Barron’s popular Electronic Investor column published last month a brief article on MarketGrader.com’s sentiment indicator and how we aggregate all companies’ scores of the same into our MarketGrader Sentiment Index. For those who missed it, we first introduced our Sentiment Index, which we’ve dubbed MGSI, in early October when the stock market hit its 2011 lows as measured by the S&P 500, the Dow Industrials and, of course, the Barron’s 400 Index. The S&P 500 closed the prior day at 1,099.23 while the Dow closed at 10,655.30. The Barron’s 400 closed at 268.51 on October 3rd. Our article, which was also published on Seeking Alpha, garnered a good deal of attention and prompted many of our readers and subscribers to ask us for a place in MarketGrader.com where they could follow the new MGSI. We complied and launched our new MGSI page also last month, which you may view here.

For those who didn’t catch the Barron’s article, published in the December 24th issue, you may read it here.

As for the MarketGrader Sentiment Index itself, we’d like to note that last night the index crossed the 1.5 mark for the first time since May 2011, which put its Market Call (based on the MGSI overall value) in ‘HOLD’ territory. For a better understanding of how MGSI works and what it means, please refer to our original October article, which you may read here. Since our October call, through last night’s close, the S&P 500 is up 16.2%, the Dow is up 16.5% and the Barron’s 400 is up 21.2%. Investors concerned about the market’s ongoing volatility, particularly given Europe’s lingering debt woes and looming recession, would be well served to check the MGSI periodically as a gauge of overall investor optimism or pessimism as we continue to toggle between risk-on and risk-off.

Herbalife LTD (HLF) is being highlighted by MarketGrader.com (http://www.marketgrader.com) as the Defensive Stock of the Day for June 8, 2011.

MarketGrader.com highlights daily a  series of companies with strong fundamentals and high sentiment scores that seem poised for gains.

HLF is one of the highest rated stocks on MarketGrader.com and the second highest rated stock in the consumer staples sector, ahead of companies such as Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). Herbalife is a member of six MarketGrader indices, including the MarketGrader 40, the Barron’s 400, and the MG Consumer Staples Index.

HLF’s fundamentals are remarkable according to MarketGrader’s analysis. The company, which sells weight management and nutritional supplement products has a market capitalization of $6.5 billion. MarketGrader.com gives it an overall grade of 85.01 out of 100 based on four key areas: growth, value, profitability, and cash flow. Herbalife has been consistently cutting debt over the past two years while its revenues have been surging. Its trailing 12-month sales are almost 30% higher than they were three years ago. The company’s margins have been expanding as it apparently has gained market share while maintaining strong profitability indicators, as indicated by a 56% return on equity. Apparently Herbalife has been using some of its profits to buy back shares as common shares outstanding have fallen 8% over the past three years.

Click here to see the MarketGrader.com research report on HLF free of charge.

About MarketGrader.com

MarketGrader.com is the creator of the Barron’s 400 Index and an independent stock research firm that covers 5,800 stocks listed in U.S. and Canadian exchanges. In addition to the Barron’s 400, the company publishes 14 proprietary indexes based on its fundamental selection methodology. For more information please visit www.marketgrader.com.

Hhgregg Inc. (HGG) has been named by MarketGrader.com as the stock that tops its “Movers and Shakers” list.

The MarketGrader.com Movers & Shakers list is comprised of ‘Buy’ or ‘Hold’ rated stocks with the most four-week positive momentum according to their Sentiment rating. These are stocks for which market sentiment has been improving recently at an accelerating pace.

HGG’s Sentiment score has improved more than 18% in the last four weeks, indicating the stock is gaining market momentum. It’s current Sentiment rating of ‘Neutral’ is based on an overall score of 4.9 out of 10, while a month ago the score was 2.6, with a ‘Negative’ rating.

Further analysis shows that HGGregg’s fundamentals are also sound. The company booked $2.08 billion in total revenue during the 12-month period ended last quarter, 65.33% higher than the equivalent period ended three years ago, when total revenue was $1.26 billion. Considering the strength of its fundamentals, shares of HGG are attractively priced at $14.38, 12 times trailing earnings and 11 times forward 12 month earnings per share. The overall Value grade assigned by MarketGrader to HGG is A-.

In a mostly flat month of May, the Barron’s 400 Index, powered by MarketGrader, beat the major market benchmarks once again. The index was down 1.0% for the month compared to -1.4% for the S&P 500, -1.9% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, -1.3% for the NASDAQ Composite and -1.4% for the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index.

Year to date the Barron’s 400 Index leads the pack with a return, as of May 31, of 11%.

Barron’s 400 Index: 11%

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 9%

Dow Jones U.S. TSM: 7%

S&P 500 Index: 7%

NASDAQ Composite: 7%

Click here for a list of features available to all MarketGrader.com subscribers.