Nicolas Darvas

GMI since inception; introducing the WPM; on analyst earnings estimates; IBD 100 rockets

@ 3:00 pm

To my visitors: I am only one trader, not a guru, and not a financial advisor.  I am presenting my own opinions and my own experiences and people are welcome to decide for themselves what, if anything, on this site is of value to them.  Please refer to the additional comments, highlighted in red, at the end of this post.

I thought I would begin by looking over the changes in the GMI  the last few weeks. Gmichanges715_1 After falling to +3, the GMI has remained at +6 since July 8 when this rally began.  It took only one day for the GMI to go from +3 to +6.  This is an example of how bad it is to marry a scenario.  When the instruments tell me the market is reversing direction, I must act on it and not fight it.  I am comfortable now being long and having no shorts.  The rally has now completed its 6th day.  (Click on chart to enlarge.)……………………………

I am introducing a new chart, the WishingWealth Pulse of the Market (WPM), which I will update periodically.  I thought it was important to track how various types of stock indexes are performing.  Wpm715 The WPM looks at the Dow 30, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, S&P 400 (mid-cap) and S&P 600 stock (small-cap) indexes and their component stocks.  The short term trend measures focus on whether the index closed above its 30 day average and the percentage of the component stocks that closed above that average.  The longer term trend measures focus on the 30 week averages.  Why 30 day and 30 week?  Over my 40+ years of trading, I have found that these are the best trend indicators for market movement.  I must admit it was Stan Weinstein’s classic book (see Weinstein’s book at right) that alerted me to the usefulness of the 30 week average.  The reversal in the QQQQ’s 30 week average in 2000, and 2003 alerted me to get out of the market in 2000 and to get back in, in 2003.  Check it out!  As for the 30 day average–I have found it to be the most reliable indicator of the short term trend.

The current WPM is quite bullish.  All indexes closed above their 30 week and 30 day averages.  The weakest indicator is the Dow 30 stocks, where only 63% closed above their 30 day averages and 53% above their 30 week averages.  Let me know what you think of the WPM and how often you think I should post it………………………

This is earnings season.  Have you ever noticed how the media report earnings in such a way as to maximize volatility and emotional reactions?  It all focuses on whether a company beats analysts’ expectations.  So, some group polls the analysts that follow a stock and then highlight the average of their estimates.  Now, consider the following hypothetical per share estimates from 5 analysts: (.25, .30, .20, .20, .30).  The average is .25 per share.  Now say the company reports .21 per share.  The media would report that the company missed earnings estimates by 4 cents (.21 instead of the predicted average of .25) even though the company actually beat the estimates of two analysts (who predicted .20 each).  So everyone sells and the stock dives, not because missing the estimate is so bad–the company made a profit–but because everyone fears that the other person will sell.  And so the hysteria continues.  If the media and financial community wanted to report earnings responsibly, they would report the range of the analyst estimates.  In this example, they would have said that analysts expected anywhere from (.20-.30 per share) and that the actual earnings were within the predicted range.  I think this would take a lot of the hype out of investing. (I suspect, however, that someone would report that the earnings fell at the bottom of the predicted range–and provide another excuse for selling.) Darvas was right when he said Wall St. was a big casino.  …………………………………….

Here is a list of stocks from the IBD 100 that had triple digit earnings increases last quarter and look to me to be rockets:  CNXS, BMHC, CPSI, LUFK, HANS, SNHY.  (Also, AFFX, PTC and CTO have year-over-year growth in earnings of 100% or more.) This is a list worth researching…………………………………….

Gary–I lost your email and could not reply to you.  I appreciate your inquiry into why I did not post Thursday’s report on time–just sleepy.  Thanks for your feedback.

Send me your feedback at: silentknight@wishingwealthblog.com.

Please remember that the stock market is a risky place, especially now.  I am not providing recommendations for you to follow.  My goal is to share tools and methods that I have used over the past 40 years of trading, so that you may learn from them and adapt them to your trading style and needs.  While I do my best, I do not guarantee the accuracy of any statistics computed or any resources linked to my blog.  Please consult with your financial adviser and a mental health practitioner before you enter the stock market,  and please do not take unaffordable risks in the current market environment.  See the About section for more statements designed to protect you (and me) as you navigate this market. Past performance does not guarantee future results, but I would rather learn from a former winner than a loser.

