Storm The Castle Stock Of The Day: MetLife (MET)
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 or Stephanie Link.
Trade-Ideas LLC identified
(
) 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 $285.7 million.
- MET has traded 3.1 million shares today.
- MET is trading at 1.97 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., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 2.7%. MET has a PE ratio of 9.5. Currently there are 12 analysts that rate MetLife a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 3 rate it a hold.
The average volume for MetLife has been 7.8 million shares per day over the past 30 days. MetLife has a market cap of $57.4 billion and is part of the financial sector and insurance industry. The stock has a beta of 1.92 and a short float of 1.8% with 3.05 days to cover. Shares are down 4.3% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Thursday.
Analysis:
rates MetLife as a
. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, revenue growth, attractive valuation levels and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.
Highlights from the ratings report include:
- METLIFE INC reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, METLIFE INC increased its bottom line by earning $5.42 versus $2.91 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($5.86 versus $5.42).
- The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Insurance industry. The net income increased by 67.5% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $908.00 million to $1,521.00 million.
- MET's revenue growth trails the industry average of 20.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 3.6%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
- Despite currently having a low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, it is higher than that of the industry average, inferring that management of debt levels may need to be evaluated further.
- You can view the full MetLife Ratings Report.
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