Saturday, January 29, 2011

These 3 stocks have it all!

I was listening to a song by Queen and the lyrics of  "I want it all, I want it all, I want it all and I want it now" struck a cord for this post.  I decided to find three stocks that have it all and they have it now.  And what might that be you may ask?

What I want is:

  • A stock that has Wall Street brokerage analysts publishing buy recommendations based on double digit sales and earnings growth projections
  • A stock that has a wide, popular and positive investor following
  • And the I want it NOW component recent and consistent price appreciation
Let's look at 3 stocks that fit that criteria:

FDS -- Facset Research -- supplies global economic and financial data to analysts, investment bankers and other financial professionals. The company combines databases from multiple suppliers into a single online source of information and analytics, including fundamental data on tens of thousands of American and international companies and securities. The company obtains financial information from several database vendors and when possible, seeks to maintain contractual relationships with a minimum of two database providers for each type of financial data. are on a flat or royalty basis.

  • Wall Street brokerage analysts have 2 buy and 6 hold recommendations published
  • Sales are projected to increase by 12.00% this year and 11.90% next year
  • Earnings are estimated to increase by 14.10% this year, 13.40% next year and continue by 14.85% annually for the next 5
  • Investor sentiment as measured on Motley Fool is positive with the CAPS members voting 372 to 15 that the stock will beat the market and the All Stars agree 164 to 4
  • Barchart 100% technical buy signal with all 13 of Barchart's technical indicators signalling a buy
  • 7 new highs and up 4.83% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index is 69.64% and climbing
  • Trades around 99.66 well above its 50 day moving average of 93.87
CRR -- Carbo Ceramics -- the world's largest producer and supplier of ceramic proppants for use in the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and oil wells. Demand for ceramic proppants depends primarily upon the demand for natural gas and oil and on the number of natural gas and oil wells drilled, completed or recompleted worldwides that are hydraulically fractured to stimulate production.

  • Wall Street brokerage analysts have 4 buy and 5 hold recommendations published
  • Sales are projected to increase by 13.40% this year and 19.80% next year
  • Earnings are projected to increase by 20.90% this year, 22.10% next year and continue by 11.20% annually for the next 5 years
  • Investor sentiment as measured on Motley fool is positive with the CAPS members voting 273 to 15 that the stock will beat the market and the All Stars are in agreement by a vote of 109 to 5
  • Barchart 100% technical buy signal with all 13 of Barchart's technical indicators signalling a buy
  • 4 new highs and up 11.41% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index of 73.23% and rising
  • Trades around 113.61 which is well above its 50 day moving average of 100.37
PLCM -- Polycom -- develops, manufactures and markets a full range of high-quality, media-rich communication tools and network solutions. The company's broadband communication solutions enable business users to immediately realize the benefits of video, voice and data over rapidly growing converged networks. The company is the leading video conferencing and voice conferencing product provider and have recently entered the DSL access market, particularly in the area of integrated voice appliances and broadband access devices.

  • Wall Street brokerages have 11 buy and 7 hold recommendations published
  • Sales are projected to increase by 10.84% this year and 19.80% next year
  • Earnings are estimated to increase by 37.30% this year, 25.20% next year and continue by 17.56% annually for the next 5 years
  • Investor sentiment as measured by Motley Fool is positive with the CAPS members voting 172 to 18 that the stock will beat the market and the All Stars agree by 69 to 7
  • Barchart 96% technical buy signal with 12 of the 13 Barchart technical indicators signalling a buy
  • 9 new highs and up 10.84% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index of 61.32%
  • Trades around 43.45 which is well above its 50 day moving average of 39.37.
Well - there's 3 stocks that have it all.  Put them on your watch lists and see if this analysis is valid.


Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.



Friday, January 28, 2011

Book Review - The Little Book of Sideways Markets by Vitaliy Katsenelson

I don't do a lot of book reviews because I seem to love books that agree with me and hate books that have a different opinion than mine.  Since I am a Momentum Investor who use Barchart I usually don't like books that dwell on fundamentals but The Little Book of Sideways Markets: How to make money in markets that go nowhere by Vitaliy N. Katsenelson published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc is one that I really can recommend whole heatedly.  By the way, Wiley is the publisher of all the "Dummies" books and has a really great series "The Little Book Profits Series"  that I'm going to start on soon.  Don't hold it against me that my book case is filled with "Dummies" books, I'll admit to being a cult member.

