MetLife (MET) Highlighted As Storm The Castle Stock

Trade-Ideas LLC identified MetLife (MET) as a "storm the castle" (crossing above the 200-day simple moving average on higher than normal relative volume) candidate
By TheStreet Wire ,

Trade-Ideas LLC identified

MetLife

(

MET

) as a "storm the castle" (crossing above the 200-day simple moving average on higher than normal relative volume) candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified MetLife as such a stock due to the following factors:

  • MET has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $316.8 million.
  • MET has traded 2.4 million shares today.
  • MET is trading at 2.44 times the normal volume for the stock at this time of day.
  • MET crossed above its 200-day simple moving average.

'Storm the Castle' stocks are worth watching because trading stocks that begin to experience a breakout can lead to potentially massive profits. Once psychological and technical resistance barriers like the 200-day moving average are breached on higher than normal relative volume, the stock is then free to find new buyers and momentum traders who can ultimately push the stock significantly higher. Regardless of the impetus behind the price and volume action, when a stock moves with strength and volume it can indicate the start of a new trend on which early investors can capitalize on. In the event of a well-timed trading opportunity, combining technical indicators with fundamental trends and a disciplined trading methodology should help you take the first steps towards investment success.

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More details on MET:

MetLife, Inc. provides life insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management products in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 3%. MET has a PE ratio of 9. Currently there are 10 analysts that rate MetLife a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 4 rate it a hold.

The average volume for MetLife has been 6.5 million shares per day over the past 30 days. MetLife has a market cap of $56.4 billion and is part of the financial sector and insurance industry. The stock has a beta of 1.47 and a short float of 1.9% with 2.88 days to cover. Shares are down 7.8% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

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TheStreetRatings.com

Analysis:

TheStreet Quant Ratings

rates MetLife as a

buy

. The company's strongest point has been its expanding profit margins. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

  • Despite the weak revenue results, MET has outperformed against the industry average of 17.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 4.9%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
  • METLIFE INC's earnings per share declined by 41.4% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, METLIFE INC increased its bottom line by earning $5.42 versus $2.91 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 3.5% in earnings ($5.23 versus $5.42).
  • The share price of METLIFE INC has not done very well: it is down 6.78% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. Looking ahead, although the push and pull of the overall market trend could certainly make a critical difference, we do not see any strong reason stemming from the company's fundamentals that would cause a continuation of last year's decline. In fact, the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings.
  • The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed against the S&P 500 and did not exceed that of the Insurance industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 42.5% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $2,094.00 million to $1,203.00 million.
  • The gross profit margin for METLIFE INC is currently extremely low, coming in at 13.67%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 6.67% trails that of the industry average.

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