Three Turnarounds to Watch: Jones Soda (JSDA), Sino Clean Energy (SCEI), James River Coal (JRCC)

While it's easy and fun to jump into a rally that's clearly on motion, the big bucks are made by traders with the foresight - and guts - to step into budding uptrend that aren't so certain. Sino Clean Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:SCEI), Jones Soda Co. (NASDAQ:JSDA), and James River Coal Company (NASDAQ:JRCC) are three such possibilities. Though each is still dealing with some sort of liability, charts as well as the underlying stories for JRCC, JSDA, and SCEI are starting to look juicy. Take a look.

In early January it looked like Jones Soda Co. had shrugged off a terrible 2011 and was ready to roll in 2012. The stock punched its way out from underneath a bearish trend line, and made a beeline for the 200-day moving average line (green) at $0.87 following the release of its Q4 results... which were quite encouraging. As is the case with most any stock though, no amount of good news was going to circumvent the profit taking that was setup after JSDA doled out a 137% move in a little over a week. Sure enough, shares were back to the $0.45 three weeks later.

In the shadow of that fake-out move, today's 12% surge from JSDA is something a lot of traders are ignoring. That's a mistake though. While it's subtle, that small move has also carried the stock back above several key moving average lines. And, though they didn't hold onto the January gains, that big move then still verifies that Jones Soda Co. has more fans out there than it may superficially seem. Pair that up with a string of progressive news and a reloaded war chest, and what you've got is a stock that's probably past its worst.

The 13% rally from James River Coal Company today may feel insignificant considering the move doesn't even come close to undoing the recent damage inflicted on the stock. There's actually more going on - in a good way - with this chart of JRCC than it may seem like on the surface. Specifically, after three months of trying, the bears finally pushed the stock under a key floor at $6.19... the perfect opportunity for the sellers to take the ball and run with it. They just couldn't. Although there are still some ceilings ahead, this may well be the beginning of better days.

Why? It's not evident on the chart of JRCC (at all), but this company is causing a big stir within the trading community today.... the print/web media, message boards, and chat room - a group that has more collective influence than most investors might imagine. To see this much interest for a name that's usually not that big of a deal may mean James River Coal Company is 'in play'. Surprisingly, the collective market is right about stocks more often that its participants may realize.

Finally, Sino Clean Energy Inc. has in all likelihood set up a pullback with today's 44% rally; the opening gap only exacerbates the problem. Yet, the move from SCEI has pretty much cemented in place a key technical move that up until today had been in doubt. What's that? a move above the all-important 200-day average line (green) at $1.45. Even with a pullback, as long as the bullish crossover holds up (and it appears as if it will) this new uptrend will remain intact.

As the name implies, Sino Clean Energy Inc. is neck-deep in the clean energy industry in China. It provides a coal-water slurry fuel, and though the company's legitimacy has been hotly debated, it's clear there's enough legitimacy to give the stock a big boost since October; today's pop stems from confirmation that the balance sheet numbers it provided in its latest SEC filing is indeed accurate. While the ! trailing P/E of 1.15 would imply that traders didn't believe it until now, that ridiculously-low valuation for SCEI suddenly seems like an opportunity rather than a liability.