Some of the books I've been asked to review I just had to decline because they were either so badly written or so convoluted and complicated that I saw no use of the book by the average reader.  One series of books and DVDs sent to me by a penny stock promoter were so poorly produced and contained so many wild proposals that I thought new investors would loose a bundle following bad advice.

Although now I consider myself a Momentum Investor, I started out my career in Public Accounting after completing a degree in Accounting and Business Administration at Berry College.  As an accountant  I loved reading annual reports and looking at fundamentals.  I soon noticed most of my fellow CPAs so over analyzed companies that they never made any money investing themselves.  Most of the mutual funds had highly educated and highly paid analysts that had all the data and computer tools available but still couldn't beat the markets.

I have been a Value Line subscriber for many years and before that poured over issues at the library. One of the screens that always fascinated me was the Highest Growth Stocks screen.  As Value Line puts it "To be included, a company's annual growth of sales, cash flow, earnings, dividends and book value must together averaged 10% or more for the past 10 years and be expected to average at least 10%  in the coming 3-5 years.".  This seemed to be the only list of stocks I would ever need.

What fascinated me about the list is that my head told me these are the stocks I should own but it seemed as many of the stocks were going down as were going up.  What was the difference?

Well, Vitaliy explains the missing component in his book: Price Earnings Ratios.  His analysis of why price earnings compression is so important is worth the price of this book.

The Chapter 12 -- "Applying Darwinism to the sales process" is some of the best 14 pages you will ever read.

His ideas on Total Return with the combination of price increases and dividends is an idea missed by most technical analysis followers.

He goes into detail about the risks associated with the opportunity costs of staying in cash; another point missed by most of the mutual fund portfolio managers.

There are several things you will have a much better understanding of after reading this book:

  • How do I evaluate the P/E ratios of the economy, the industrial sector and the individual stock?
  • How do I tell if the stock is a bargain or is about to run out of steam?
  • When should I sell and protect my profits?
  • Once I sell should I jump back in the market or sit on the side?
Best of all this is not your typical fundamental analysis book that is so full of formulas and equations that you need a degree in math or economics to even understand it.  His parable "Tevye was a rich man" should be a classic on how to value any business proposal.

This is a book you can understand and have fun with no matter what level of experience you have.  Even advanced investors have to refresh themselves in the basics once in awhile.

Read it and let me know what you think.

I found this video clip where Tadas Viskanta of Abnormal Returns interviews Vitaliy N. Katsenelson about his new book "The Little Book of Sideways Markets: How to Make Money in Markets that Go Nowhere.  Enjoy!


Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Gold is falling -- DGP -- deleted

This morning I placed a sell order in my Barchart Van Meerten New High portfolio for the
 Gold Double Long ETN (DGP) for very negative price trends.  One of the last things I do before I push the sell button is to run a 60 minute chart that shows the price against the 20, 50 and 100 hour moving average.   There is nothing worse then selling a stock because all the technical indicators are negative and not realizing that the stock is recovering from a temporary set back.  This last step doesn't prevent it in all situations but it helps.

You can see by the chart that it was time to cut this one loose.  The technical indicators I used to identify the potential sell were:

  • 100% Barchart short term technical sell signal
  • Trend Spotter (tm) sell signal
  • Trading below its 20, 50 and 100 daily moving averages
  • 10 new lows and a loss of 11.07% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index of 30.71% and falling
  • Trading at 36.16 well below its 50 day moving average of 40.21.
Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Eaton - ETN -- Chart of the day

Barchart.com's Chart of the Day - Eaton Corp (ETN)
Related Stocks
 ETN - Eaton Corporation
Sym Last Chg Pct
ETN 106.46 +1.85 +1.77%
The "Chart of the Day" is Eaton Corp (ETN), which showed up on Thursday's list of stocks that had a new "Buy" signal from the Barchart "TrendSpotter" trading system. Eaton on Thursday rallied by 1.77% and edged to a new record high for the stock. Eaton on Thursday announced Q4 EPS of $1.69, above the consensus of $1.67, and increased its dividend by 17% to 68 cents per share. Eaton Corp, with a market cap of $17.5 billion, is a diversified global industrial manufacturer with product categories including fluid power systems, electrical power quality and controls, automotive air management and fuel economy, and intelligent truck components for fuel economy and safety.

