Any strength in steel?

On Financial Tides, I always begin to look for stocks by using Barchart to screen for stocks hitting the most frequent new highs and then look over the top 10. Today one of the standouts is United States Steel Corporation (X). I guess X marks the spot. X manufacturers and sells steel and coke products with plants in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Alabama and of all places the Slovak Republic.

On Barchart the stock has had price appreciation on 11 of the last 20 trading sessions and is 3 for 5 recently. The stock has enjoyed a 27.76% price appreciation in the last 30 days and has a buy signal on 11 of Barchart's 13 technical indicators with holds on the remaining 2.

Analysts predict great things with an estimated 51.96% increase in sales this year and a 16.4% increase next year. Coming from a loss they look for a 101.9% increase in earnings per share this year and a whopping 2366.7% increase next year -- remember that is coming off a loss. The 5 year compounded EPS increase is expected to be 10% per year. They have 6 buy and 6 hold recommendations out there.

Investor sentiment is high based on a Motley Fools CAPs member vote of 1862 to 144 that the stock will beat the market this year. The All Stars agree 632 to 28. The Wall Street columnists Fool follows like it 12 to 1.

The stock is firing on all 3 cylinders:

• Positive price momentum
• Analysts predicting increased sales and earnings
• A positive investor sentiment with a large following

Please do your own due diligence to see if the stock deserves a place in your portfolio. The stock trades around 61 and the 50 day moving average is slightly below 55.

Jim Van Meerten writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email JimVanMeerten@gmail.com

Disclosure: No positions in X at the time of publication