Friday, January 18, 2013

Weekend thread


Friday Afternoon


The indexes are red as Europe closes.  Surprisingly (at least it surprised me) there have been 434 new highs and 13 new lows even though only 2485 stocks are higher while 3337 are lower.

Don't forget the market is closed Monday.

Friday Morning - Bank on it

Gator's Chart of the Day: BBT
BBT reported yesterday before the open and the stock traded in the green all day. Volume was 54% above average.  (IBD gets warm and fuzzy with just 40% above average.)

The stock is now above the 200 day and peeking into the overhead gap.  I think it will quickly fill that and move on up to test the September high of 34.37.  That's 13%+ to the upside from Thursday's close and I think the risk of a move below 30 is nil.  That offers a 4:1 reward to risk ratio and that's attractive.  This can also be a good longer term position as the stock pays an .80 dividend for a 2.6% yield.

The Trade 
I would buy under 31.30 and quickly fill the position with one more buy if it clears 31.50 and holds for 20+ minutes.  With the position full in a very tight range the stops will also be tight to avoid a significant loss.  I would put a stop on half just below Thursday's low (30.31) and the rest just under the 20 day sma (currently 29.84.)  I would raise the stops as the stock moves up and I would be out if the stock falls below the middle Bollinger band by more than a few pennies since it has not done that since it turned up in early December.