etn_700
How we found the Chart of the Day:
We found the "Chart of the Day" by scanning the Barchart "Trading Signals" page. That page provides a summary of changes in the Barchart signals. We then clicked on the TrendSpotter "Buy" category to obtain a list of all the stocks for which the Barchart TrendSpotter trading system has just turned to a buy. We then clicked on the "Today's Opinion" column header in order to sort the list with the strongest stocks on top. Further information is available at Barchart Signals Guide help page and at TrendSpotter help page.
Barchart's Opinion trading systems are all a Buy and Barchart's daily TrendSpotter trading system is a "Buy." Please note that the Barchart Opinion indicators are updated live during the session every 10 minutes and can therefore change during the day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com web site when you read this report.
  • TrendSpotter: Buy
  • Short-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Medium-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Long-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Overall Average 100% Buy


Barchart links for further information:

Quotes and Charts
Quote
Detailed Quote
Chart

Technical Analysis
Technicals Summary
Trader's Cheat Sheet™

Barchart Opinions
Barchart Opinion
Barchart Snapshot
Trading Strategies

Company Info
Company Profile
Key Statistics
Ratios
Income Statement-Quarterly
Income Statement-Annual
Balance Sheet-Current
Balance Sheet-Annual


Chart of the Day Archive
View Past Chart of the Day Reports

Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

ETFs - The long and short of it

This mornings post is about ETFs.  Over the year I found that ETFs tend to move slower than individual stocks but they also tend to follow a trend for a longer period of time.  I used Barchart to screen for the ETFs hitting the most frequent new highs and lows in the last month to come up with this list.  You can run your own little hedge fund buy buying the first 3 long and short the second 3.  Put them on your watch lists and see how they do.

LONG WATCHLIST:

SKOR -- IQ South Korea Small Cap -- seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the IQ South Korea Small Cap Index. The market capitalization-weighted Index is intended to give investors a means of tracking the overall performance of the small capitalization sector of publicly traded companies domiciled and primarily listed on an exchange in South Korea.


  • 96% Barchart technical buy signal
  • 17 new highs and up 17.35% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index 68.86% and rising
  • Trades around 31.65 with a 50 day moving average of 28.66
WOOD -- S&P Global Timber and Forest Index -- seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S&P Global Timber & Forestry Index (the "Underlying Index"). The Underlying Index is comprised of approximately 25 of the largest publicly-traded companies engaged in the ownership, management or upstream supply chain of forests and timber lands. These include forest products companies, timber real estate investment trusts, paper products companies, paper packaging companies and agricultural products companies. The Fund generally invests at least 90% of its assets in securities of the Underlying Index and in depositary receipts representing securities of the Underlying Index.

  • 96% Barchart technical buy signal
  • 16 new highs and up 8.92% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index 76.06% and rising
  • Trades around 48.60 with a 50 day moving average of 44.87
PPA -- Aerospace and Defense -- seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the SPADE Defense Index, which is designed to identify a group of companies involved in the development, manufacturing, operations and support of U.S. defense, homeland security and aerospace operations. The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its total assets in common stocks of aerospace and defense companies. The modified market-cap portfolio is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually.

  • 96% Barchart technical buy signal
  • 16 new highs and up 7.36% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index 80.93% and rising
  • Trades around 20.09 with a 50 day moving average of 18.74
SHORT WATCHLIST:

VXX -- S&P 500 VIX Short-term ETN -- linked to the performance of the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index. The S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index is designed to provide access to equity market volatility through CBOE Volatility Index futures. Specifically, the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index offers exposure to a daily rolling long position in the first and second month VIX futures contracts and reflects the implied volatility of the S&P 500 Index at various points along the volatility forward curve. The index futures roll continuously throughout each month from the first month VIX futures contract into the second month VIX futures contract. A direct investment in VIX (commonly referred to as spot VIX) is not possible. The S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index holds VIX futures contracts, which could involve roll costs and exhibit different risk and return characteristics. Investments offering volatility exposure can have various uses within a portfolio including hedging, directional, or arbitrage strategies and are typically short or medium-term in nature.

