Stock Trading

Here is the recent view of BBRY. This chart will probably gap either way, but the earnings announcement will be on June 28th. It may gap before the earnings. I would suggest that price action in the low 12's will be a signal that this company goes the way of former greats in the cell phone industry, whereas a break above 17 bodes well.  The pattern suggests indecision on the direction of Blackberry and the dotted line is a more symmetrical pennant but the last touch of the blue solid line made me draw the solid line there. By next week, we may find the blue dotted line gets touched and we bounce off that. Normally, a pennant is considered a consolidation and continuation pattern, but they can be reversal patterns as well.  The upturn of the 200 DMA and the horizontal action of the 50 DMA is still positive for the stock. It is interesting how $14 was the first pause of the initial upthrust in late December, and now takes on such an important level on the stock as the pattern reaches towards the apex. It was also the area of the last high in late April 2012 before plummeting.  Looking left on the chart shows an area from Dec 2011 to May of 2012 a little below $13 ($12.46 to 12.80) that was support until the stock collapsed and lost 50% from there in just a few months. Notice the current volume decline. Very compressed. I removed the MACD and RSI as I did not find the tools demonstrating anything important. At this point, price action looks to be the strongest clue. Good Trading, Greg Schnell, CMT

The following is an excerpt from a report compiled by Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities. Pandora (NYSE:P) reported better-than-expected Q1 results. Revenue was $129 million compared to our $130 million estimate, consensus of $124 million, and guidance of $120 – 125 million. EPS was $(0.10) compared with our estimate of $(0.08), consensus of $(0.10), and guidance of $(0.13) – (0.10). The company increased FY:14 guidance. Guidance for revenue was raised to $615 – 635 million from $600 – 620 million, and for non-GAAP EPS to $(0.02) – 0.08 from $(0.05) – 0.05. The mobile listening hour cap positively impacted subscriptions. Mobile listeners who exceed the 40-hour cap are given the option of paying $0.99 for unlimited listening for the remainder of the month or joining Pandora One, which costs $36 annually for unlimited listening. In Q1, many of these listeners opted for a Pandora One subscription, and as a result, total subscriptions exceeded expectations. Pandora added over 700,000 subscribers in the quarter, more than in all of FY:13, ending with 2.5 million subscribers, almost half on mobile. The company is benefiting from a number of steps taken in recent years. Pandora has salespeople in 28 of the top 40 local markets, and uses Triton Digital to provide data on its audience size and national and local reach. In March, it announced that it had integrated with STRATA and Mediaocean’s Donovan and Mediabank stewardship systems, allowing advertisers to compare Pandora’s audience data (through Triton) with that of broadcast radio stations. Finally, earlier this month, Pandora announced a new e-business advertising technology solution that integrates with STRATA and Mediaocean. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has yet to introduce a competing service. We downgraded Pandora shares in January due to continuing uncertainty about competition. Apple has as yet to introduce a competing streaming service, and we believe negotiations with the large music publishers are far from completion. Pandora shares have traded up significantly, likely due to this longer-than-expected delay; we think it is unlikely that Apple will introduce such a service at its WWDC conference next month. Maintaining our NEUTRAL rating, but increasing our 12-month price target to $19.50 from $15. Our revised price target reflects 30x our FY:15 EPS estimate of $0.65, a multiple that we feel is justified given Pandora’s improving execution and superior growth outlook. Michael Pachter is an analyst at Wedbush Securities. Don’t Miss: Why Did Protesters Disrupt Cablevision’s Meeting? Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

With shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) trading around $81, is PG an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let’s analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework: T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement Procter & Gamble engages in the manufacture and sale of a range of branded consumer packaged goods. The company operates in five segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric Care and Home Care, and Baby Care and Family Care. The products provided by Procter & Gamble are my regarded as essential to a large segment of the worldwide population. As populations continue to grow and adopt its products and as a leading provider, Procter & Gamble stands to see rising profits for many years. Worldwide demand for Procter & Gamble products will continue to drive profits for this huge conglomerate. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Strong Procter & Gamble stock has seen higher highs and higher lows extending back to the the dip of the 2008 Financial Crisis. This trend has led the stock to a break-out and all-time high prices. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Procter & Gamble is trading slightly above its rising key averages which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term. (Source: Thinkorswim) Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of Procter & Gamble options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish. Implied Volatility (IV) 30-Day IV Percentile 90-Day IV Percentile Procter & Gamble Options 18.19% 50% 49% What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a significant amount of call and put options contracts, as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days. Put IV Skew Call IV Skew June Options Flat Average July Options Flat Average As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a significant amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months. On the next page, let’s take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion. E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Procter & Gamble’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Procter & Gamble look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers? 2013 Q1 2012 Q4 2012 Q3 2012 Q2 Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y) 7.32% 143.9% -6.80% 47.21% Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y) 2% 1.98% -3.67% -1.17% Earnings Reaction -6.56% 4.01% 2.92% 3.13% Procter & Gamble has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over most the last four quarters. From these figures, the markets have been mostly pleased with Procter & Gamble’s recent earnings announcements. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! P = Poor Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector How has Procter & Gamble stock done relative to its peers, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB), Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL), and sector? Procter & Gamble Johnson & Johnson Kimberly-Clark Colgate-Palmolive Sector Year-to-Date Return 15.94% 24.44% 21.49% 16.63% 16.24% Procter & Gamble has be

BP (NYSE:BP) won’t quit the fight to reduce its liability in the country’s biggest oil spill ever. With different motions pending in New Orleans district courts, a group of 12 academics fronted by a well-known conservative judge filed a brief questioning the methods of payout administrator Patrick Juneau in hopes of limiting BP’s exposure in the disastrous Gulf of Mexico spill. In what has become an extremely contentious affair, the latest movement occurred when a “Brief of  Amici Curiae” was filed by the group in New Orleans, according to a Reuters report. The so-called “friends of the court” expressed concern that proper accounting principles weren’t governing the payouts given by veteran administrator Patrick Juneau and his team overseeing the BP settlement. Led by Paul Clement, George W. Bush’s former solicitor general, the team is attempting to influence the outcome of BP’s appeal though it claims it won’t benefit either way. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! The document entered the record in New Orleans courts on May 10 and may influence the outcome of the latest effort made by BP in the administration of the Deepwater Horizon settlement. Though the British oil giant had planned to spend over $8 billion on the settlement, the surge in claims could push the number to $13 billion and beyond. At that point, BP would feel the bite in its quarterly profits and investors would see the effects in earnings reports. Throughout the battle over the administration of settlement money, Juneau has maintained his team abided by written terms to the letter. Among the weaknesses in BP’s agreement is the fact there was no ceiling to the figure that could be claimed. BP believed $8 billion would cover the bill in its entirety, yet there is nothing in writing that would stop the amount from going to $13 billion and beyond. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Clement’s team aims to slow the volume of the payouts yet to be made. Businesses claiming losses and/or additional expenses as a result of the spill are pouring into the claims center and could potentially send the total payout soaring by next year. BP is so worried it mentioned the company could be the target of a takeover if the number grows too large. In either case, the earnings will suffer if the superstar legal group and company lawyers don’t find a way to stop large numbers of payouts from being approved. Investing Insights: Will Southwest Airlines See Higher Prices? Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Fed Chairman Bernanke spooked investors with his testimony before Congress on Wednesday by indicating that the Fed could begin to withdraw the punch bowl of stimulus as soon as at one of its next monthly FOMC meetings.What? The Fed might abandon investors? Might remove the 'Bernanke put' and let market forces return to normal? That's not fair! Since the economic recovery and bull market in stocks began in 2009, we've been guaranteed the full force of central bank stimulus to keep them going, with the Fed even rushing in with more stimulus, QE2, Operation Twist, QE3, each of the last three summers when the economy and markets faltered.The Fed's intentions to keep the good times going no matter how much artificial support it had to provide was so obvious that this time even as the economy is stumbling again, investors aren't worried, and the market keeps hitting

If Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows-based tablets aren’t doing so well, maybe it’s because they have been competing head-to-head when they should be doing something different. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) might help do just that. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is already entrenched as the tablet leader, with its iPads consistently taking the cake. Of course, the iPhone once was the uncontested leader, and it has since fallen to second place in the global market. But for now, the iPad is a heavy contender that won’t be easy for any company to get past. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! It’s not enough for Microsoft to be blocked just by the iPad, and that’s where Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) comes in. With a broad range of manufacturers developing Android-based tablets, particularly Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle, there is a massive wall of competitors, and Microsoft got into the tablet game a bit late to have an easy time pushing in to snatch up market share. Microsoft felt the pressure against it when it launched its own tablets, the Surface RT and Surface Pro. Fortunately for Microsoft, other manufacturers are also making Windows tablets, and some are doing it in unique ways. As many of the tablets on the market today fit between the 7-inch and 10-inch categories, it might not be the easiest area of the market to breach. That might be exactly why HP is developing a tablet with some big differences. HP’s ENVY Rove 20 is set to come out sometime around July, and as the name suggests, it will feature a 20-inch display, potentially making it four times the size of Apple’s iPad. It might sound a bit bulky to be a tablet, but it could be argued that it’s actually a very portable all-in-one PC. Obviously, at 20 inches, the device is big — nearly the size of Apple’s smaller iMac model. It has a large hinge that allows it to stand freely, giving it that all-in-one PC feeling. It’s hard to say just which it is, and it might be better say it’s one and the other at the same time, and that might just be the essence of what Windows 8 does — blend the line between tablets and other devices. The device has many technical specifications that set it apart from other tablets, and it also has features that give it an edge over traditional all-in-one PCs. First off, it has a touchscreen and a battery– if it didn’t, it wouldn’t be much of a tablet at all. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Now, most tablets have weaker hardware and smaller storage spaces than traditional computer, and that’s likely because of size limitations, but the Rove 20 doesn’t have those same limitations. The Rove is expected to come out with 1 terabyte of internal storage with an additional 8 gigabytes of solid state memory to help the device run extra fast. It will also feature the latest Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) processors — the reason the device won’t come out until July. Naturally, a device that big will have one other big thing tacked on: the price tag. The price isn’t established yet, but HP has said it will likely be around $1,000 — slightly cheaper than Apple’s smaller iMac. Because of its size, it’s not likely to compete directly with many of the other tablets on the market, but that could be for the best. It may find that there is a separate market for larger tablets that hasn’t been tapped and doesn’t have entrenched competitors. And that may be the place for Windows-based tablets to flourish. Follow Mark on Twitter (@WallStMarkSheet) Don’t Miss: The Tortoise and the Hare: Samsung and Apple. Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

If selling cars is like war, foreign automakers are stockpiling weapons and planning for the type of bloodshed that hasn’t been seen in many years. Car sales are expected to exceed 15 million units this summer, which will force Asian and American automakers to engage in intense combat to get an edge in the ongoing battle for supremacy. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! The American International Automobile Dealers Association was in Washington this week to talk shop and look ahead to what most consider will be an exceptional season, as reported by The Detroit News. Dave Zuchowski, who is VP of sales for Hyundai (HYMLF) in America, noted how every company is set with their lineup of cars. Because the existing stock will shift the power into the consumer’s hands, the competition will be fierce. “Summer’s going to be bloody,” Zuchowski told a panel discussion in Washington. Bill Fay, a vice president for Toyota (NYSE:TM) in America, used less graphic words to predict the same result. Calling for more of the same “good sustainable industry growth” seen in recent years, Fay hit the high end of most automaker estimates, with 15.3 million sales in his vision. Tom Loveless, an executive vice president for KIA Motors (KIMTF), agreed with Fay’s number and mentioned how many more incentives car makers will be forced to introduce to win buyers. While Asian automakers are optimistic about sales and somewhat concerned about overall profits, the West seems focused on production and aggressive marketing. Mercedes-Benz, for instance, is launching “its biggest product offensive in history,” according to Bernie Glaser, its VP of U.S. marketing. Mercedes will unveil a new car about every three months for the next seven years, which is indeed a remarkable clip. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! U.S. automakers are taking the same bullish approach to production and tabling concerns about sales quotas for a later date. Instead of the annual summer auto plant shutdown, GM (NYSE:GM) and Chrysler are keeping factories churning through September, employee vacations be damned. As The Wall Street Journal reported, Detroit’s slight edge over the Asian automakers this year has given American automakers confidence and incentive to keep pushing. Ford (NYSE:F) is taking the same approach to the 2013 summer season. Instead of shutting down production for several weeks, the company will close for a single week at many plants. Would Detroit automakers risk overstocking and thus suffering in the revenue department? Because of the U.S. dealership contingent, additional production immediately means additional orders from the dealers. That worry can be saved for a later date. Don’t Miss: Say Goodbye to Ford’s Falcon. Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

