Sunday, August 17, 2014

Twitter, JC Penny, Facebook, El Pollo Loco

Twitter  (TWTR)
 
This is a DAILY chart of Twitter
Twitter Daily Chart  TWTR
Click chart above for a larger chart of TWTR

Twitter recently reported pretty good earnings.  How good is evidenced by the jump in the stock's price and the increased volume for a couple days.  Problem is investors like stocks that "Gap & Go".  Twitter didn't.  Twitter gave investors 5 straight down days after the gap up.  Then a few days of basing.  And now we have had 4 straight up days. 

So what is next?  I would say that twitter has given a couple reasons to be optimistic. 

If you look back to July 1, TWTR put in an intraday high of $42.95.  After the earnings gap up, when TWTR was dropping and basing, we never saw a daily closing price less than $42.95.  All I am saying is resistance of about $43 prior to earning became support after earnings. 

If you look at the 8, 21, & 50 day ema's you will notice they are in the right order and the price is above the 8 day for the last 4 days.  Moving averages are a powerful tool.  As long as TWTR continues to close above the 21 day ema, stick with your long. 

The next interesting level for this stock is $50ish.  That is the high of the first say of trading. 


JC Penny  (JCP)
 
This is the DAILY chart of JCP
JC Penny  JCP  Daily Chart
Click chart above for larger chart of JCP

JC Penny reported earning on Thursday after the close.  So Friday's candle is the market's reaction to JCP's pretty good earnings...  I am beginning to wonder if investors will ever believe, and give credit for, the apparent turn around happening at JCP. 

JCP went through an accelerated downtrend for about 2 years.  That downtrend was broken in March of this year.  Since the break of the uptrend, JCP stock has traded in a fairly tight upward sloping channel.  The bottom of the channel is about $8.75.  So if you want to start a long position I would advise using the bottom of the channel as your stop.  If you still believe JCP is a short, let the short trade trigger by breaking below the bottom of the channel. 

A quick word about the moving averages.  The 50 week ema is above both the 8 & 21.  If this stock is going to continue upward, then the 8 & 21 must cross above the 50 week.  Once that happens more people will jump into JCP or change their mind about JCP.  But that is long term since we are talking about weekly moving averages.  If you look at the daily moving averages, JCP seems to be riding the 21 day ema with its intraday lows.  Notice that the daily closes are at or above the 8 day ema for 7 days now.


Facebook  (FB)
 
This is a DAILY chart of FB
Click chart above for larger chart of FB


Facebook recently reported pretty good earnings.  How good is evidenced by the jump in the stock's price and the increased volume for a couple days.  Problem is investors like stocks that "Gap & Go".  Facebook didn't.  Facebook gave investors 6 down days after the gap up.  Then a few days of basing.  And now we have had a few up days. 

So what is next?  I would say that Facebook has given a couple reasons to be optimistic. 

If you look back to March of this year, FB put in an intraday high of about $72.  After the earnings gap up, when FB was dropping and basing, it came right back to that $72ish level.  All I am saying is resistance of about $72 prior to earning became support after earnings. 

If you look at the 8, 21, & 50 day ema's you will notice they are in the right order and the price is riding the 8 day.  Moving averages are a powerful tool.  As long as FB continues to close above the 21 day ema, stick with your long. 

The next interesting level for this stock is "higher".  FB is trading in uncharted waters now.  It is higher than it has ever been except for the intraday high of $76.74 after earnings.  Once it closes above that level just keep an eye on trends, higher lows, and moving averages.

For those of you who noticed, yes I just copied & pasted from TWTR to write this about FB.  That says a couple things.  One, FB & TWTR are trading very similarly at the moment.  So if one is a good investment then so it the other.  Two, don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to. 


El Pollo Loco  (LOCO)  -  How loco are you ??
 
This is an HOURLY chart of LOCO
El Pollo Loco  LOCO  hourly chart
Click chart for a larger chart of LOCO

You did read that this is an HOURLY chart right?  This is an IPO with little price history.  I chose to post an hourly chart because it "feels" like we are looking at more history.  OK.  Now that we are all on the same page...

LOCO had a few great days out of the gate.  But then the novelty began to fade away.  There was a quick drop then a quick rise (to a lower level).  Then a semi steady decline that brings us to today. 

I will point out that the last two days have conformed to an uptrend line.  It may look significant on this hourly chart but it's only two days...  With that said, if the price stays above the trend, a long position is relatively safe.  But if the price falls below the uptrend line, get out of the way.  Just as a reference point, the opening day saw prices in the mid 20's.

Let's look at the moving averages.  Notice that they are opposite of  the right order.  They are upside down.  The 8 is under the 21 and the 21 in under the 50.  Although I love the chicken & pinto beans at El Pollo, I do not like LOCO at this point in time. Give me a couple days.  If the downtrend is broken I may change my mind. 

Here are a couple price levels I think are interesting:
$29ish - LOCO has pulled back to here twice on the hourly chart.  I would say this is a pretty strong level of support.
$31.25ish - This is where LOCO pulled back to just before starting the most current 2day uptrend. 
$33.75ish - This is where LOCO pulled back to after its initial run up.  At this point, $33.75ish is a place where LOCO could find resistance and turn back down.  But $33.75ish is also a level that could be descent support after LOCO closes above it.


Thanks for taking the time to read this post
 
Trade What You See - Not What You Think, or Feel, or Hope, or ...
 
The Trend Is Your Friend Until Its Not, Use Support & Resistance Levels,  Limit risk