  • 96% Barchsrt technical sell signal
  • 15 new lows and down 21.94% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index 14.87% and falling
  • Trades around 29.97 with a 50 day moving average of 38.43



TYP -- Technolocgy Bear 3X -- seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the price performance of the Russell 1000 Technology Index. The pursuit of daily leveraged investment goals means that the return of the Fund for a period longer than a full trading day may bear no resemblance to 300% of the return of the Index. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index of companies that serve the electronics and computer industries or that manufacture products based on the latest applied science. The Fund, under normal circumstances, creates long positions by investing at least 80% of its net assets in the equity securities that comprise the Index.

QID -- Ultra Short QQQ --  seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to twice (200%) the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 Index. The Index includes 100 of the largest non-financial domestic and international issues listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market. The Fund will typically concentrate its investments in issuers of one or more particular industries to the same extent that its underlying index is so concentrated and to the extent permitted by applicable regulatory guidance.

Follow these 6 for the next week and give me some comments on the methodology.  If you'd like to see more of this I do a weekly article on ETFs


Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.



Graftech International -- GTI -- Chart of the day




Barchart.com's Chart of the Day - Graftech International (GTI)
Related Stocks
 GTI - Graftech International Ltd
Sym Last Chg Pct
GTI 21.09 +0.83 +4.10%
The "Chart of the Day" is Graftech International (GTI), which showed up on Wednesday's list of stocks that had a new "Buy" signal from the Barchart "TrendSpotter" trading system. Graftech on Wednesday rallied by 4.10% to post a new 2-1/4 year high and resume the rally seen in Oct-Nov. Graftech, with a market cap of $2.5 billion, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of natural and synthetic graphite and carbon-based products and services, with customers in the manufacture of steel, aluminum, silicon metal, automotive products and electronics.

gti_700
How we found the Chart of the Day:
We found the "Chart of the Day" by scanning the Barchart "Trading Signals" page. That page provides a summary of changes in the Barchart signals. We then clicked on the TrendSpotter "Buy" category to obtain a list of all the stocks for which the Barchart TrendSpotter trading system has just turned to a buy. We then clicked on the "Today's Opinion" column header in order to sort the list with the strongest stocks on top. Further information is available at Barchart Signals Guide help page and at TrendSpotter help page.
Barchart's Opinion trading systems are all a Buy and Barchart's daily TrendSpotter trading system is a "Buy." Please note that the Barchart Opinion indicators are updated live during the session every 10 minutes and can therefore change during the day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com web site when you read this report.
  • TrendSpotter: Buy
  • Short-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Medium-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Long-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Overall Average 100% Buy


Barchart links for further information:

Quotes and Charts
Quote
Detailed Quote
Chart

Technical Analysis
Technicals Summary
Trader's Cheat Sheet™

Barchart Opinions
Barchart Opinion
Barchart Snapshot
Trading Strategies

Company Info
Company Profile
Key Statistics
Ratios
Income Statement-Quarterly
Income Statement-Annual
Balance Sheet-Current
Balance Sheet-Annual


Chart of the Day Archive
View Past Chart of the Day Reports

Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Document management services are expected to prosper

This afternoon I added American Reprographics (ARC) to the Barchart Van Meerten Speculative portfolio. They are one of the leading reprographics company in the United States providing business-to-business document management services to the architectural, engineering and construction industry, or AEC industry. It also provides these services to companies in non-AEC industries, such as technology, financial services, retail, entertainment, and food and hospitality that also requires  sophisticated document management services.

As the economy recovers document management services will enter a new era of transmittal and retrieval.  A company servicing the infrastructure and construction industries should prosper.

The stock hit 16 new highs and appreciated 11.97% in the last month earning a 100% Barchart technical buy signal.  The momentum means a 66.40% Relative Strength Index that continues to increase.  The stock trades around 8.26 with a 50 day moving average of 7.45.

Wall Street brokerage analyst look for small sales increases of 2.20% but they project an increase in EPS of 137.20% this year and a continued 5 year annual EPS increase of 10.00%.

The CAPS members on Motley Fool think the stock will beat the market by a vote of 587 to 35 with the All Stars in agreement 234 to 11.


Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

SAIC serves both government and industry

This afternoon I purchased SAIC (SAI) for the Barchart Van Meerten New High portfolio based on very positive price momentum trends   SAIC INC is a scientific, engineering, and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health. The company's approximately 40,000 employees serve customers in the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other U.S. Government civil agencies and selected commercial markets.

