Update – LPI Buy Setup

I know I have not posted in a while, I have taken a rather long hiatus from this blog for many reasons.  I have just finished high school not that long ago and I have been working long hours at work this summer.  I will be off to the University of Delaware this fall and I hope to continue to post on this blog.

I have been currently looking at a new stock play and I have come across Laredo Petroleum (LPI) as a possible buy.  There is a short-term downward channel within a long-term upward channel, and the price of the stock is approaching the bottom of the short-term channel.  The price is also approaching the 200 day moving average, and the Stochastic is approaching oversold levels as well, setting up a great entry point at the low 28 levels to high 27 levels.  I will wait and watch for now but I see this stock having a strong move to the upside in the next few weeks.  

Market Update

The overall market was very flat today with the Dow Jones showing a slight loss of -0.07%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both saw an increase up until the market close.  Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished the day with slight gains.

One stock that I am watching closely is Arcos Dorados (ARCO).  This company is the chief operator of McDonald’s restaurants in Latin America.  What I like about this stock is that the technical’s on the stock look promising.  The share price has just eclipsed the 50 day moving average and the daily volume is seeing a 69.4% increase compared to its typical one day volume of 959.2K.  After Monday’s close I set a watch target for 9.59 as a close above that mark would indicate a bullish pattern.  Sure enough, by the close of the market on Tuesday, the share price had risen above that 9.59 level and is currently priced at 9.82 at the end of Wednesday’s trading day.  The upcoming World Cup in Brazil should be beneficial to the company as they have 812 restaurants open in Brazil, amounting to about one-third of their portfolio.  Currently the economy in Brazil is less than desirable however, as the Brazilian currency, the Real, saw an 11% decline in the fourth quarter.  Nevertheless, the Brazilian economy should see some growth with the World Cup and it could work out well for ARCO.