– The Stock Market Companion –
15Minute Market Update
February 8, 2012
—— Stock Market Investing since the 1980’s ——
Published 3 Days / Week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Monthly Subscription $49.95
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-Executive Summary-
- The markets closed a bit higher today… flat to slightly higher. S&P 500 (+.25%); DOW (+0.06%); NASDAQ (+.42%)
- Market Overview = The market is in a confirmed uptrend since the October 4th pivot point that we identified at its inception and profited from. Click here for today’s SMC S&P 500 (ETF SPY) chart.
- The broader market’s nice uptrend is presenting a SUITABLE environment to be considering individual stock investments, and we have been doing so since the October 4th “Upside Reversal Day”. Normally we would expect the markets to do some backing and filling here at key resistance, represented by last July’s highs. Please see our SMC chart below.
- The markets pressed a bit higher into key resistance today and did NOT get pushed back. We are not reading too much into this. The markets have every reason here for a pause or Pull-Back.
- Another SMC Holding – this time, Mitek Systems, Inc. – SHOT over +20% higher on excellent earnings reported last night.
- We apply our S.I.M.P.L.E. investing method and provide a short Successful Investing Video related to Mitek (MITK $10.43) below. Don’t miss it!
- After the close today, Groupon reported earnings that were a bit of a disappointment. Although many SMC members agree that the Groupon system is somewhat flawed, the shares of the stock have been strong lately. If the stock doesn’t sell off much on this earnings disappointment, there is an outside chance that the shares could really squeeze HIGHER on a short squeeze. It would NOT be the first time that value and other investors would shake their heads in disbelief as the shares of a company with a difficult business model surged higher (sometimes doubling and tripling in value). At Stock Market Companion we don’t want to miss a strong run, even if we know that Groupon model faces some real challenges.
- SMC Watchlist stocks with possibly good set-ups = EGHT; AONE; ZIXI (small caps=heightened risk but possibly heightened opportunity). Click on the SMC Watchlist (Link below Header, above) – these set-ups continue to look attractive.
- SMC Holding Apple, Inc. … continues to surge higher.
- Did you know that SMC members ALWAYS get 1 free month for each new paying member they recommend who joins our 15Minute Stocks Program? It’s a great way to help friends and gives everyone something new to talk about! NOW you can call 360-695-6985 or email support@stockmarketcompanion.com for a special, significant discount code to give them.
- We introduce a NEW Feature to the SMC 15Minute Update Program = Advanced Investor Opportunities … Please see below for details.
- Please click here to send us your feedback. Let us know how we are doing – We are here to serve you. Support@Stockmarketcompanion.com
– Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings –
| Nr. | Co. | Ticker | Action | Entry Date | Current Gain (Loss) |
| 1 |
Alcoa, Inc. |
AA |
Holding | 1/3/2012 |
+9% |
| 2 | Dendreon, Inc. | DNDN | Holding | 1/11/2012 | +6% |
| 3 | Mitek, Inc. | MITK | Holding | 1/12/2012 | +23% |
| 4 | EBAY, Inc. | EBAY | Holding | 2/1/2012 | +2% |
| 5 | Cree, Inc. | CREE | Holding | 1/18/2012 | +18% |
| 6 | Apple, Inc. | AAPL | Holding | 1/30/2012 | +5% |
– Stock Market Companion – ADVANCED INVESTOR OPPORTUNITIES –
Our objectives are to teach principles of successful investing and to offer you as many real and excellent investment ideas and opportunities as possible. When we launched Stock Market Companion in October 2009, we knew that we would eventually be faced with the situation where we had more ideas and more opportunities presenting themselves than we would be able to invest in ourselves.
We want to make sure that we present you excellent opportunities that are unfolding NOW, even when we do not engage them ourselves. Many of you are already using our SMC Watchlist and monitoring it to see such opportunities unfolding, on your own. But we don’t want to be confined with just what is in our SMC holdings and in our SMC Watchlist.
A recent, excellent example of this: On 1/13/2012 we presented the idea that Sears Holdings (SHLD) director Mr. Eddie Lampert purchased approx. $140 million of SHLD shares on the open market between approx. $27.50 and $30 / share. The stock jumped higher the next day and for us was “overextended” – but the shares roared on another +60% in a few days! For some SMC members who are more risk tolerant, SHLD may not have appeared overextended and our thoughts on the investment may have kept them from participating or participating more fully. We want to give ideas and offer valuable insights, but Get out of the Way!
We are introducing this section so that at SMC, we can “get out of the way” and let you decide for yourselves and not influence members so greatly with our own risk-tolerances and objectives at the time. We WILL point out key characteristics that we think are important to consider, or logical areas to place stops or offer realistic targets based on our over two decades of investing experience, but we will be less inclined to judge these opportunities beyond that. What we list in this section will be cover many dimensions:
- Growth stories following our successful S.I.M.P.L.E. investing method
- Unusual opportunities arising from oversold or overbought conditions
- Opportunities presenting themselves due to key technical developments in the shares (key support and resistance line engagement, high volume clues…)
- Stocks that offer excellent dividend yields and measurable risk
- Covered Call ideas
- Higher risk but possibly quite unique investment opportunties
- Excellent mutual funds and ETF ideas (including off-shore)
At this time, we are including this section in the SMC Basic Membership. Our advisors may determine that these insights should be offered outside of the basic membership for a modest additional fee. That decision is for sometime later. Let’s proceed …
| Nr. | Introduction Date |
% Gain or (Loss) (Introduction) |
Co. | Ticker | Possible Opportunity NOW | STOP Level or Other Considerations | Possible TARGET | REWARD / Risk Ratio |
S.I.M.P.L.E. Notes + |
| 1 | 2/3/2012 | Micron Tech. | MU | Later … LONG only AFTER the shares tumble and stabilize on tragic news today of CEO’s sudden death in experimental single-passenger aircraft. |
NA | NA | NA | Shares have NOT offered an entry. If the shares can go up with the loss of a good CEO, there may be more upside ahead. |
– Markets “At a Glance” –
(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)
| Market | Price (Today’s Close) | Unit of Measure | Today’s Direction |
| SP-500 | 1,350.37 | Index | Flat =+3.32 points |
| DOW-30 | 12,885.31 | Index | Flat= +7.11 points |
| NASDAQ | 2,916.25 | Index | Flat ==12.17 points |
– Market Trends –
Trend |
SP-500 |
DJ-30 |
NASDAQ |
| Short Term | Flat / UP | Flat / UP | Flat / UP |
| Intermediate | Flat | Flat | Flat |
| Long Term | Lateral | Lateral | Lateral |
*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.
– Market Perspectives –
For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) –
SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).
– Today’s Highlights –
Here’s what is happening –
The equities (stock) markets have been moving HIGHER since October 4, 2011 (“THE” Key Upside Reversal Day – which we identified with our special report to members).
- Markets are markedly higher over the last two months at a rate that is NOT sustainable.
- The broader market (S&P 500) is right up against resistance imposed by the July 2011 highs.
- The European markets are weak today due to uncertainties in Greece concerning Greece’s commitment to their austerity programs.
We are now in earnings season and corporate earnings have largely been very good.
The recent U.S. Department of Labor Non-Farm Payroll Report was surprisingly GOOD. This has given the market extra push.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has announced that interest rates will stay low for an extended period of time. This means that the economy is NOT robust in the eyes of the Fed and they want to do everything in their power to improve things. Low interest rates help push money into higher yielding (and higher risk) investments like equities.
The U.S. primary election season is under-way and there is lots of media attention there.
In Europe, at this moment in time it’s beginning to look as if the situation in Greece will get resolved – as long as Greek citizens go along with it. Greece has announced some strong cuts, such as a -22% reduction in the minimum wage there… We’ll see.
The market is likely to pull-back some soon…?
– S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investingtm –
– (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) –
S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts –
S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)
I = Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)
M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time? Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).
P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)
L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)
E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)
Today another SMC Holding = Mitek Systems, Inc. (Ticker: MITK $10.31) jumped STRONGLY higher. At one point today, the shares were over +25% higher than yesterday’s close.
Let’s apply quickly our S.I.M.P.L.E. investing model to Mitek –
S = Story = The company has created the system that allows companies like banks and insurance companies (and others) to offer their customers abilities to take pictures of – in the case of banks – checks with their smartphones and deposit them automatically into their bank accounts. This optical data capturing and transfer system for smartphones can be used for many innovative and cost saving applications. Please click here for a link to Mitek’s website section identifying different solutions that are offered by their innovative system.
