#$fmc

5 Trade ideas excerpted from the detailed analysis and plan for premium subscribers:

Abbott Laboratories, Ticker: $ABT

Abbott Laboratories, $ABT, started higher off of a March low, continuing until reaching top in April. It has pulled back in a flag since against falling trend resistance. Friday it pushed higher though. The RSI is rising into the bullish zone with the MACD about to cross up. Look for continuation to participate…..

Conagra Brands, Ticker: $CAG

Conagra Brands, $CAG, spiked up in December only to immediately start moving lower. It accelerated in February and made a bottom in March. Since then it has moved higher, retesting the prior top in April before pulling back. It is now moving back to that resistance. The RSI is rising and bullish with the MACD about to cross up. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

Danaher, Ticker: $DHR

Danaher, $DHR, broke out of a consolidation period in December and ran to a top in January. It pulled back from there reaching a bottom in March before recovering. It moved back to the prior high in April and has pulled back, digesting that move since. The RSI is rising in the bullish zone with the MACD crossing up. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

FMC, Ticker: $FMC

FMC, $FMC, had a small move higher in February wiped out near the end of the month as it broke hard to the downside. From failed moves come fast moves. It bottomed in March and reversed. It met resistance in late April and pulled back only to quickly reverse and retest resistance. It is now breaking over resistance with the RSI rising and bullish and the MACD positive and moving higher. Look for continuation to participate…..

Progressive, Ticker: $PGR

Progressive, $PGR, has the familiar “V” from February through to the end of April. But from there it pulled back again into May and has not yet recovered. A bounce from a higher low met resistance and reversed. Now it is back at resistance. The RSI is rising toward the bullish zone with the MACD crossed up and rising. Look for a push higher to participate…..

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After reviewing over 1,000 charts, I have found some good setups for the week.  These were selected and should be viewed in the context of the broad Market Macro picture reviewed Friday which with the month of May in the books, sees equity markets have renewed their trends higher.

Elsewhere look for Gold to consolidate in its uptrend while Crude Oil may be resuming its uptrend. The US Dollar Index is starting to move lower while US Treasuries consolidate. The Shanghai Composite looks to continue the broad drift sideways while Emerging Markets consolidate in their uptrend.

5 Trade ideas excerpted from the detailed analysis and plan for premium subscribers:

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, Ticker: $ACAD

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, $ACAD, made a high in December and then started lower. It has consolidated under resistance since with a series of lower lows. The price comes into the week at resistance with the RSI rising in the bullish zone and the MACD positive and moving up. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

Danaher, Ticker: $DHR

Danaher, $DHR, rose off of the 200 day SMA and kept going until it reached a top at the end of January. It has consolidated since. The RSI is rising in the bullish zone with the MACD turning back up after resetting lower. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

FMC, Ticker: $FMC

FMC, $FMC, stepped up to a plateau in November, and held there for 2½ months. it started to pull back from there and quickly found support before reversing to a new high. It has consolidated there since. The RSI is holding in the bullish zone with the MACD flattening but positive. Look for a push higher to participate…..

HD Supply, Ticker: $HDS

HD Supply, $HDS, broke down below its 200 day SMA in June and held under there for nearly 8 months. It pushed higher in January and then topped, reversing 2 weeks ago. It ended last week moving back higher. The RSI is also turning higher in the bullish zone with the MACD avoiding a cross down and turning back up. Look for continuation to participate…..

Nasdaq, Ticker: $NDAQ

Nasdaq, $NDAQ, started higher off of the 50 day SMA in November. It continued to a top 2 weeks ago before pulling back. It ended last week with a reversal to the upside. The RSI is also reversing higher as the MACD turns to cross up after a reset lower. Look for continuation to participate…..

After reviewing over 1,000 charts, I have found some good setups for the week.  These were selected and should be viewed in the context of the broad Market Macro picture reviewed Friday which heading into the President’s Day holiday weekend, sees equity markets had another good week with strong moves to the upside.

