Saturday, March 26, 2011

Lines on Charts: With Earnings Coming Mosaic Bumps Up Against Multiple Moving Averages (MOS)

On Friday the stock closed at $78.82, up $1.27 for the day.
The stock is running into the following simple moving averages:

20-day $79.45
50-day $80.95

It cleared the 10-day, now at $76.76, on Wednesday without the need for a huge volume spike but the next couple bucks will be the real story. The company releases earnings after the close on Wednesday the 30th with the conference call scheduled for Thursday.
Here's a quick hit from Schaeffer's Research:

Ahead of Earnings, Speculators Sow Bullish Seeds on Mosaic Company

Can MOS power back atop trendline support?

The Mosaic Company (MOS) is slated to take the earnings stage next week, with the agricultural issue scheduled to report its fiscal third-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday. Ahead of the event, analysts are calling for a profit of $1.07 per share for the company, implying an increase of 114.8% from the same period a year ago. What's more, the options crowd appears to be ramping up their bullish exposure toward the equity.

On the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), MOS has racked up a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 3.79, indicating that traders have bought to open almost four MOS calls for every put over the past couple of weeks. What's more, this ratio ranks in the 76th percentile of its annual range, suggesting options players are initiating bullish bets over bearish at a faster-than-usual pace....MORE