I = Institutional interest / Investor Interest = The company’s shares have risen from $1.61/share in October 2010 to over $10/share today. Trading volume is expanding.
M = Market = The market is in a clearly defined UPTREND since October 4, 2011.
P = Person or Product = The product is very innovative and is associated with the explosion in smart phone use. The product is a very practical tool, AND requires careful testing with the customers (banks and insurance co’s) who want to adopt it. So there are some barriers to entry from competitors.
L = Leader = Mitek’s share appreciation certainly places it in the leading stock category for stocks under $10/share in price.
E = Earnings = The company has posted its FIRST quarter of profitable earnings on +151% in sales revenue over the same quarter last year. Gross operating margins for their product is over +90%! That’s fantastic.
So there you have a quick application of our S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing method as applied to Mitek.
Now – staying with MITK – Please click here for our Stock Market Companion Successful Investing Video where we talk about the technical developments taking place with the shares. Please remember to right click on the video icon to bring up commands that allow you to rewind, replay, or stop the video.
When you are done with the video, please click here to a link to the Quarterly Report directly from Mitek, Corp. You will find it an excellent read.
– Benchmarks “At a Glance” –
US Dollar |
1.3258 USD = 1 Euro |
USD / EUR |
Dollar = Flat
|
Gold |
$1,734.50 |
Ounce |
Gold = Flat
|
Oil |
$99.04 |
Barrel (West Texas Crude) |
Oil = Unexpectedly higher.
|
30 Yr. Fixed Mortgage |
3.91% |
Percent |
Flat |
10 Yr. Bond Yield |
1.98% |
Percent |
Higher |
1 Yr. CD |
1.00 |
Percent |
Flat |
–Data Source : Financial Visualizations Inc.
Please help us by sending your valuable feedback to – Support@stockmarketcompanion.com
Signing-Off for Today,
Your -Stock Market Companion
** Stock Market Companion Disclaimer **
The Stock Market Companion (SMC) Market Update and Watchlist are published documents to subscribers that show how we (SMC) are viewing the markets and what we are watching, investing in or selling. This information is for a wide readership and is not intended for any particular individual, and under no circumstances should this Market Update or Watchlist be considered an investment recommendation or plan for any specific individual. By accessing this material, you agree that the Stock Market Companion will not be held liable for any actions taken by a subscriber or other parties. You understand that the Stock Market Companion holds positions in the above mentioned securities. Based on market related or personal events these positions may change without notice.
Furthermore, the Stock Market Companion, Inc. is a content provider and publisher and not a registered broker-dealer or licensed investment professional. Our intent is to publish very accurate market information for an audience of subscribers (1000+ subscribers). By accessing the Stock Market Companion website and/or using the Stock Market Companion products and services such as this Market Update and accompanying Watchlist, you understand and agree that the material provided in the Stock Market Companion products and services is for informational and educational purposes only, and that no mention of a particular security in a Stock Market Companion product or service constitutes a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold that or any other security, or that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. To the extent any of the information contained in any Stock Market Companion product or service may be deemed to be investment advice, such information is impersonal and not tailored to the investment needs of any specific person. Before selling or buying any stock or other investment you should consult with a qualified broker or other financial professional to verify pricing information and to solicit advice as to the appropriateness of a given transaction or investment.
- The markets were AGAIN divergent today, just as yesterday revealing further weakness in the technology sector while the broader market (S&P 500) and the DOW (DJ-30) held POSITIVE.
- Research in Motion (Ticker: RIMM $27.75) reported earnings last night that were a major disappointment. We go through the details below. The company received 2 broker upgrades going into earnings. The stock then lost -21.45% from yesterday’s close into today. We go through our steps in handling our brief investment in the stock this last week – AND WHY, below.
- Crude oil continued to descend today, reflecting a drop in value of the U.S. dollar – BUT also concern of future demand as the global economy slows down.
- The S&P 500 is finding support at its 200 day exponential moving average. If the broader market doesn’t find strength here and begins to sink further, the next near point of support is the low it plumbed during the recent nuclear crisis in Japan. If it fails that point, then the intermediate term trend will be DOWN.
- Please click here to send us your feedback. Let us know how we
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