER will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $55 to $60.

To see more stocks rising on unusual volume, check out the Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume portfolio on Stockpickr.

-- Written by Roberto Pedone in Delafield, Wis.

RELATED LINKS:

>>3 Stocks Under $10 to Trade for Breakouts

>>Trade These 5 Consumer Stocks for Gains in August

>>5 Large-Cap Stocks to Trade for Gains

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Roberto Pedone, based out of Delafield, Wis., is an independent trader who focuses on technical analysis for small- and large-cap stocks, options, futures, commodities and currencies. Roberto studied international business at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and he spent a year overseas studying business in Lubeck, Germany. His work has appeared on financial outlets including

CNBC.com and Forbes.com. You can follow Pedone on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zerosum24 or @zerosum24.

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Suffers Another Setback

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The day started off with strong employment indicators getting overshadowed by a Russian strike against Western sanctions. That set the tone for a choppy trading session Thursday. The S&P 500 suffered a setback of about 4% from its recent high. A 5% correction would then take the index down about another 16 points to 1,893.

The S&P 500 gave up 0.56% to 1,909.57. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.46% to 16,368.27. The Nasdaq fell 0.46% to 4,334.97. The vast majority of broad market sectors were weak. Down over 1%, health care was the biggest loser, followed by consumer discretionary, basic materials, and energy.

Read More: Will Gold's Recent Rally Last -- or Will It Evaporate?

"We've entered a whole new level of geopolitical concerns that's creating growth worries for investors who would rather sell U.S. stocks today and ask questions later," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers. Wall Street's upbeat start was supported by a downtrend in U.S. jobless claims. But the mood quickly soured after Russia retaliated against Western trade sanctions by threatening to ban imports of food and agricultural products from Europe and the U.S. Pressures on the market intensified on news that President Obama was considering airstrikes against violent militants in Iraq who were targeting religious minorities. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in a post-ECB press conference that geopolitical risks to the eurozone economy were rising and that the West's strained relations with Russia over Ukraine remains an area of uncertainty for the fragile eurozone economy. CBS (CBS) was flat at $56.91 in after-hours trading after reporting a profit of $439 million, or 76 cents per share, down from $472 million one year ago, but beating analysts' estimates of 72 cents per share. Zynga (ZNGA) was dropping more than 7% to $2.71 after missing analysts' estimates for revenue in the second quarter. Read More: Time Warner vs. 21st Century Fox: What Wall Street's Saying 21st Century Fox (FOXA) reported on Wednesday better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings a day after it called off its pursuit of rival media giant Time Warner (TWX). Shares of Fox surged 5.04% to $33.96. Shares of Netflix (NFLX) were up 4.5% to $449.67 after it was reported that CEO Reed Hastings posted on Facebook (FB) that the company has beat Time Warner's HBO in subscriber revenue in the second quarter, adding that Netflix was "honored to be in the same league," according to CNBC. Time Warner shares were down 2.94% to $72.06. Read More: Aug. 7 Premarket Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know --By Andrea Tse in New York Follow @AndreaTTse

Merck Pops On Good Profits, Tax Deal?

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Even though Merck doesn’t plan an international marriage to cut its tax bill, its shares are rallying today on solid results in the latest quarter.

Merck (MRK) stock is up 2% today after Merck reported second-quarter earnings per share of 85 cents, better than the 81 cents analysts expected, according to Thomson I/B/E/S data.

Here are insights on the conference call that ensued, from ISI’s biotech and pharmaceutical industry analyst Mark Schoenbaum, paraphrased:

Merck wants “bolt-ons” acquisitions (like Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX)) versus big purchases. Moreover, it is not interested in a deal primarily or solely for tax inversion purposes …  [That's not ruling out the possibility of buying a foreign company to avoid U.S. taxes, but the language seems contrary to the foreign-merger possibilities for other healthcare companies, including Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX), Actavis (ACT), Pfizer (PFE), AbbVie (ABBV), Medtronic (MDT) and even Walgreen (WAG).] Merck sees a “high likelihood” of success for the four-week Hepatitis C regimen from C-SWIFT when presented at a medical conference this fall. (The combo treatment includes Gilead’s Sovaldi, already on the market, and a Merck regimen.) The company sees “lots of opportunities” to possibly accelerate Food & Drug Administration filings for an experimental immuno-oncology drug for lung cancer patients. It’s excited about the expected Aug. 14 FDA decision on insomnia drug Suvorexant. (Wall Street is bearish on commercial prospects.) Merck expects U.S. volume growth for diabetes drug Januvia (which is roughly 25% of earnings) in the second half of 2014.

For healthcare investing ideas and insight on so-called tax inversions, see the Barrons.com Q&A with Andy Acker, manager of the Janus Global Life Sciences Fund (JAGLX): “Undervalued Biotech Stocks Help Fund Beat the Index,” July 29. (Subscription required) One insight from Acker:

“U.S. companies are at a competitive disadvantage from our country’s high statutory tax rates compared to other countries and the piles of cash stranded overseas. Re-domiciling is one way to deal with the situation. Some members of Congress have publicly talked about closing the loophole. If the policy is changed, it would be a 2015 or 2016 event, which gives companies a window of opportunity.”