A hot market; GMI: +6; more rockets; covered calls on GOOG

@ 11:15 pm

To my visitors: I am only one trader, not a guru, and not a financial advisor.  I am presenting my own opinions and my own experiences and people are welcome to decide for themselves what, if anything, on this site is of value to them.  Please refer to the additional comments, highlighted in red, at the end of this post.

This is one hot market!  There were 629 new highs (16%) in my universe of 4,000 stocks today.  Gmi711 The GMI remains at +6 and 83% of the stocks closed above their 10 week averages.  I changed the criterion for the 10 day new high index to be positive if there were 100 successful stocks or at least 50% of the stocks that hit a new high 10 days ago closed higher today than 10 days ago.  There were only 95 new highs 10 days ago, so the indicator would have had to be negative (less than 100) the way I originally defined the index.  So today, 76/95 stocks or 80% qualified as successful 10 day new highs.  60% of the Nasdaq 100 stocks are in a short term up trend and 73% to 78% of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and Dow 30 stocks rose today.   These advancing percentages are lower than yesterday’s, but still very respectable……………………………………………

I received a lot of nice reader feedback today–thank you!!  I will address many of the issues you raised, in coming weeks………………………………………

I found a really neat description of a market scan used by a successful newsletter, Coolcat.  Many of the stocks listed are those I have spotted.  Note this scan for finding great microcaps uses some of the types of technical criteria I (and Nicolas Darvas)  use to define rockets–new highs and huge price appreciation.  As I wrote in my strategy posts on 4/23 and 4/30 (check the archive), to find a stock that will double, find one that has already doubled.

My rocket scan found loads of promising stocks today.  All of these had triple digit earnings increases last quarter and are at new price peaks:  CNXS, LUB, BOOM, NDAQ, TS, NTRI, BMHC,  CPSI, LUFK, HANS, RIV, KOSP, SPTN, RTI, TU, PTRY, SNHY, HOLX, SE, WCG, TUG, PCO, VDSI, BEBE, SMTS.  Check them out.  When I buy strong momentum stocks like this, I make a small pilot buy and put a stop loss order in below support or below a moving average where it has found support.  I then wait to see if it moves up and I slowly add more on the way up, as long as the GMI is strong……………………………..

Ever write a covered call in your IRA account?  Today, I bought 100 shares of GOOG at 295.74.  I then immediately sold a call for someone to buy my 100 shares from me at 300 per share, good through expiration on August 19.  In return for the right to buy my GOOG from me at 300 during this period I was paid 15.80 per share, or $1580.  What this means is that by option expiration in August, if GOOG is selling above $300, the option will be exercised and the stock will be called away from me for $300 per share.  My profit (excluding commissions would be 30,000-29,574= +426 + 1580= $2006 or 7% in about 6 weeks.  I am giving up the right to make anymore than this no matter how much above 300 that GOOG may climb during this period.  On the other hand, if GOOG should decline during this period I would not have a loss until it fell to 279.94 (295.74-15.80).  The option premium of 15.84 per share is mine to keep and protects me from a loss on my purchase down to 279.94.  As long as GOOG closes above 279.94 by the August expiration I will have a profit.  If GOOG closes below $300 in August, the option expires worthless and I can write a new call on the same shares for September or later. If the stock falls a lot more than 15.80, I could have a large loss.

Covered call writing is really a very conservative strategy.  I only sell calls on stocks that I think will rise and which are so volatile that the option premium (amount someone will pay me for the option) is considerable.  I do not want to buy GOOG without the protection of the covered call, so I do not care if the stock goes way above 300 by August.  Check out covered call writing in the CBOE learning center.  Many people of the "buy and hold" mentality could have limited their losses in 2000-2002 if they simply had written calls on their stocks as they declined. If you use a full service broker and s/he did not tell you about covered calls as your portfolio shrunk, you should liquidate your broker instead of your account.

Send me your feedback at: silentknight@wishingwealthblog.com.

Please remember that the stock market is a risky place, especially now.  I am not providing recommendations for you to follow.  My goal is to share tools and methods that I have used over the past 40 years of trading, so that you may learn from them and adapt them to your trading style and needs.  While I do my best, I do not guarantee the accuracy of any statistics computed or any resources linked to my blog.  Please consult with your financial adviser and a mental health practitioner before you enter the stock market,  and please do not take unaffordable risks in the current market environment.  See the About section for more statements designed to protect you (and me) as you navigate this market. Past performance does not guarantee future results, but I would rather learn from a former winner than a loser.

