Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG), the famed operator of quick-service Mexican restaurants, soared to a new high on Friday after reporting fourth-quarter results.  #-ad_banner-#Earnings of $2.53 a share were up 30% year over year, matching analysts’ estimates. And the company handsomely beat on the top line, reporting a 21% year-over-year revenue increase to $844.1 million. During the conference call that followed the earnings announcement, the company discussed that an increase in prices on its menu is likely later in 2014, a direct results of higher costs for crucial inputs like beef and… Read More

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG), the famed operator of quick-service Mexican restaurants, soared to a new high on Friday after reporting fourth-quarter results.  #-ad_banner-#Earnings of $2.53 a share were up 30% year over year, matching analysts’ estimates. And the company handsomely beat on the top line, reporting a 21% year-over-year revenue increase to $844.1 million. During the conference call that followed the earnings announcement, the company discussed that an increase in prices on its menu is likely later in 2014, a direct results of higher costs for crucial inputs like beef and avocados. This is something that investors have also heard from other restaurant companies in recent weeks, and thus likely came as less of a surprise. On the back of better-than-expected sales guidance for 2014, analysts were quick to boost their sales targets. Morgan Stanley, for example, raised its full-year same-store sales growth forecast from 5.8% to 6.9%. Currently, Chipotle has more than 1,500 restaurants worldwide and is planning on opening up to 195 new restaurants this year. Like many companies, Chipotle also spoke favorably to the idea of increasing its stock buyback program, which speaks to the company’s confidence in… Read More

Shares of troubled Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) soared more than 9% Tuesday after a Department of Defense report that said its handsets were still the Pentagon’s top choice. It anticipates that about 80,000 devices will start to be connected to its new network beginning at the end of January.#-ad_banner-# Despite the company’s ongoing struggles, it continues to offer leading security features. This is a significant contributing factor to the Defense Department’s choice, and the news showed BlackBerry (formerly known as Research in Motion) still has a hold on this lucrative part of the market. More positive news came… Read More

Shares of troubled Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) soared more than 9% Tuesday after a Department of Defense report that said its handsets were still the Pentagon’s top choice. It anticipates that about 80,000 devices will start to be connected to its new network beginning at the end of January.#-ad_banner-# Despite the company’s ongoing struggles, it continues to offer leading security features. This is a significant contributing factor to the Defense Department’s choice, and the news showed BlackBerry (formerly known as Research in Motion) still has a hold on this lucrative part of the market. More positive news came Tuesday with the announcement that the company is looking to divest the majority of its Canadian real estate. Specifically, BlackBerry wants to sell and lease back over 3 million square feet. This would raise a significant amount of cash for its turnaround plans. BlackBerry’s new CEO, John Chen, has only been at the helm for a few short months, but he has already made some significant moves. For example, in December, Chen formed a deal with Foxconn Technology Group, which also assembles Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhones, to outsource design and production. This should allow BBRY to focus more on its… Read More

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is once again on my radar as a long-side play, with the stock trading in a tight pattern and coiling up nicely for a likely push past resistance sooner rather than later. The stock is displaying buying pressure and consolidation on the daily chart, and the longer-term chart offers good reference levels that match up with a near-term resistance area. Typically, HPQ has a positive correlation, and thus price sensitivity, to movements in stocks like Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and other chipmakers and semiconductor manufacturers. As such, when trading HPQ, it is important to keep a close eye… Read More

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is once again on my radar as a long-side play, with the stock trading in a tight pattern and coiling up nicely for a likely push past resistance sooner rather than later. The stock is displaying buying pressure and consolidation on the daily chart, and the longer-term chart offers good reference levels that match up with a near-term resistance area. Typically, HPQ has a positive correlation, and thus price sensitivity, to movements in stocks like Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and other chipmakers and semiconductor manufacturers. As such, when trading HPQ, it is important to keep a close eye on the semiconductor complex.#-ad_banner-# One way to monitor this sector is via the Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF (NYSE: SMH), and right now that ETF shows the group remains constructively positioned. Recently, HPQ announced a host of new all-in-one (AiO) PCs, including the company’s first AiO built for Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system. The new PCs are equipped with larger HD displays and quick access features to the web, including easy access to the Google Play app store. On the multi-year chart looking back to 2007, we see that HPQ is trading just marginally higher today than it was at… Read More

