On Monday, September 26th, the price of GMX Resources, GMXR, closed at $21.09 per share, with a VST rating of 1.43. Stock Viewer ranked it 38th from the top of the list by VST. On Tuesday GMXR's price soared 12.71% and Stock Viewer ranked it fourth highest by VST, with a rating of 1.52. On Wednesday, GMXR soared another 11.02% and it became the top rated stock in the VectorVest database, as ranked by VST, with a rating of 1.56. This was no surprise.

GMXR has been on a roll since it broke out to a new high at $8.54 per share on high volume in mid-January. It subsequently made a succession of new highs and joined the 2005 FWS Cumulative WatchList at $8.91 per share on February 4th. After several months of consolidation, it began soaring again and achieved its first VST rating above 1.40 on June 28th. It became a charter member of the elite FWS Favorites WatchList at $14.85 per share on July 15th, and appeared on the primary Stock Viewer screen for the first time on July 19th, with a VST rating of 1.45. It's been on and off this screen ever since.

So what's the point of all of this? The point is that there are ways of spotting good stocks that are moving higher in the VectorVest hierarchy long before they become the top rated stock. One of the best ways is to use Delta VST.

Before going into how I like to use Delta VST, allow me to digress. We used to have a lot of fun with the Delta VST in our Executive Premier Workshops in late 1999 and early 2000. We would run a 5-day Delta VST search as of October 22, 1999 and sort by VST Delta descending. (Many of you may recall that this was one of our best bull market calls of all-time.) Anyway, a little stock called Smartserve would appear at the top of the list. In one week this stock was up by 119.05%. In one month it was up 504.76%. Although it was up 1,614.29% in three months, it was behind Precision Optics which was up 1,910.30%. As you might expect, Smartserve peaked just before the bubble burst. On February 23, 2000, it was up 6,414.29%! The top ten stocks were up an average of 923.29%!!

I have tested the Delta VST search over a number of years and found I like it better than a Delta Price or Delta RT search in many cases. Price and RT are strictly technical indicators while VST combines both fundamental and technical information. In any case, each search has its time and place. If we're looking to find stocks moving up in VST rank, however, there's nothing better. But you just can't use a simple 5-day Delta VST. I have found that using it on stocks that already have a VST rating of 1.40 or better is a great way to find a better class of stocks moving up in price. I also found that a price cap on the search often supercharges the gains.

This week's "Strategy of the Week" illustrates a Delta VST search called "Rising VST Stocks." It gave 167.22% gain from 01/07/05 through yesterday. Using Auto Tester, I also ran a portfolio using this strategy from January 7, 2000 through yesterday. It produced a phenomenal gain of 3,836.31%. Momma mia! Viva la Delta VST.