They also have accounts with state and local government agencies, foreign governments, and customers in the commercial markets of energy, health care, environmental,and cyber security operations.


The stock is on a tear hitting 17 new highs and appreciating 5.50% in the last month.  The momentum has earned it a 100% Barchart technical buy signal with a Relative Strength Index that is 70.75% and rising.  It trades around 16.70 with a 50 day moving average of 15.85.  If earnings projection are met and PE ratios improve this stock could give a total return of up to 22% over the next several years,

Wall Street brokerage analysts think this should be a long tern holding with 4 buy and 12 hold recommendations for their brokers to push,  Although sales are expected to increase by only 2.30% this year and 2.80% next year earnings are projected to increase 16.80% this year and continue of 5 years at an annual rate of 8.48%.

There is a strong investor sentiment as measured on Motley Fool with the CAPS members voting 720 to 43 that the stock will beat the market.  The All Stars are in agreement by a vote of 182  to 6.

I feel good about recommending this stock because it has a stock buy back program, several long term royalty agreements and many of the projects in the pipe line are multi-year projects.  It has price momentum, Wall Street recommendations based on expected increases in sales and earnings and positive investor sentiment.


Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Boise keeps growing

This morning I entered a buy order for Boise (BZ) in the Barchart Van Meerten Speculative portfolio.  Boise manufactures premium and specialty products, including papers for pressure sensitive and flexible packaging applications, container board and corrugated products, imaging papers for the office and home, printing and converting papers, newsprint, and market pulp.



The stock hit 16 new highs and appreciated by 12.77% in the last month alone earning it a 100% Barchart technical buy signal. The stock has a rising Relative Strength Index of 77.89% and trades around 8.89 with a 50 day moving average of 7.87.

Wall Street brokerage analysts have 3 buy and 1 hold recommendation released based on estimates of increased revenue and earnings.  They project an increase in revenue of 6.00% this year and another 3.40% next year.  Since the company has large fixed costs these increase should fall to the bottom line with expected increases in EPS of 416.70% this year, 21.50% next year and continue at 20.00% per year for 5 years out.


Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Internet Capital (ICGE) weakens

This morning I placed a sell order for the Barchart Van Meerten Speculative portfolio based on negative price trends of Internet Capital Group (ICGE) :


  • 40% Barchart short term technical sell signal
  • Trend Spotter (tm) sell signal
  • Trading below its 20, 50 and 100 day moving average
  • 19.66% off its most recent high
  • Relative Strength Index 27.97% and falling
Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Vail Resorts (MTN) sell signals

This morning I placed a sell order in the Barchart Van Meerten New High portfolio for Vail Resorts (MTN) for negative price trends:



  • 60% Barchart short term sell signal
  • Trend Spotter (tm) sell signal
  • Trading below its 20 and 50 day moving average
  • Lost 9.98% from its recent high
  • Relative Strength Index is 35.92% and falling
Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Louisiana-Pacific -- LPX -- Chart of the Day 1/26


Chart of the Day - Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LPX)
Related Stocks
 LPX - Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Sym Last Chg Pct
LPX 10.47 +0.43 +4.28%
The "Chart of the Day" is Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LPX), which showed up on Tuesday's list of stocks that had a new "Buy" signal from the Barchart "TrendSpotter" trading system. LPX on Tuesday rallied by 4.28% and posted a new 8-month high. LPX was boosted by news that world pulp shipments hit a record high in December, rising 15% y/y, and that inventory supplies fell to 30 days from November's 33 days. Louisiana-Pacific Corp, with a market cap of $1.3 billion, manufactures building materials and engineered wood products in the United States, Canada, Chile and Brazil. The Company's products are used by homebuilders and light commercial builders.

lpx_700
How we found the Chart of the Day:
We found the "Chart of the Day" by scanning the Barchart "Trading Signals" page. That page provides a summary of changes in the Barchart signals. We then clicked on the TrendSpotter "Buy" category to obtain a list of all the stocks for which the Barchart TrendSpotter trading system has just turned to a buy. We then clicked on the "Today's Opinion" column header in order to sort the list with the strongest stocks on top. Further information is available at Barchart Signals Guide help page and at TrendSpotter help page.
Barchart's Opinion trading systems are all a Buy and Barchart's daily TrendSpotter trading system is a "Buy." Please note that the Barchart Opinion indicators are updated live during the session every 10 minutes and can therefore change during the day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com web site when you read this report.
  • TrendSpotter: Buy
  • Short-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Medium-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Long-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Overall Average 100% Buy


