I grew up watching In Living Color and one of my favorite skits was Fire Marshall Bill played by Jim Carrey.  Fire Marshall Bill always used the catch phase “Let me show you something.”  Almost all of his examples after that catch phase were very far-fetched and crazy.  They usually ended in disaster.

Well, now I am going to use that patented catch phase.  Let me show you something.

(LVS: 30.99 +0.92) has been highlighted on this site many times over the past few weeks.  The last time it was talked about here is what I wrote.

If a stock rallies 20% or more from its breakout point in just one, two or three weeks, don’t sell right away. Hold it for at least a total of eight weeks.

Well, if you bought the stock at $20 on the break in mid-March you had a 20% gain as the stock crossed the $24 level on April 6th.  Guess what happened the very next day? UBS came out and downgraded the stock!  I have a sneaking suspicion that UBS downgraded the stock to pick up some shares.  Then, look what happened the next day – the stock moved up about 4% on huge volume because of this news.

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) jumped 1.30 to 24.23 in double its average volume. The company also announced late Wednesday that it would restart construction of a 300-room hotel and casino in Bethlehem, Pa., that was put on hold when the economy tanked.

Do you think UBS knew about the positive news before it came out?

Now look at this!

Thursday (MGM: 9.84 +0.33) breaks to a new 52 week high on huge volume.  And guess what happened the very next day?  Soleil came out and downgraded the stock.  The firm now believes the stock is overvalued and dropped their price target to $11.  The stock fought the downgrade all day and managed to finish higher on Friday’s session.

I firmly believe that these downgrades are designed as a smoke screen so the big institutions can go in and accumulate shares on the cheap.  I like stocks at 52 week highs up on heavy volume, so keep your eye on these two.  Also, watch (WYNN: 87.81 +3.14).  I would not be surprised to see someone come out and downgrade that stock too.

Happy hunting!