Posts Tagged ‘investing’

CIMT jets ahead, C, BAC hold own, SMT down on downgrade

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Cimatron Limited (NasdaqCM: CIMT) stood out amid all the initial gloom on Wednesday, gaining 68.54 percent in price to $3.00 in the first trading hour. Volume broke away from its three-month daily restraints of 6,132 and crowded the half-million mark to begin the day. The Israeli-based provider of integrated CAD/CAM solutions for the toolmaking and manufacturing industries announced third-quarter revenues were up 26% from the same quarter last year.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) proved the volume leader early Wednesday, trading in 107,771,989 shares in the first hour. The banking group even managed to forge ahead in price by 0.47 percent to $4.32.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) traded in 48,192,182 shares in the first hour Wednesday, compared to a daily three-month average of 193,972,000. BAC shares inched up 0.16 percent to $12.29.

Smart Technologies Inc. (NasdaqGS: SMT) saw its price tumble 27.47 percent in Wednesday’s first hour to $9.48. Volume in SMT hit 6,537,933 shares in the opening hours, more than 10 times its three-month average. The slip comes after a downgrade by RBC Capital Markets to “sector perform” from “outperform”.

Technical Trading – Stochastics

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

The technical indicator called Stochastics is used to determine patterns of uptrends and downtrends in a stock’s trading pattern. The oscillation of the Stochastics shows you when a stock is nearing or within an oversold area or nearing or within an overbought area.

Stochastics come in two main varieties, fast and slow. Both are graphed between 0-100, where over 80 means overbought and under 20 means oversold.

Stochastics Fast

The Stochastic Fast is charted using the following two lines.

Fast %K: [(Close – Low) / (High – Low)] x 100 (shown as black line above)
Fast %D: Simple moving average of Fast K (3-day MA) (shown as blue “trigger line” above)

Stochastics Slow

The Stochastic Slow is charted using the following two lines.

Slow %K: Equal to Fast %D (3-day MA of Fast %K) (shown as black line above)
Slow %D: Simple moving average of Slow %K (shown as blue “trigger line” above)

Which is better? Well, the Stochastics Slow is usually preferred by most traders because is does not show as many false buy and sell signals.

Stochastic Price Divergences

One other aspect of Stochastics that I would like to touch on are Stochastic Price Divergences. This occurs when the Stochastics begins to oscillate within a smaller and smaller range. If the narrowing range is encompassing high numbers around 70 and above then this is a very strong bullish signal. The opposite is also true, if the narrowing range is encompassing low numbers below 30 then this is a very bearish signal.

Below is an example of a bullish Stochastic Price Divergence.

Advocat, Inc. (AVCA) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Shares of healthcare facilities operator, Advocat, Inc.(NASDAQ: AVCA) surged nearly 17 percent in morning trading Thursday, after the company released second quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.

The Tennessee-based company reported earnings of $937,000, or $0.15 per share, compared to $709,000, or $0.11 per-share for the same period a year ago. Revenue increased 7.3 percent to $76.1 million compared to a year ago.

Analysts had expected per share earnings of $0.14.

Highlights from the quarter included an increase of more than 75 percent in funds provided by operations, from $2.7 million in 2008 to $4.8 million in the second quarter of 2009. Facility also occupancy increased to 76.6 percent, from 74.7 percent in the same quarter last Advocat’s board also approved the payment of a $0.05 per share dividend commencing with the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

“We continue to record excellent comparable and sequential quarterly results in a difficult economy,” said Chief Executive Officer, William Council. “One of our most important measurements is funds provided from operations which were $4.8 million, a 75 percent increase over the 2008 comparable quarter.”

Seven of the company’s long-term nursing facilities recently received national recognition at the 2009 National Quality Awards by the American Healthcare Association (AHCA). AHCA looks at facilities that demonstrate at least a three-year track record of quality care, staff and residents’ satisfaction, and regulatory compliance.
With these awards, 37 of our 50 facilities have won National Quality Awards, with three winning Step II awards,” said Council. “We are very proud of the employees of these facilities for their commitment to quality performance.”

Advocat provides long term care services to patients in 50 skilled nursing centers, primarily in the Southeast and Southwest. It offers various non-institutional and institutional services, which include skilled nursing, ancillary health care services, and assisted living to the elderly, as well as rehabilitative, nutritional, respiratory, and other specialized ancillary services.

Buzz Stock of the Day – IncrediMail (MAIL)

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Shares of Israeli Internet company, IncrediMail Ltd. (Nasdaq: MAIL) were up nearly 14 percent after the company announced a two-year renewal of their contract with Google for use of the search company’s advertising network, AdSense.

IncrediMail, which designs high end personal desktop software, has been using AdSense since 2006, enabling it to share advertising revenue generated from users clicking on links sponsored by Google. The recent announcement gives IncrediMail the right to use AdSense for another two years, enabling it to share advertisign revenue generated from users clicking on links sponsored by Google.

IncrediMail reported in May that about 70 percent of its revenue was generated from its search business model, which includes multiple search engines.

This renewal reflects the positive relationship established between our companies and a relationship that has allowed IncrediMail to continue to perform well,” said IncrediMail CEO, Ofer Adler in a statement.

IncrediMail has roughly $27.6 million in the bank, and generated earnings of $6.5 million on revenue of $23.5 million for the trailing 12-month period. The company has an operating margin of nearly 17 percent.

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Buzz Stock of the Day – True Religion Apparel (TRLG)

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Earlier this week, premium jeans brand (and our Buzz Stock of the Day), True Religion Apparel, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRLG), announced a 10 percent jump in its first quarter profit and a 19 percent jump in sales, over the same period last year.

The company also increased its cash balance to $76.5 million and carried no debt ahead, and expanded its gross margin by 380 basis points to 60.9 percent, from 57.1 percent last year. Operating income for the quarter increased 15 percent to $13.1 million, from $11.4 million a year ago, and net profit per share increased to $0.32, from $0.29 a year ago. Earnings were buoyed by a 26 percent increase in international sales and a 96 percent increase in branded retail stores an through e-commerce, offset by an 11 percent decline in sales for the company’s U.S. wholesale segment.

True Religion also expanded its consumer direct segment, growing its total store count to 49 as of March 31st, and 51 stores as of today. According to True Religion Apparel chairman CEO, Jeff Lubel, the “expansion of our consumer direct segment is a key component of our growth strategy.”

CFO, Pete Collins reiterated the company’s guidance of net sales between $290 million and $297 million in 2009.

Shares of TRLG were up as much as 24 percent today, largely because of results from a private survey showing the smallest decline in private-sector employment in six months.

Other retailers that were up in mid-day trading included Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) and Sears Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: SHLD).

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