June 9, 2007
Stock Du Jour (XRX) & Random Observations
Buying all day long… you could have guessed that a bounce was in the cards if you saw that yesterday’s ISE Sentiment put/call ratio was 1.35 (very high). I saw it but neglected to mention it in yesterday’s “Random Observations” post, sorry.
Notable New Lows: AstraZeneca (AZN), Solarfun Power (SOLF), and Vista Gold (VGZ).
Notable New Highs: National Semi. (NSM), US Steel (X), Xerox (XRX), and Deckers (DECK) — I wonder how fellow blogger Controlled Greed feels about exiting DECK back in the 60s (it’s in the 90s now).
I’ll feature Xerox (XRX) as the stock du jour because it made a new high and there was this bit in last week’s Barron’s:
“[Ralph Acampora’s] charts are telling him something interesting right now: Large-cap stocks — names like Xerox (ticker: XRX), Schering Plough (SGP), Qwest Communications (Q) and Verizon Communications (VZ) that have been out of favor for years — are showing signs of new life.”
You can judge for yourself from this quarterly chart what you think of Xerox. (The value guys were buying when it was in the single digits, not the chartists.)
June 9th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I wasn’t familiar with the ISE Sentiment indicator, so I went to the ISE site to get an explaination.
It appears on their site that they are producing a CALL/PUT ratio, not a PUT/CALL ratio as you mentioned in today’s blog.
Please advise…..
June 9th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Ben: Yeah, for some reason they do a call/put ratio but I invert it into a put/call ratio because I’m an old man who’s used to the latter, not the former.
June 9th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
depends on what charts the chartists were charting :)
i am not in XRX, but i am accumulating CHTR based solely on its chart and i have not looked at a single fundamental number of theirs.
If CHTR ends up in double digits over the next couple of years the chartists cannot claim that the multi-year chart did not telegraph the move.
June 9th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Born2: I wrote in this post about the usefulness of approaching things from both a fundamental and a charting perspective.
June 10th, 2007 at 4:17 am
Regarding DECK. There was a time when I’d beat myself up on things like this. But “selling too soon” is an affliction with anyone practicing the value approach. Besides, if I made as much money on every stock as I did with DECK, I’d be retired and jet-setting around the globe. Might even be in a trendy Beijing night spot, partying with you and your companions. Drinks on me ;-)
June 10th, 2007 at 5:52 am
which begs the age old question: how many charts could a chartist chart, if a chartist could chart charts? ;-)
June 10th, 2007 at 8:07 am
John: You’re into Controlled Greed, I know. ;-) Have you ever calculated what your returns would be like if you never sold a share of everything you ever bought?
June 11th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I haven’t. I don’t think I’d be comfortable owning anything once it reached what I thought was over-valuation. Plus I just am too lazy to go to the trouble.