Barchart links for further information:

Quotes and Charts
Quote
Detailed Quote
Chart

Technical Analysis
Technicals Summary
Trader's Cheat Sheet™

Barchart Opinions
Barchart Opinion
Barchart Snapshot
Trading Strategies

Company Info
Company Profile
Key Statistics
Ratios
Income Statement-Quarterly
Income Statement-Annual
Balance Sheet-Current
Balance Sheet-Annual


Chart of the Day Archive
View Past Chart of the Day Reports

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Ocean shipping without the pirates

This afternoon I added Trailer Bridge (TRBR) to the Barchart Van Meerten Speculative portfolio.  Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, they are an integrated trucking and marine freight carrier that provides truckload freight transportation primarily between the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico. The company combines an efficient and dedicated motor carrier with a low cost barge and tug marine transportation system. Trailer Bridge is the only company serving markets governed by the Jones Act which exclusively operates marine vessels fully configured to carry 48' and 53' long, 102`` wide, ``high-cube`` trailers.



I found the company while screening on Barchart for low priced stock hitting new highs.  The stock hit 15 new highs and is up 38.43% in just the last month.  The momentum has given it an 80% Barchart technical buy signal and a rising Relative Strength Index of 75.59%.  It trades around 3.57 with a 50 day moving average of 3.02.

The one Wall Street brokerage analyst that follows the stock rates it a strong buy for his firms clients, with a forecast for slightly higher sales and earnings in the near future.

As few investors have found this stock and the CAPS members on Motley foll vote 14 to 2 that the stock will beat the market, with the All Stars in agreement 4 to 1.


Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Buy land-they're not making anymore of it -- Will Rogers

Today I took Will Rogers' advice and bought Plum Creek Timber (PCL)  for my Barchart Van Meerten New High portfolio.  Plum Creek Timber is the second largest private timberland owner in the United States, with approximately 7.8 million acres of timberlands located in 19 states. Their timberlands are well diversified, not only by species mix but also by age distribution. Growth rates vary depending on species, location, age and forestry practices. They manage their timberlands in two business segments: the Northern Resources Segment and the Southern Resources Segment.

As America's and Chinese thirst for wood for building materials and furniture returns the harvesting of wood should make this company a long term cash cow.  As the population grows who wouldn't want to own almost 8 million acres of raw land?

I know this looks like an asset buy but it actually came to my attention when screening on Barchart for stocks hitting the most frequent new highs.  This company hit 16 new highs and appreciated 12.71% in the last month earning it a 100% Barchart technical buy signal.  It trades around 41.84 with a 50 day moving average of 37.65.  The stocks momentum is increasing with a Relative Strength Index that is 78.90% and rising.


Wall Street brokerage analysts like this stock and have published 4 buy and 8 hold recommendations based on their projections for increases in both revenue and earnings.  I think the reason there are so many hold recommendations is that the company is really an REIT holding and timber but instead of counting on rents they count on the sale of timber products to pay the bills.  This stock could give a total return between 7% - 10% for many years to come.


The stock has not gone unnoticed by the general investor and has caught the eye of the members on Motley Fool.  The CAPS members vote 695 to 46 that the stock will continue to beat the market with the All Stars in agreement with a vote of 240 to 9.


The reasons I like this stock are:

  • Hitting new highs on a consistent basis
  • Wall Street analysts are following and recommending the stock
  • There is a wide and positive general investor sentiment
  • I truly believe I can't go wrong owning land and timber
Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Nedvsun Resources deleted

This morning I deleted Nevsun Resources (NSU) from the Barchart Van Meerten Speculative portfolio for negative price trends:

  • Barchart Trend Spotter (tm) technical sell signal
  • Trading below its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
  • 29.68% off its recent high
  • Relative Strength Index is 26.59% and dropping

Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.



