Report Thursday, expectations are that it will blow out the numbers yet the stock is lagging today while Dell is up 3%. Was going to hold through end of the year but something doesn't feel right. Comments?
Personally I wouldn't hold more than 25% of a position through an earnings announcement. If you're up good on the position I would just exit before the announcement and take the money. You could always buy it again after things settle down. Too many things could happen out of your control to cause the position to go against you. If you really want to hold over you could buy some puts to hedge your position.
I am looking more for comments on the way HPQ is trading rather than help in managing my position. Was today consistent with a rinse of weak hands prior to earnings so someone could grab some more shares or was this the public buying while institutions divested? Thanks for the input nonetheless. FWIW I added to my position EOD.
i cant see weakness at all, infact i see a lot of strenght and a surge in volumes last thursday at the open, below a thick up bar...bullish. good chance is gonna beat, risk concentrated on the upside after report.
I Apologize I misunderstood you. When I look at the chart I see nothing but strength. Price spiking on higher volume, after a short lower volume consolidation period on daily chart. Long term healthy up-trend as well as analyst upgrades. Today's chart shows strong EOD rally right up to close just off HOD on good volume. HPQ's movement today was inline with the overall market and it looks to me like DELL was trying to play catch up as it has been lagging HPQ over the last few days. IMHO seems like a classic buy the rumor sell the news setup since they are widely expected to beat. When everyone leans one way the boat flips over.
No apology needed craneman, i was not clear. Thanks for the input and you too bitstream. I think it was just eating its way through a lot of resistance today, $40 is an important level in this stock. There is a story going around that dell lost share to hp due to dell's lack of exposure to the AMD opt chip but that now dell has revamped their line up and will be more competitive going forward. I was thinking that this story was gaining some traction and that HP's recent PC success was being seen as somewhat of an aberration, hence Dell up 3%+ and HP barely .5%. There may be some truth in it but I think HP is set to run in to the end of the year so will probably hold thru earnings unless there are signs of weakness prior to the call.
Lagging..... the stock touched another 52 week high today, unless you bought at $40.27 you should not be complaining.
yes can't complain but don't want to give up gains or get out of the trade too early. Usually on a day like today HPQ would have outpaced Dell and yet today that was not the case. Certainly HPQ will post better numbers than Dell, that is not in doubt. Guidance though is another matter, and will be what investors will base their reaction on.