the Trade-Radar + TradingStockAlerts blog

NII Holdings (NIHD) provides mobile telecommunications services in Latin American markets including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile. NIHD was formed in 1996 as a subsidiary of Nextel Communications - now Sprint Nextel (S). The firm exports the Nextel brand to Latin America (in 2002 it sold its operations in the Philippines). Based on Motorola's (MOT) iDEN technology, the service supports domestic and international cellular phone, numeric and text messaging, 2-way radio (Push-to-Talk), and Internet access services from a single handset. On April 4, the company announced that its first-quarter net profit rose 35% to $113.6 million, or 65 cents per share, from its year-ago profit of $84 million, or 47 cents per share. Analysts had predicted a profit of 63 cents per share. Operating revenue climbed 39% to $993.2 million as the company added 321,700 subscribers. Total customer base now exceeds 5 million. Just prior to the earnings announcement, Wachovia Capital Markets came ou...

Markets held steady this past week. Given the big finish on Friday of the previous week, the fact that stocks held their gains without succumbing to profit taking is an indication of wide participation and solid investor sentiment. The bad news of the week consisted of record high oil prices, Microsoft (MSFT) coming out with lackluster earnings and guidance and Ambac (ABK) coming out with downright horrible earnings. The fact that investors did not let these items derail the current rally shows how much strength the rally still has. This is not to say, however, that everything is sunshine and roses. The Alert HQ market scan process has provided some sobering information. Each week, using the Alert HQ software, we scan over 7200 stocks and ETFs to see how they are doing with respect to various technical indicators. The results are summarized in the chart below. Moving average analysis -- overall, still bullish The moving averages we test show a moderating of upward momentum is taking p...

This post is to announce that the latest list of stock alerts is up and available at Alert HQ . Each week we scan over 7200 stocks and ETFs looking for fresh BUY and SELL signals. This week's results are now available. Markets eked out fractional gains this week, buoyed by better than expected earnings from many companies reporting but tempered by lackluster results at Microsoft. Despite record oil prices, the major averages managed hold on the previous week's gains and build on them slightly. The general continuation of a positive tone in the markets has resulted again in a good sized list of BUY signals this week, 22 in all. We only have one SELL signal. Looking back -- Taking a look at the performance of last week's TradeRadar Alert List, here are some examples of BUY signals and the gains they generated in just five days : An insurance company that received a buyout offer gained 42% A semiconductor equipment manufacturer gained 11% A medical device company gained 11% A ...

This past weekend, our Alert HQ market scan identified SAFECO Corp. (SAF) as a BUY. Since then, we heard that Liberty Mutual was making an offer to acquire SAFECO at a significant premium. I cannot say that Alert HQ has the ability to identify buyout candidates. What I can say is that Alert HQ has the ability to identify stocks that are moving up significantly after a prolonged down-trend. As can be seen in the chart below, SAF was moving up well in advance of the announcement. So I am wondering why SAF was moving up so strongly. In the last quarter, the company had registered a drop in earnings and expectations, as with most financial companies, were not particularly bright. What was driving the recent stock price gain? Did some people know this buyout was on the way? Just something I was wondering about...

As I have discussed in the past, the TradeRadar analysis attempts to identify stocks that are undergoing reversals. Given my current bullish attitude, this means that we will be featuring stocks that have declined over the last six months or so and are now beginning to bounce off their lows and show some strength in their stock price. One thing I have noticed about using the TradeRadar BUY signal is that the stock picks don't carve out a perfect V-shape when they undergo reversals. They tend to hit bottom, then move up fairly quickly, thus triggering the initial TradeRadar BUY signal. Then they tend to back off and go into a consolidation phase after which, if the reversal is meaningful, the stock moves up to new highs. In this case, there is a good chance that a cheaper entry point can be obtained. Looking at the following chart of Allis Chalmers (ALY), for example, TradeRadar Alert HQ gave a BUY signal toward the end of February and I purchased the stock at $13.16. The stock soon...

For those who read this blog on a regular basis, you may notice that for the first time in months our trading portfolio contains no ultra short ETFs. Last week's market action caused them to hit stops with some profits booked and, unfortunately, some losses booked as well. As discussed in this past weekend's post " Markets jump - stocks poised for more gains? ", it looks to me like Mr. Market is trying to sound the "all clear." This is despite the fact that I still feel the economy has problems and that financial stocks, in particular, have a long way to go before they really deserve the trust of investors. (Indeed, financials took it on the chin in today's trading) Nevertheless, if there is one thing I have learned while on my journey as a financial blogger it is that the market moves as it sees fit despite the economic backdrop or what the experts are saying about it. The famous quote "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain l...

Markets jumped this week on solid results from Intel (INTC), IBM, Google (GOOG) and Caterpiller (CAT). Even the financials helped by reporting earnings that were less bad than feared. As a result, markets are more or less back up to the top of their recent trading range. Looking below at the chart of the S&P 500 SPDR ETF (SPY), you can see that the ETF is pressing up against the same old resistance level around $140. SPY has also moved up close to its top Bollinger Band, indicating the ETF is potentially over-bought. This latest advance has been on decent volume but one worrying aspect is that volume tends to be much higher on the major declines. Looking at other technical indicators, though, the picture is relatively bullish. You can see that MACD and Aroon are both indicating up-trends in the making. The 20-day moving average has now crossed above the 50-day moving average, creating another bullish signal. The big question, of course, is whether stocks can continue making gains. ...