The market was able to stage a late day rally which erased some of its earlier losses, but still ended the day in the red, with all 3 major indexes closing down on the day.

September is typically not a good month for the market, but even with today's losses this September was positive, as more and more investors have started to believe the economy is coming out of its recession.

With Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) flailing in the wind for the last two quarters, the company's shares are sitting in prime takeover territory. Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is not letting up on its death grip yet, and continues to out-sell and out-perform rival Circuit City at every turn. As I mused a few weeks ago, CEO Phil Schoonover may as well put his resume up for a peek. Well, if anyone wants to look at hiring him, anyway.

But, downtrodden times usually bring out the shorters, and of course this is the case with those shorting Circuit City shares right now. Shares in the consumer electronics retailer are already sitting in cherry-picking territory, closing yesterday at under $10 each. Do they have room to go even lower? Based on recent results and the guidance being given for a possibly poor-performing holiday retail season, Circuit City shares may head south even further.

Is it time to get in now? Only if you're into shorting -- or believing that a private equity buyout may soon happen to the retailer (a rumor for quarters now). Shares are sitting at a four-year low as of this week, and the opportunity vultures may be swooping in for several reasons. It's an opportunity with risk, but isn't everything? Almost 33 million shares were held short in September of this year, which comprises 19% of outstanding public shares. What does that tell you? To me, everything.

From time to time, many of us discover that we have accumulated more stuff than we can store. Should parting with assorted treasures not be an option, there is a firm in Salt Lake City that has the answer.

Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR) is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that owns or operates 641 self-storage properties in 32 states and Washington, D.C. The company's properties consist of more than 430,000 units and 46 million square feet, rented by over 300,000 individual tenants. In addition to on-site management and storage supplies, many of the firm's storage facilities feature monitored video surveillance and alarm-equipped units. Extra Space Storage is the second largest operator of self storage in the United States.

The firm pleased investors about a month ago, when it announced Q4 funds from operations of $0.26 per share and revenues of $52.2 million. Analysts had been expecting $0.24 and $48.5 million. Management also guided Q1 FFO to 23-25 cents per share (24 cent consensus) and FY07 FFO to $1.06-$1.12 per share ($1.04 consensus). Merrill Lynch subsequently upgraded the shares from "neutral" to "buy". The news kept the issue cycling through a positive five-week trading channel. The price is currently consolidating near the base of that channel, where oversold Momentum, CCI, Stochastic and MACD technical parameters suggest the potential for a rise back toward the top. The approximate correspondence of the stock's 50-day moving average to the base of the channel backs the rebound notion.

Altogether, brokers now recommend the shares with two "strong buys", one "buy" and four "holds". The EXR Price to Book ratio (1.89), Net Income Growth rate ($6.7M vs -$0.2M) and Operating Margin (30.24%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages.

Institutions own about 94 percent of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P U.S. REIT Composite. Over the past twelve months, it has traded between $14.40 and $20.55. A stop-loss of $16.50 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.