Monday Penny Stock Watchlist: Bank Stocks Offer Another Chance at 20.5% Gains

As Mondays market struggles to push into the black today, all eyes are on Dubai. As the credit crunch contagion spreads to yet another country, investors are beginning to get nervous once again that a significant downturn could eat away at open portfolio positions.

But in the land of penny stocks, were somewhat insulated.

After all, with penny stocks historically leading the way out of recessions, and scores of these under-the-radar stocks still relatively undervalued, its time to look at how best to play the small-cap game. Our weekly Monday Penny Stock Watchlist gives us the chance to do just that.

Each week, we take a look at a list of penny stocks that are exhibiting abnormal volume, strong technicals, upcoming news, or another catalyst that suggested they might be making a material move in the coming week. Last week, readers had the chance to book 20.52% cumulative gains by betting on the positions that made the watchlist.

And this week, were taking a look at another four stocks – two long and two short – that could do well this week…

As usual, while our Watchlist errs on the safe side of small-caps, using technical analysis to tell us where a stock is headed, we opened the comments up to readers again last week, giving you the chance to offer up more speculative penny stock plays.

Check out the comments after this article on the Penny Sleuth website to get a glimpse at a slew of fresh user-submitter penny stock picks – and the chance to submit your own!

First, though, lets take a look at this weeks penny stocks worth watching…

Northeast Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBN) – While this small savings bank stock has offered investors enough price swings in the past few months to make even the most seasoned shareholders queasy, a sustained uptrend is beginning to emerge, pointing to a higher finish by the end of the week. And while sparse volume has been one of the biggest contributors to the volatility of this stock, an uptick in volume in the last few trading sessions actually does a good job of confirming the upward potential of this tiny stock. Be very careful if you play shares of this company for the upside…

Nobility Homes (NASDAQ:NOBH) – This $39 million manufactured home maker has also seen a big uptick in volume lately to support its uptrend thats sent shares up 22% this year. To be sure, this stock is the less volatile of this weeks two long-side plays, but that doesnt mean that its not worth playing – a stagnant couple of weeks could mean a jump off of support.

Rockville Financial (NASDAQ:RCKB) – On the other side of the banking spectrum is Rockville Financial, a small Connecticut-based regional bank thats been sliding in price since back in July. And while the stock broke through downtrending resistance – normally a technically good sign for bullish investors – finding resistance at the 50-day average coupled with a long way down to support could be enough to fuel this stock to move lower by Friday.

First Clover Leaf Financial (NASDAQ:FCLF) – Our final short-side play this week is First Clover Leaf Financial, an S&L stock that recently tried to swing investors attention its way by announcing as quarterly dividend in spite of hemorrhaging $8.8 million in its latest quarter. This stock is currently sporting bearish technicals to support the fundamental picture as well. Were betting on seeing shares continue their descent this week after Mondays early gains.

Share Your Penny Stock Picks

Once again, were going interactive this week…
Just post your recommendation in the comments section of this article between now and the markets close on Friday, December 4 to share your favorite penny stock play with the rest of the world.

Cheers,
Jonas Elmerraji

Read the original story at Penny Sleuth :: Jonas Elmerraji