Luxury retailer Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS) has been taking market share away from rivals like Coach (NYSE: COH) and Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL). Since its initial public offering in late 2011, the stock has displayed wonderfully trending price action for investors and traders alike.#-ad_banner-#​ KORS made a big entrance with its IPO. It was priced at $20 a share, above its estimated range of $17 to $19, and soared 21% that day to close at $24.20. The company sold 47.2 million shares, raising $944 million. The offering gave the company… Read More

Luxury retailer Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS) has been taking market share away from rivals like Coach (NYSE: COH) and Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL). Since its initial public offering in late 2011, the stock has displayed wonderfully trending price action for investors and traders alike.#-ad_banner-#​ KORS made a big entrance with its IPO. It was priced at $20 a share, above its estimated range of $17 to $19, and soared 21% that day to close at $24.20. The company sold 47.2 million shares, raising $944 million. The offering gave the company a market value of roughly $1.2 billion, which has expanded to $16.7 billion. At its current size, Michael Kors is larger than Ralph Lauren, a Fortune 500 company. And Michael Kors is quickly expanding both domestically and internationally in its efforts to gain more brand awareness. On Nov. 5, Michael Kors reported strong quarterly earnings and gave a rosy outlook, which led to another leg higher in its stock price. For its fiscal second quarter, the company reported that total revenue increased 38.9%, to $740 million, from the same period last year. At the end of the quarter, Michael Kors… Read More

Pairs trading, once mainly a strategy for institutions, became possible for individuals with the advent of the Internet, thus giving all traders access to a wealth of real-time information and online brokerages.#-ad_banner-# It is a market-neutral strategy that takes advantage of a certain imbalance in the stocks, funds, bonds, commodities or currencies in focus. In other words, it does not depend on the broader market making a directional move. Pairs trading involves a long position and a short position in a pair of highly correlated assets, and the strategy is thought to lower risk because it creates a natural hedge. Read More

Pairs trading, once mainly a strategy for institutions, became possible for individuals with the advent of the Internet, thus giving all traders access to a wealth of real-time information and online brokerages.#-ad_banner-# It is a market-neutral strategy that takes advantage of a certain imbalance in the stocks, funds, bonds, commodities or currencies in focus. In other words, it does not depend on the broader market making a directional move. Pairs trading involves a long position and a short position in a pair of highly correlated assets, and the strategy is thought to lower risk because it creates a natural hedge. Traditionally, investors would look for two stocks in the same sector, preferably in the same subsector, that showed good positive correlation. Therefore, if the two stocks were to diverge, a pairs trader would buy the stock of the underperforming company and sell short the stock of the outperforming company. The trade would be profitable if the spread between the two stocks narrowed (that is, the stocks’ prices again moved closer together). Looked at this way, pairs trades are simply market bets on a mean-reversion move. Another pairs trading strategy is to bet on the continued outperformance of one stock versus… Read More

Home furnishings retailer Restoration Hardware Holdings (NYSE: RH) hasn’t been publicly traded for long, but so far, the company has made the most of it. Since it went public on Nov. 2, 2012, the stock has rallied more than 200%. For its initial public offering, the company sold 5.2 million shares at $24 apiece, which valued the deal at about $124 million. Leading up to its IPO, the company saw double-digit revenue growth for 10 consecutive quarters, and over the past 12 months, top-line growth has continued. Many analysts have adjusted their price targets higher. Jefferies, for example, raised its… Read More

