Date: 04.10.07
Time: 11:17pm
Indices Continue to Drift Higher in Quiet TradeGreetings Shark Investors:
On Tuesday the major indices put on a repeat of Monday’s mild action as a somewhat positive open faded slightly mid-morning, and then we spent the remainder of the day trading in a fairly narrow range. We also saw the same sort of
aggressive action in a small pocket of high momentum names as the more speculative investors out there skulked about, looking for some quick profits. With the broader market not moving around all that much, it makes sense for these folks to take some quick trades as there has been little volatility over the past two days, and as a result, the risk that the market will tank and take their little gems along with it is minimized.
Meanwhile, even though the bulk of earnings reports won’t start hitting the wires until next week, Alcoa (AA) kicked things off this evening, beating analyst estimates by a few pennies. The increase in earnings and revenues was driven by higher metals prices as well as strong industrial demand, and as a result, shares are trading up about 2% in after-hours markets as we write this.
As we head into the teeth of earnings season, many investors are wondering how they should position themselves ahead of various reports since they often see substantial moves immediately after the news is out. Unfortunately, unless you have some insider information, going long or short in front of earnings is like betting on a coin toss. Moreover, not only do you have to guess correctly when it comes to whether or not a company misses or beats estimates, you also have to predict how investors will react to the news. In other words, there isn’t always a direct one-to-one correlation between positive news and positive price action.
Just because the earnings per share may come in better than expected doesn’t mean that the company sold enough widgets or that its margins on its gadgets were slightly lower. Also, we have to deal with forward guidance and a whole lot of other internal pieces of information that management might convey during a conference call.
Then there’s always the possibility that, because so many are expecting a good report, there has already been a decent run into earnings as folks jockey for position. Even if the news is good, all of the metrics are as expected or better, and management says all the right things, the stock can fall in price as market players sell into the news.
Fortunately, there’s often plenty of action in a stock in the days following an earnings report. Dr. Eugene Fama would probably send us a nasty e-mail if he ever read this, but it’s our experience that the market seldom prices in the full impact of news immediately, and that even if a stock moves sharply after earnings, taking a long or short position after the news is out can be a profitable venture.
Even though you will see the pundits and gurus recommending that you buy or sell a stock ahead of its earnings report over the next couple of weeks, it is the disciplined investor who resists the temptation to take bets where he or she has no edge, but prefers to move aggressively when the odds are in his or her favor.
Looking forward, we will be watching intently to see if and how the strong report from Aloca (AA) impacts the action on Wednesday. Other than that, outside of the release of the minutes from the most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday and the Producer Price Index reading on Friday, the calendar is pretty empty. It’s likely that the action for the rest of the week will be relatively tame.
(Verkleinert auf 77%)

