The stock market speculators, given up for dead not so long ago, are alive and well and spending like drunken sailors these days.

And you don’t even need a gold play in China to get them revved.

Just keep feeding them juicy press releases and they forget the bottom line.

That’s exactly what Ivanhoe Energy (IE-TSX, IVAN-Nasdaq) has been doing, and it’s been working like a charm.

The speculators have been so caught up in Ivanhoe fever, they can’t even remember that Ivanhoe showed a net loss of $4,465,001 in the second quarter.

As I write this, Ivanhoe is defying gravity and common sense, rocketing to the stratosphere on its third press release in two days.

This time, Ivanhoe has speculators frothing at the mouth over news that the company is talking to senior officials in Iraq about that country’s oil and gas prospects.

Talk is not cheap at Ivanhoe.

The company, which has been promoting its prospects on numerous fronts, including China, now boasts a market cap of $1.25 billion.

At this writing, the stock has just busted through the $10 barrier as if it were hot butter on its way to $10.40.

That makes Ivanhoe the hottest energy stock in Canada year to date with a gain of 1,150 per cent.

That makes David Tuer’s biotech makeover, Hawker Resources (HKR-TSX), a distant runner-up in the sector.

Hawker, which has been badly out-press-released by Ivanhoe, is up 460 per cent year to date, mainly on the back of its star CEO.

From a year ago, Ivanhoe, headed by 40-year oil and gas veteran Leon Daniel, has fashioned a miraculous 20- bagger off a year low of 53 cents, seemingly pumping out more press releases than barrels of oil (17 news releases since April).

Worse, Calgary’s oilpatch can’t even take credit for this explosive company.

The corporate headquarters is in Vancouver, of all places, although the company does have an office in Calgary as well as in the U.S., China, Japan and Qatar.

Traditionally, speculating in Vancouver oil and gas companies is almost as frowned upon as speculating in Calgary mining companies (remember Bre-X?) but that hasn’t stopped the stampede into Ivanhoe stock.

Ivanhoe has also managed to set a little-known Calgary junior, Derek Oil & Gas (DRK-TSXV), on fire when the latter company recently announced a joint agreement on a project in Wyoming.

Ivanhoe has also gotten a charge from Thom Calandra, the superstar newsletter writer and CBS MarketWatch columnist whose opinions can light a fire under just about any dog in the market.

If you’ve fallen head- over-heels in love with Ivanhoe and are still holding, remember that stocks don’t give a hoot about you.

As author/trader Michael Parness says in Rule The Freakin’ Markets, “use ’em and abuse ’em.”

BETTING ON THE JOCKEY: When energy sleuth Peter Linder of DeltaOne Capital researches an energy play, the first thing he does is check the form chart of the CEO.

Linder, Delta One’s energy strategist, probably even knows what the CEO drinks and how much the boss tips.

“Management is by far the No. 1 thing I look at – you have to pay attention to the track records of the managers,” says Linder.

“Although nobody walks on water, it sure improves your chances of coming up with a winner and the market gives them (star CEOs) a big premium.”

Linder, a former oil and gas analyst with Research Capital, has been walking on water with the DeltaOne Energy Fund he manages.

The fund, stacked with upstart junior plays, ranks as the top natural resources fund in Canada over the past 12 months (through Sept. 30), with a return of 64.9 per cent. Among his biggest winners is Brooklyn Energy (BN-TSX), which has almost doubled in the 2 1/2 months since Linder made it one of his top picks in the Edge’s Pro’s 3 Stars column.

Brooklyn, headed by former Maxx Petroleum CEO Bob Rosine, has soared even in a sluggish market for the juniors, but Linder has cooled his heels on Brooklyn.

“I would take some profits here,” says Linder, whose top picks are featured on in our Pro's 3 Stars column.

SAGE WORDS: “This is not a war to take away wealth from the super-rich and pass it over to the poor. This is a struggle of millionaires trying to take wealth away from billionaires.”

– Independent political analyst Andrei Piotkovsky on the arrest of Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an incident that has rocked the Russian stock market.




HOT STOCK: ENERGULF RESOURCES
ENG-TSXV $2.80
Up $2.40 (+$2.40) on 1,480,500 shares (for week ending Nov. 7).
Energulf shares went ballistic when the Vancouver-based company announced that drilling results at a well in Columbia had “indicated a potentially significant oil column.” Energulf has a 25-per-cent interest in the project operated by Houston-based Gulfsands Petroleum.



COLD STOCK: VSM MEDTECH
VSM-TSX $4.35
Down $3.43 (-43.8) on 11,874,799 (for week ending Nov. 7).
How come all the ugly news has to come on Friday? VSM, the Vancouver medical devices manufacturer, ruined the weekend for its shareholders with news of a stunning third-quarter net loss of $5.2 million that included a $2.5-million writeoff for losses on contracts that have gone awry. The one-day Friday selloff was on massive volume – 11.3 million shares.