Barbarian At The Gate: First Niagara Financial Group (FNFG)
Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer.
Trade-Ideas LLC identified
(
) as a "barbarian at the gate" (strong stocks crossing above resistance with today's range greater than 200%) candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified First Niagara Financial Group as such a stock due to the following factors:
- FNFG has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $27.0 million.
- FNFG has traded 2.1 million shares today.
- FNFG traded in a range 256.4% of the normal price range with a price range of $0.43.
- FNFG traded above its daily resistance level (quality: 1 day, meaning that the stock is crossing a resistance level set by the last 1 calendar day. The resistance price is defined by the Price - $0.01 at the time of the signal).
Stocks matching the 'Barbarian at the Gate' criteria are worthwhile stocks to watch for a variety of factors including historical back testing and volatility. Trade-Ideas targets these opportunities because the stock is exhibiting an unusual behavior while displaying positive price action. In this case, the stock crossed an important inflection point; namely, 'resistance' while at the same time the range of the stock's movement in price is more than twice its normal size. This large range foreshadows a possible continuation as the stock moves higher.
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More details on FNFG:
First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for First Niagara Bank, N.A. that provides retail and commercial banking, and other financial services to individuals, families, and businesses. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Currently there are 2 analysts that rate First Niagara Financial Group a buy, 3 analysts rate it a sell, and 7 rate it a hold.
The average volume for First Niagara Financial Group has been 4.0 million shares per day over the past 30 days. First Niagara Financial Group has a market cap of $3.2 billion and is part of the financial sector and banking industry. The stock has a beta of 1.30 and a short float of 5.1% with 5.81 days to cover. Shares are up 4.4% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Thursday.
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Analysis:
rates First Niagara Financial Group as a
. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its expanding profit margins and increase in stock price during the past year. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including disappointing return on equity and deteriorating net income.
Highlights from the ratings report include:
- The gross profit margin for FIRST NIAGARA FINANCIAL GRP is currently very high, coming in at 85.57%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 20.48% significantly outperformed against the industry average.
- FIRST NIAGARA FINANCIAL GRP reported flat earnings per share in the most recent quarter. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past year. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, FIRST NIAGARA FINANCIAL GRP swung to a loss, reporting -$2.12 versus $0.75 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.60 versus -$2.12).
- The change in net income from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the Commercial Banks industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500. The net income has decreased by 0.1% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $77.69 million to $77.57 million.
- Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Commercial Banks industry and the overall market, FIRST NIAGARA FINANCIAL GRP's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
- You can view the full First Niagara Financial Group Ratings Report.
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