Cia De Bebidas Das Americas - ABV - deleted

This morning I deleted Cia De Bebidas Das Americas (ABV) from the Barchart Van Meerten New High portfolio for negative price trends:


  • Barchart Trend Spotter (tm) technical sell signal
  • Trading below its 20 and 50 day moving average
  • 14.22% off its recent high
  • Relative Strength Index is 35.21% and falling
Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Tennant - TNC -- Chart of the day 1/25


Chart of the Day - Tennant Corp (TNC)
Related Stocks
 TNC - Tennant Company
Sym Last Chg Pct
TNC 39.77 -0.35 -0.87%
The "Chart of the Day" is Tennant Corp (TNC), which showed up on Monday's list of stocks that had a new "Buy" signal from the Barchart "TrendSpotter" trading system. Tennant on Monday rallied by 4.70% and posted a new 2-1/3 year high. Tennant has rallied on the strength seen in its business in the past nine months and its plans to expand in 2011. The company is gaining market share with its line of low-chemical, less-water line of floor-cleaning equipment. Tennant, with a market cap of $730 million, is a Minneapolis-based company that specializes in the sale of commercial and industrial floor maintenance equipment and related products.

tnc_700
How we found the Chart of the Day:
We found the "Chart of the Day" by scanning the Barchart "Trading Signals" page. That page provides a summary of changes in the Barchart signals. We then clicked on the TrendSpotter "Buy" category to obtain a list of all the stocks for which the Barchart TrendSpotter trading system has just turned to a buy. We then clicked on the "Today's Opinion" column header in order to sort the list with the strongest stocks on top. Further information is available at Barchart Signals Guide help page and at TrendSpotter help page.
Barchart's Opinion trading systems are all a Buy and Barchart's daily TrendSpotter trading system is a "Buy." Please note that the Barchart Opinion indicators are updated live during the session every 10 minutes and can therefore change during the day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com web site when you read this report.
  • TrendSpotter: Buy
  • Short-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Medium-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Long-Term Indicators: 100% Buy
  • Overall Average 100% Buy


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Monday, January 24, 2011

If everything comes in a box these days where is the opportunity?

When I go to the store, especially the grocery store, I'm amazed how many products come in a paper box, tube or carton.  If the economy is recovering the way everyone is telling me it is then it would seem that an industry that's going to be right in the middle of it all would be an industry that provides paper packaging.

When I go screening for stocks I want a stock that is moving now, that analysts forecast increased sales and earnings and has a wide and positive following with the general investing public.

Let's look at a watch list of paper container companies I came up with going from large to small:

GEF - Greif Bros --  manufactures and markets a broad variety of superior quality industrial shipping containers (which include fiber drums,plastic drums, steel drums, intermediate bulk containers, and multi wall bags) and containerboard and corrugated products (which include semi chemical and recycled medium, recycled liner board, corrugated boxes and corrugated honeycomb products) as well as timber properties. Greif provides innovative packaging solutions to meet the ever-changing needs of its customers.

  • 100% Barchart technical buy signal
  • Hit 16 new highs and is up 1.60% in the last month
  • Rising Relative Strength Index of 65.06%
  • Trades around 64.03 with a 50 day moving average of 61.26
  • Wall Street brokerage analysts have 5 buy and 1 hold recommendations released
  • Sales projected to increase 15.30% this year and 7.20% next year
  • EPS estimated to increase 13.10% this year, 11.80% next year and 10.28% annually for the next 5 years
  • Investor sentiment high with the CAPS members on Motley Fool voting 315 to 8 that the stock will beat the market with the All Stars in agreement 123 to 1
GRM - Graham Packaging --  a U.S. based company engaged in the design, sale, and manufacture of value-added, custom blow-molded plastic containers for branded consumer products. Graham Packaging supplies plastic containers for hot-fill juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, drinkable yogurt and smoothies, nutritional supplements, wide-mouth food, dressings, condiments and beers. The Company also supplies plastic containers for yogurt drinks, liquid fabric care products, dish care products and hard-surface cleaners. Graham Packaging is also the supplier of one-quart/liter plastic motor oil containers in the U.S., Canada and Brazil. The Company conducts its operations through its majority-owned subsidiary Graham Packaging Holdings Company (Holdings), Holdings' wholly owned subsidiary Graham Packaging Company, L.P. (the Operating Company) and all of the Operating Company's subsidiaries.
  • 100% Barchart technical buy signal
  • 12 new highs and up 17.64% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index of 88.25%
  • Trades around 16.08 with a 50 day moving average of 13.30
  • Wall Street brokerages have published 5 buy and 1 hold recommendation
  • Sales projected to increase 14.10% next year
  • EPS expected to grow 10.00% annually for the next 5 years
  • Investor sentiment on Motley Fool small but positive with the CAPS members betting 18 to 0 that the stock will beat the market and the All Stars voting 6 to 0
MPAC - Mod-Pac -- a specialized short-run printer and a designer and manufacturer of paperboard packaging. They provide products in two primary categories, folding cartons and full color print-on-demand. In addition to the commercial print market, they also provide distinctive designs for social occasions. They personalize specialty items such as invitations, napkins, and stationery.
  • 100% Barchart technical buy signal
  • 10 new highs and up 16.13% in the last month
  • Relative Strength Index 64.09
  • Trades around 5.40 with a 50 day moving average of 4.94
  • No one is presently  following this stock but earnings have grown 128% annually for the last 5 years
Well now you have 3 stocks to add to your watch list of stocks that should be poised to take advantage of a recovering economy.

Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.

Internet insurance play

This morning I added InsWeb (INSW) to the Barchart Van Meerten Speculative portfolio for positive price trends.  This is a truly speculative issue that we are buying just ahead of its February 7th earnings announcement.  If wrong it could tank in a heartbeat.

InsWeb Corp. operates an online insurance marketplace that enables consumers to shop online for automobile, term life, homeowners, renters and individual health insurance and obtain insurance company-sponsored quotes for actual coverage. InsWeb's marketplace brings consumers and insurance companies together online, providing consumers with the insurance they need and insurance companies with the customers they want. InsWeb's service is free to consumers; its principal source of revenues is transaction fees paid by insurance companies.

In the last month the stock hit 13 new highs and is up 13.89% I'm hoping in anticipation of good earnings results.  The recent price appreciation has earned the stock a 72% Barchart technical buy signal.  It trades around 8.65 with a 50 day moving average of 7.45 and has a Relative Strength Index of 7.45.

This is a relatively unknown stock with only 4 opinion votes on Motley Fool but all are positive.

A highly speculative position so monitor closely.



Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.



Dot Hill Systems -- HILL - added

This morning I added Dot Hill Systems (HILL) to the Barchart Van Meerten Speculative portfolio for positive price trends.  Dot Hill Systems Corp. is the leading independent provider of carrier-class data storage solutions for Internet-generation applications. With solutions that include storage area networks and disaster-tolerant systems for Telco and Internet operations, Dot Hill is uniquely positioned to address the storage requirements of mission-critical continuous computing environments. Its customers include many of the world's leading Internet service providers, financial institutions, advanced technology and telecommunications companies, and government agencies.

With 16 new highs and a price appreciation of 89.02% in the last month the stock has earned a 100% Barchart technical buy signal.  The stock trades around 3.17 with a 50 day moving average of 2.00 and has Relative Strength Index of 76.83% and it's rising.

Only one Wall Street brokerage is following the stock but they look for a 41.40% increase in EPS this year and 94.10% next year.

Surprisingly there is a wide and positive investor sentiment with the CAPS members on Motley Fool voting 56 to 17 that the stock will beat the market and the All Stars agree 13 to 6.

Although this stock does not have a big following on Wall Street the general investor has found it and the positive price trend is why I like it.



Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.



Cimatron - CIMT - added

This morning I added Cimatron (CIMT) to the Barchart Van Meerten New High portfolio based on positive price trends:

  • 96% Barchart technical buy signal
  • 16 new highs and up 64.40% in the past month
  • Relative Strength Index 75.81% and rising
  • Trades around 4.26 with a 50 day moving average of 2.83

Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.




Synta Pharmaceuticals - SNTA - deleted

This morning I deleted Synta Pharmaceuticals from the Barchart Van Meerten Speculative portfolio for negative price trends:

  • 60% Barchart short term technical sell signal
  • Trend Spotter (tm) sell signal
  • Trading below its 20 and 50 day moving averages
  • 30.59% off its recent high
  • Relative Strength Index 29.10% and falling

Jim Van Meerten is a professional investor with over 40 year experience in investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.  He shares his knowledge on Barchart in his daily blogs -- Barchart Portfolio Blogs.