American Tower REIT (AMT), provider of cell tower space to telecom companies such as Verizon Communications (VZ), AT&T (T), Sprint Nextel (S) and T-Mobile US (TMUS), is in the midst of a high growth market segment due to the large adoption of bandwidth hungry smartphones such as Apple's (AAPL) iPhone. The company's future growth also looks bright due to the potential for future deployment of voice over LTE also known as VoLTE.In American Tower's Q1 2013 earnings call held on May 1, 2013, James D. Taiclet, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO, offered some insight to VoLTE and the opportunity VoLTE represents to American Tower. Mr. Taiclet indicated American Tower's customers are planning on deploying VoLTE in order to increase efficiency and in the case of CMDA carriers, such as Verizon, enable simultaneous voice and data access. The efficiencies gained from transitioning to VoLTE from legacy circuit-switched technology, however,

The main development in the foreign exchange market over the past week has been the short squeeze of the yen, and to a lesser extent, the Swiss franc.The move coincided with a backing up in JGB yields, with the 10-year approaching the 1.0% threshold, a nearly three-fold increase since the BOJ announced its more aggressive monetary stance in early April. The Nikkei took it on the chin, falling 12.5% between Thursday's high near 16k and Friday's low just below 14k.Many of the foreign investors who have poured almost $80 billion into Japanese equities this year have hedged the currency risk, by selling the yen. However, given the slide in Japanese share prices, they may be over-hedged. To reduce the hedge yen needs to be bought.At the same time, Japanese investors are not exporting their savings. Instead they appear to be taking profits on some of the foreign

Hopefully Corporate Accountability International doesn’t see McDonald’s Corp.’s (NYSE:MCD) recent headlines. On Thursday, we reported that Ronald McDonald had recently come back under fire from the nonprofit organization on accusations that McDonald’s deliberately targeted children in its marketing strategy, contributing to the obesity epidemic in the country. But after seeing the new item McDonald’s is rolling out in Japan, it seems as though CAI is going to have bigger fish to fry. The company announced Friday that the Mega Potato will be reintroduced to the McDonald’s menu in Japan for a limited-time offering. The fast food chain’s highest-calorie item, the Mega Potato is almost a pound of McDonald’s golden french fries, and it comes in at a whopping 1,142 calories. The fries will cost your pocket 490 yen, or $5, but its 57 grams of fat and almost 800 milligrams of sodium might ultimately end up costing you more. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Was CAI right? Is Ronald McDonald really promoting obesity, but this time in Japan? The company contends that it isn’t, and says the carton of fries is perfect for sharing. In the promotional photo of the large box of fries, four different hands are digging in. It isn’t surprising McDonald’s is pulling out all the stops to attract its customers back to the store.   The company recently reported its fourth monthly global same-stores sales decline since October, and in an attempt to combat these falling sales, the McDonald’s menu has seen several recent changes. And the reintroduction of the Mega Potato may be just what the Japanese want. Japan has made it known that they love their french fries — especially last year when Japanese students were photographed having “potato parties” at McDonald’s. Now, it looks like those parties are about to be super-sized. The Mega Potato will only be offered from May 24 through the month of June, exclusively in Japan. Don’t Miss: Is Ronald McDonald Making American Kids Obese? Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet