Zacks.com featured expert Kevin Matras highlights: Comcast, Plum Creek Timber, Jones Soda and Volcano Corporation.CHICAGO -- Kevin Matras looks at how to use Price and Volume for locking in profits, cutting losses and spotting potential trend changes. Stocks in this week's article are Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : CMCSA), Plum Creek Timber Company The Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. is a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) which specializes in investing in timber. Based in Seattle, Plum Creek has strategically purchased lands which show a potential to be spun off for real estate development. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : PCL (Printer Command Language) The page description language for HP LaserJet printers. It has become a de facto standard used in many printers and typesetters. PCL Level 5, introduced with the LaserJet III in 1990, also supports Compugraphic's Intellifont scalable fonts. ), Jones Soda Jones Soda Co. is a U.S. beverage company based in Seattle, Washington. It bottles and distributes soft drinks, non-carbonated beverages, energy drinks, and candy. Jones Soda is a carbonated soft drink that has many unusual flavors that are not offered by other soft drink makers. Company (NASDAQ: JSDA JSDA Japan Securities Dealers Association JSDA Japan Soap and Detergent Association JSDA Java Shared Data JSDA Japan Stamp Dealers Association ) and Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ: VOLC). Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://at.zacks.com/?id=109 Screen of the Week written by Kevin Matras of Zacks Investment Research Zacks Investment Research A firm that compiles earnings estimates and brokerage firm investment recommendations for thousands of publicly traded firms. : This week, I want to talk about using price and volume to pull profits and cut losses. And I'll go over three ways to do this. First, simply take a look at your stocks. Are they moving higher convincingly on growing volume? Or are they marking higher prices on diminishing volume? This is important since volume should follow price. If the stocks on your radar are moving higher, but without greater investor interest, then it can often mean a pullback Pullback A falling back of a price from its peak. This type of price movement might be seen as a brief reversal of the prevailing upward trend, signaling a slight pause in upward momentum. is in the near offing. The more buying pressure there is, the higher it'll go. But once the buying pressure eases up, it often means a pullback is in store. The pullback can be an ordinary retracement Retracement A reversal in the movement of a stock's price, countering the prevailing trend.  Notes: An example might be market risk causing a stock's price to pull back. as new buyers catch their breath, or it could be a trend-changing event. So pay attention to what the volume is telling you and be alert. A screen for helping you weed weed, common term for any wild plant, particularly an undesired plant, growing in cultivated ground, where it competes with crop plants for soil nutrients and water. out the weak from the strong can be as simple as looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. three days (or more) of higher prices while each day it's registering less buying pressure (lower volume). The parameters are: * Recent Price greater than Price 1 Day Ago (Recent greater than Recent-1D) * Price 1 Day Ago greater than Price 2 Days Ago (Recent-1D greater than Recent-2D) * Price 2 Days Ago greater than Price 3 Days Ago (Recent-2D greater than Recent-3D) and ... * Recent Volume less than Volume 1 Day Ago (Recent less than Recent-1D) * Volume 1 Day Ago less than Volume 2 Days Ago (Recent-1D less than Recent-2D) * Volume 2 Days Ago less than Volume 3 Days Ago (Recent-2D less than Recent-3D) Here are two that fit this criterion as of the end of business on Monday 2/12/07: CMCSA Comcast Corp. PCL Plum Creek Timber Plum Creek Timber (NYSE: PCL) is the largest private landowner in the United States. Most of its lands were originally purchased as timberland.[1] Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Plum Creek was spun off from Burlington Resources as a master limited Co. There are many more stocks that appear on that list too. If your stocks show up on it, pay close attention. They could be in store for a direction change. You can also look for three days down (or unchanged) with increasing volume. Lots of action with no upside Upside The potential dollar amount by which the market or a stock could rise. Notes: This is basically an educated guess on how high a stock could go in the near future. See also: Bull, Downside progress can often be a sign of distribution (people selling off their stock), or people getting short. The parameters are: * Recent Price less than or equal to Price 1 Day Ago (Recent less than or equal to Recent-1D) * Price 1 Day Ago less than or equal to Price 2 Days Ago (Recent-1D less than or equal to Recent-2D) * Price 2 Days Ago less than or equal to Price 3 Days Ago (Recent-2D less than or equal to Recent-3D) and ... * Recent Volume greater than Volume 1 Day Ago (Recent greater than Recent-1D) * Volume 1 Day Ago greater than Volume 2 Days Ago (Recent-1D greater than Recent-2D) * Volume 2 Days Ago greater than Volume 3 Days Ago (Recent-2D greater than Recent-3D) You may even want to check for stocks with big price drops on much larger-than-average volume. If the price falls by 6%, for example, on 20% more volume than average, that can also be your queue that things may be changing. Again, since volume in general should follow the price, a big price drop on increasing volume could be foreshadowing fore·shad·ow tr.v. fore·shad·owed, fore·shad·ow·ing, fore·shad·ows To present an indication or a suggestion of beforehand; presage. fore·shad even lower prices to come. The parameters are: * Recent Price less than or equal to .94x Price 1 Day Ago * Recent Daily Volume greater than or equal to 1.2x (20%) 20 Day Average Volume This includes (as of the end of business on Monday 2/12/07): JSDA Jones Soda Co. VOLC Volcano Corp. There are many other ways to use price and volume as an indicator of a stock's possible future direction. (This includes finding stocks on the way up as well.) But by simply applying these screens to your stocks, you could keep yourself out of 'suckers rallies', exit major tops sooner, and lock in hard earned profits on your winners before the market takes it away. (By the way, these strategies and many more come loaded with the Research Wizard program.) See for yourself and put your own stocks to the test. Historical daily volumes (and even prices) aren't available in all screeners, but they are available in the Research Wizard. (Not to mention 650 other items as well). Sign up now for your two-week FREE trial to the Research Wizard and see how easy it is to make better trading decisions today. http://at.zacks.com/?id=111 Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. 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Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation solicitation In criminal law, the act of asking, inducing, or directing someone to commit a crime. The person soliciting another becomes an accomplice to the crime. The term also refers to the act of obtaining bribes, as well as to the crime of a prostitute who offers sexual to buy or sell any security. |
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