Elsewhere look for Gold to continue to consolidate in an uptrend while Crude Oil reverses higher in consolidation. The US Dollar Index continues to move higher while US Treasuries consolidate in their uptrend. The Shanghai Composite looks to continue the short term move higher while Emerging Markets consolidate in a broad range.

5 Trade ideas excerpted from the detailed analysis and plan for premium subscribers:

AIG, Ticker: $AIG

AIG, $AIG, broke over consolidation in April and continued to move to a top in July. It pulled back from there and began a consolidation against that high as resistance. It is back against that high with the RSI rising in the bullish zone and the MACD crossed up and positive. Look for a new high to participate…..

Alibaba, Ticker: $BABA

Alibaba, $BABA, made a high in May and then quickly reversed lower, to bottom at the end of the month. It bounce to resistance at one of the pause points from the path lower and then dropped back again. Now it has reversed and is headed back to resistance. The RSI is pressing against the edge of the bullish zone with the MACD rising and positive. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

FMC, Ticker: $FMC

FMC, $FMC, started to move higher out of a pullback in May. It met resistance in August and pulled back to a low later in the month. Now it has reversed and is making a new high. The RSI is rising in the bullish zone with the MACD rising and positive. Look for continuation to participate…..

Sealed Air, Ticker: $SEE

Sealed Air, SEE, gapped higher in February and has done very little since. It topped in April and then pulled back to fill the gap and then bounced along support until late August. A false breakdown reversed and it is moving higher. The RSI is rising toward the bullish zone with the MACD crossed up and moving higher. Look for continuation to participate…..

Walmart, Ticker: $WMT

Walmart, WMT, has trended higher since December. It had a consolidating pullback that bottomed in August and since then it has moved back to new highs. It has an RSI rising in the bullish zone with the MACD positive and moving up. Look for a new high to participate…..

  After reviewing over 1,000 charts, I have found some good setups for the week.  These were selected and should be viewed in the context of the broad Market Macro picture reviewed Friday which heading into September Options Expiration and the FOMC meeting sees the equity markets showing strength, but building that wall of worry as they sit at prior highs, not breaking through them.

Elsewhere look for Gold to pullback in its uptrend while Crude Oil consolidates in the drift lower. The US Dollar Index is also continues to drift to the upside while US Treasuries continue lower. The Shanghai Composite is pausing in its new move higher while Emerging Markets look to continue higher.

5 Trade ideas excerpted from the detailed analysis and plan for premium subscribers:

Aligient, Ticker: $A

Aligient, $A, rose to a top in March and then started moving lower. It paused in April and bounced then retested in May before a gap down. It found support at the end of May and held. Now it is moving back higher with an RSI rising and a MACD crossed up. Look for a push over resistance to participate higher…..

Allstate, Ticker: $ALL

Allstate, $ALL, rose from a bottom in December started to plateau in February. It has moved sideways since until a break to the upside Friday. The RSI is bullish and rising with the MACD rising off of the zero line. Look for continuation to participate higher…..

FMC, Ticker: $FMC

FMC, $FMC, rose from a December low and finally met resistance in April. It pulled back from there finding support in mid-May. Since then it has been moving back higher. It has a RSI rising in the bullish zone with the MACD rising and positive. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

Eli Lilly, Ticker: $LLY

Eli Lilly, $LLY, paused in a move higher over last fall. It resumed in December and reached a top in March. It pulled back and found support into April. It held there and and is now up against resistance. The RSI is rising toward the bullish zone with the MACD rising but still negative. Look for a move over resistance to participate…..

Monster Beverage, Ticker: $MNST

Monster Beverage, $MNST, made a top in February and then started to move lower. It found support in March and reversed higher. It consolidated in May and held in a range until Friday. The RSI is bullish and rising with the MACD crossing up and positive. Look for continuation to participate…..