GMI: +3; Cramer defines Madmoney amid weak picks; I’m buying puts

@ 11:00 pm

To my visitors: I am only one trader, not a guru, and not a financial advisor.  I am presenting my own opinions and my own experiences and people are welcome to decide for themselves what, if anything, on this site is of value to them.  Please refer to the additional comments, highlighted in red, at the end of this post.

I made it back from vacation in time to post tonight.  Are you convinced yet that we are in a decline–day 5 (D-5) to be exact?  Yes, I did sell my CME too soon, it soared 50 points after I sold it.  If I had not planned to be away from the market part of this week, I would have been content to just set close sell stops.  Gmi630 But with the GMI weakening, I did not want to risk losing any of my profit from this relatively short rally. We remain at +3 with the indexes rapidly weakening.  Only 16% of the Nasdaq 100 stocks rose today, along with 27% of the S&P 500 and 7% (2) of the Dow 30 stocks. Note that less than one half (121 or 42%) of the 291 stocks that hit a new high 10 days ago closed higher today than 10 days ago.  71% of the stocks in my universe of 4,000 closed above their 10 week average. 

While on vacation, I watched Cramer yesterday warn his audience that "madmoney" pertains only to extra funds that a person has–excluding pensions, IRA’s and 529 plans.  Gis In other words, don’t speculate with those assets which you need for the future and can’t risk.  I think maybe he is retreating in the face of some of his disastrous picks.  Take a look at General Mills, one of his "safe" stocks that he has been touting for weeks as a defensive stock. We all need to own safe, defensive stocks like this. I guess Cramer would call GIS a "bargain" now. If you don’t like this one, take MSFT or CSCO or DIS, other Cramer picks that have weak charts.  (He did get CME and GOOG right thus far, however.)

I am critical of Cramer because I think he is misinforming the public.  He tells everyone never to use market orders-just use limit orders.  But he fails to add that a limit order may fail to get you out of a rapidly declining stock.  (If you place an order to sell a stock at a limit of 20–$20 or better—-you will not be sold out if the stock opens below 20 and keeps declining.  This is why the really successful traders use stop orders that get them out of a stock at market– next best price available. When things turn bad, I want to get out immediately, and do not quibble about getting the extra nickel or dime or quarter per share. So what if the broker rips off a few more pennies, as Cramer claims–I lose much more if I fail to buy a rocket or sell a loser.

And then Cramer has the audacity to say that he has tried all of the analytic software and it does not work.  Charting is worthless–you need to concentrate on fundamentals, he says.  Well, first of all, most people do not equate technical analysis with mindless software programs that replace the trader’s insights with automatic buys and sells.  And most successful technical analysts (O’Neil, Darvas, Weinstein, Livermore–check out the book listed to the right by John Boik) incorporate fundamental analysis with their chart patterns.  You can have a great company, but if no one discovers it or if it takes years, it is not going to make you a fortune in your lifetime. The charts help me to time my buys and sells and to discriminate between promising stocks.

Finally, I think that it is irresponsible to urge people to buy more of the same stock as it declines.  The great successful gurus all tell people NEVER to average down, to spend good money after bad.  I think I know why Cramer preaches what he does.  He is among the few lucky persons who built their fortune in the great market bubble of the late 90’s.  During that time one could buy a tech stock as it fell and then be saved as the market climbed to a new peak.  (However, note that Cramer had to be saved by his wife, the trading goddess, a number of times when his losing positions almost drove him out of business.)  But TODAY, gone are the days of the bull stampede when you could buy a declining tech stock knowing that a crowd of greater fools would eventually buy it back from you.  Cramer’s methods are simply out of step with the post-bubble, less bullish market environment……………………….

So, I am mostly in cash.  I do own puts on a stock and on a market index.  This year could turn out to be typical of post-election years that are followed by a year of miserable stock market performance.

Send your feedback and questions to: silentknight@wishingwealthblog.com.

Please remember that the stock market is a risky place, especially now.  I am not providing recommendations for you to follow.  My goal is to share tools and methods that I have used over the past 40 years of trading, so that you may learn from them and adapt them to your trading style and needs.  While I do my best, I do not guarantee the accuracy of any statistics computed or any resources linked to my blog.  Please consult with your financial adviser and a mental health practitioner before you enter the stock market,  and please do not take unaffordable risks in the current market environment.  See the About section for more statements designed to protect you (and me) as you navigate this market. Past performance does not guarantee future results, but I would rather learn from a former winner than a loser.