Home furnishings retailer Restoration Hardware Holdings (NYSE: RH) hasn’t been publicly traded for long, but so far, the company has made the most of it. Since it went public on Nov. 2, 2012, the stock has rallied more than 200%. For its initial public offering, the company sold 5.2 million shares at $24 apiece, which valued the deal at about $124 million. Leading up to its IPO, the company saw double-digit revenue growth for 10 consecutive quarters, and over the past 12 months, top-line growth has continued. Many analysts have adjusted their price targets higher. Jefferies, for example, raised its price target from $68 to $88 in September. The company’s next earnings announcement is scheduled for mid-December. The fact that a company selling high-end home furnishings can flourish in a slowly recovering economy is a good sign not only for Restoration Hardware, but also for the housing market. While certainly not sporting as spectacular gains as RH, other home furnishings retailers have also rallied. Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) and Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) have seen their share prices rise about 25% to 30% in the past year, reflecting improvements in the housing market.    Restoration Hardware caught the attention… Read More

Momentum remains on the side of technology giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) despite the large gains the it has made this year.#-ad_banner-#​ Following a big post-earnings rally in mid-October, GOOG consolidated and is forming a tight bullish wedge pattern. This offers traders another juicy long-side breakout trade.  Tight patterns often lead to quick moves. A break to new highs would keep the momentum on the side of the bulls, while any break below the consolidation pattern would be equally bearish and serve as an automatic stop-out area. Google reported third-quarter results after the… Read More

Momentum remains on the side of technology giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) despite the large gains the it has made this year.#-ad_banner-#​ Following a big post-earnings rally in mid-October, GOOG consolidated and is forming a tight bullish wedge pattern. This offers traders another juicy long-side breakout trade.  Tight patterns often lead to quick moves. A break to new highs would keep the momentum on the side of the bulls, while any break below the consolidation pattern would be equally bearish and serve as an automatic stop-out area. Google reported third-quarter results after the close Oct. 17, beating analysts’ estimates on all fronts. Earnings per share (EPS) were up 19% to $10.74 from the same quarter a year ago, beating estimates of $10.34. Revenue was up 12% to $14.9 billion, slightly better than the consensus estimate. As a result, GOOG exploded higher on massive volume on Oct. 18, and it hasn’t looked back. Google’s shareholders are no strangers to robust post-earnings moves, but the 13.8% rally was larger than usual, and it took the stock above $1,000 for the first time, setting a new all-time high. GOOG is up 43% this year, and while… Read More

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) beat the Street’s estimates when it announced its third-quarter results last week. The company reported earnings of $0.58 a share, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53. Revenue for the quarter was $13.5 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations.#-ad_banner-#​ Intel also said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of about $13.7 billion, compared with analysts’ expectations of $14 billion.  Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was upbeat about the company’s third-quarter performance and strategy execution: “We’re executing on our strategy to offer an increasingly broad and diverse product portfolio that spans key growth segments, operating systems and form factors. Since August we… Read More

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) beat the Street’s estimates when it announced its third-quarter results last week. The company reported earnings of $0.58 a share, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53. Revenue for the quarter was $13.5 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations.#-ad_banner-#​ Intel also said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of about $13.7 billion, compared with analysts’ expectations of $14 billion.  Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was upbeat about the company’s third-quarter performance and strategy execution: “We’re executing on our strategy to offer an increasingly broad and diverse product portfolio that spans key growth segments, operating systems and form factors. Since August we have introduced more than 40 new products for market segments from the Internet of Things to data centers, with an increasing focus on ultra-mobile devices and two-in-one systems.”  Intel is ramping up investments in its TV service project, hiring talent from the likes of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) earlier this year. Whether all of this will play out as planned remains to be seen, but from a technical perspective, the stock’s chart looks enticing. The day after the company reported its earnings, the stock rallied 1.3% as investors and traders alike seemed to take… Read More

Investing in momentum and growth stocks has been a profitable strategy so far in 2013, and judging by recent action, that doesn’t appear to be something that will change in the near future despite a somewhat bumpier trading environment.  The bullish price action in performance sports apparel maker Under Armour… Read More

After its notable rally off the late June lows, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) began to top out in the second half of September. After trading sideways to slightly lower for a couple of weeks, the stock gapped down 5.6% on the morning of Sept. 11, the day after it announced of… Read More