After reviewing over 1,000 charts, I have found some good setups for the week.  These were selected and should be viewed in the context of the broad Market Macro picture reviewed Friday which with the May employment report behind and heading into a light economic news week, sees the equity markets are looking strong after a fast and hard reversal higher.

Elsewhere look for Gold to continue higher while Crude Oil continues to move lower. The US Dollar Index looks to continue lower in the updrift while US Treasuries consolidate their move higher. The Shanghai Composite has renewed the downtrend while the bounce in Emerging Markets continues to move them higher.

EARNING UPDATE $FMC FMC Corporation for quarter ending q_Jun18 – Revenue fell, Margins contracted

[s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]Please login to read the earning update on FMC [lwa][/s2If][s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]FMC Corporation reported earnings (EPS) of 0.96 per share for the quarter ending q_Jun18. This is vis-vis 1.96 per share for the previous quarter ending q_Mar18, a decline of 51 %. Compared to last year same quarter (q_Jun17), earnings grew from…

EARNING UPDATE $FMC FMC Corporation for quarter ending q_Jun18 – Revenue rose but Margins contracted

[s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]Please login to read the earning update on FMC [lwa][/s2If][s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]FMC Corporation reported earnings (EPS) of 0.96 per share for the quarter ending q_Jun18. This is vis-vis 1.96 per share for the previous quarter ending q_Mar18, a decline of 51 %. Compared to last year same quarter (q_Jun17), earnings grew from…

EARNING UPDATE $FMC FMC Corporation for quarter ending q_Dec17 – Revenue grew, Margins expanded

[s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]Please login to read the earning update on FMC [lwa][/s2If][s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]FMC Corporation reported earnings (EPS) of 3.95 per share for the quarter ending q_Dec17. This is vis-vis 0.41 per share for the previous quarter ending q_Sep17, a growth of 863.4 %. Compared to last year same quarter (q_Dec16), earnings grew…

We measure a company’s financial strength using four individual factors: External Financing; Debt-to-cash flow; Debt-to-equity and 1-year change in debt. We equally-weight the four factors to create our Financial Strength Composite and rank all of the stocks in the universe from 1 to 100, with 1 being the stocks with the best financial strength and 100 being those with the worst financial strength.  Companies that have to rely on external financing instead of internal cash flow or pile on debt are generally a bad investment.

While the results are not nearly as dramatic as the ones we see from our value composite, (see my last post) they still show that investments in the stocks with the worst financial strength are a lousy investment. Had you consistently bet on the 25 stocks from our Large Stocks Universe (currently stocks with market cap’s greater than $7.5 billion) for the 50 years ending 2013, your $10,000 investment—adjusted for inflation—would have grown to just $38, 635, an average annual compound return of just 2.74%. Compared to the $200,600 you’d have had by investing in all large stocks, you can see just how destructive investing in financially weak stocks can be to your portfolio.

Interestingly, the most financially conservative stocks are not the best investment—indeed, the data shows that companies that sensibly use debt are the best bet. $10,000 invested in decile 3 of Large Stocks based on financial strength grew to $406, 891, more than double an investment in the Large Stocks Universe.  

So the lesson from the last 50 years is simple and straight forward—avoid the 30% of stocks that score the weakest on financial strength.

  Naming Names

So which stocks are currently among the most financially weak? I hate to beat up on Tesla ($TSLA) because I love the cars, but it in addition to being one of most expensive stocks in the Large Stocks Universe, it also scores a perfect 100 on our Financial Strength Composite, making it one of the most expensive and financially weak stocks in the large Stocks Universe. Other stocks that are in the worst 10% of large stocks based upon our Financial Strength Composite are SNC-Lavalin Group ($SNCAF): Constellation Brands ($STZ); SBA Communications ($SBAC); FMC Corporation ($FMC); Nomura Holdings ($NMR) and State Street Corp. ($STT). History shows that names like these are best avoided.