Watch Out: Barbarians At The Gate For Agilent Technologies (A)
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 Agilent Technologies as such a stock due to the following factors:
- A has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $93.6 million.
- A has traded 410,905 shares today.
- A traded in a range 207.8% of the normal price range with a price range of $1.28.
- A traded above its daily resistance level (quality: 5 days, meaning that the stock is crossing a resistance level set by the last 5 calendar days. 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 A:
Agilent Technologies, Inc. provides bio-analytical solutions and services to the life sciences, diagnostics and genomics, chemical analysis, communications, and electronics industries worldwide. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 1.1%. A has a PE ratio of 22. Currently there are 5 analysts that rate Agilent Technologies a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 6 rate it a hold.
The average volume for Agilent Technologies has been 2.5 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Agilent has a market cap of $12.2 billion and is part of the health care sector and health services industry. The stock has a beta of 1.23 and a short float of 2.1% with 2.59 days to cover. Shares are down 8.8% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Monday.
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Analysis:
rates Agilent Technologies as a
. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and deteriorating net income.
Highlights from the ratings report include:
- A's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 5.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 0.5%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
- The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.40, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Along with this, the company maintains a quick ratio of 3.12, which clearly demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs.
- AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC reported lower earnings of $0.74 versus $2.11 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.70 versus $0.74).
- The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and greatly underperformed compared to the Life Sciences Tools & Services industry average. The net income has significantly decreased by 29.9% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $147.00 million to $103.00 million.
- A has underperformed the S&P 500 Index, declining 9.56% from its price level of one year ago. Looking ahead, other than the push or pull of the broad market, we do not see anything in the company's numbers that may help reverse the decline experienced over the past 12 months. Despite the past decline, the stock is still selling for more than most others in its industry.
- You can view the full Agilent Technologies Ratings Report.
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