The stock market rally that started on February 5^th, 2010 appears to be absolutely unstoppable. Bullet-proof. However you want to say it, there seems to be very little downside to stock prices, even after a strong rally.   

Now, we are not surprised. I’ve been relentlessly bullish here in Daily Profit. Sure, I may point out some discrepancies once in a while, maybe even shoot a few holes in the financial media’s neat and tidy explanations, but I’ve had us focused on upside targets for a year now, and there’s one main reason: earnings.   

This time last year, it was brutally obvious that analysts were seriously underestimating the earnings potential for bank stocks, even after the government changed the accounting rules to encourage profitability.   

And in subsequent months, analysts continued to lowball earnings estimates. Companies kept beating them, and the market kept rallying.   

It’s hard to believe that just a year ago, the Dow Industrials were trading around 6,500. It’s easy to look back and see this as an obvious buying opportunity, but it sure didn’t feel that way at the time.  

Of course, I was recommending stocks in SmallCapInvestor PRO, because valuations were incredibly low. But I was mitigating the risk by taking profits quickly.  

For instance, we took profits on SXC Health Solutions (Nasdaq:SXCI) in April with a 19% gain. That stock has gone on to post some fantastic gains. Conversely, we made a quick 33% on Arena Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ARNA) between March 3 and March 11, 2009. That stock is now much lower than our exit price.  

In light of the anniversary of the market lows, the AP ran a great article over the weekend that included a bunch of interesting stock market stats. I’d like to share a few...