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Top Rocket Stocks for Week of March 17

James Altucher

Since the start of the Rocket Stocks weekly column, I've been putting together a list of 10 stocks each week that I believe have the potential to move higher in the coming week.

With the market's recent volatility, the best way to trade lately is finding beaten-down stocks that have both short-term growth potential and strong fundamentals.

With such volatile stocks, all you really need is a small ounce of hope for the shorts to start panicking and the momentum drivers to start piling in, driving up share price.

Back testing on the Nasdaq 100 shows that a stock that drops 10% in a day will on average be 2% higher one week later. Conversely, if a stock is up 10% in a day, it is usually down one week later.

Before we take a look at this week's Rocket Stocks portfolio -- which includes names like Goldman Sachs GS, Tesoro TSO and Southern Union SUG, let's see how the last week's picks fared.

• Zoltek ZOLT: Up 4.6% on the week.
• Potash POT: Up 4.4% on the week.
• MercadoLibre MELI: Up 3.7% on the week.
• LMI Aerospace LMIA: Up 3.2% for the week.
• Dick's Sporting Goods DKS: Up 2.7% on the week.
• National Oilwell Varco NOV: Up 0.3% on the week.
• Sasol SSL: Down 1.5% for the week.
• Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais CIG: Down 4.8% on the week.
• Holly Corp HOC: Down 7.1% on the week.
• Chimera Investment CIM: Down 7.2% for the week.

Now let's look this week's Rocket Stocks portfolio.

First up this week is Aluminum Corp of China ACH, which has a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 8.8 and a P/E-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 1.1.

Down $50 from its all-time high of about $90 a share hit back in October, Aluminum China has been oversold, and thus I am looking for a snapback rally into this week's preliminary earnings report.

Aluminum China operates in two bull markets: China and aluminum, and although it represents a much riskier than, say, Aloca AA, Aluminum China has the potential to ramp more than 10 points in a single day.

Companies like Kaiser Aluminum KALU, Century Aluminum CENX and Alcoa all handily beat their latest earnings estimates, which could help Aluminum China's chances to deliver an upside surprise.

Also worth keeping an eye on is small-cap biotech company Enzon Pharmaceuticals ENZN. Carl Icahn, who holds a 6.93% stake in the company, has reportedly suggested to management that they "consider possible alternative strategies," which basically means that the activist investor believes Enzon is substantially undervalued.

Icahn stated his plans Friday midafternoon, during the height of the Bear Stearns BSC mess. Overlooked by Wall Street, Enzon Pharma has the potential to move much higher in the coming week.

And with a third of its float sold short, Enzon has a short ratio of nearly 21. So on any positive news, the stock could really surge.

For more detailed analysis and the rest of this week's picks, check out the please click here.

As always, to find the snapbacks and potential breakouts on a regular basis, check out these Stockpickr portfolios, which I use in my own research each week:

• Today's Hot List: This daily list is a must-view every midday to see what stocks are making the biggest moves and why.
• Always check the Biggest Percentage Losers, a list of stocks that lost big the day before, because they can snap back hard.

  When you check this list on Stockpickr, you can see which stocks are owned by the quality hedge funds and mutual funds. Pay attention to those. They will be buying at the lower prices, so you should be also.

• Ditto for the 52-week-low list. You must check the above two lists every day if you hope to find volatile stocks.
• Biotech Short Squeezes: DendreonDNDN and others can often be found in this category.
• Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume: These are potential breakout stocks.
• Stockpickr's System Trades of the Day: These are trades triggering that day in various back tested trading systems we've developed.
• Stocks With Unusual Option Activity: Perhaps someone knows something?
• Latest Activist Situations: These are beaten-down stocks that hedge funds are accumulating shares of and demanding change in. Believe me, these hedge funds piggyback each other. And once they start rocking the boat, things happen quickly. This should be on your must-view list.

One final place to frequent is the Answers section on Stockpickr, where ideas such as those presented in this article are thrown around daily.

Please note that due to factors including low market capitalization and/or insufficient public float, we consider Enzon Pharmaceuticals to be a small-cap stock. You should be aware that such stocks are subject to more risk than stocks of larger companies, including greater volatility, lower liquidity and less publicly available information, and that postings such as this one can have an effect on their stock prices.