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Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:
Yes Motorola! In our regular updates of the most overbought and oversold stocks in the S&P 500, it was surprising to see that seemingly ne'er-do-well Motorola (MOT) tops the list. With the stock currently trading more than three standard deviations above its 50-day moving average, MOT is by far the most overbought stock in the S&P 500, and one of only two Technology sector stocks to make the list of the top twenty. Motorola leading the market higher? It's been a while since anyone has said that.Complete Story »

Morningstar submits: By Zoe TanOur Near-Term Outlook is More Optimistic for Auto Parts Retailers Starting in late 2008, the nation's three largest auto parts retailers, Advance Auto (AAP), AutoZone (AZO) and O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY), delivered record same-store sales growth in the mid- to high single-digit range (see Exhibit 1), thanks to a surge in demand for automotive replacement parts.Complete Story »

Richard Shaw (QVM Group) submits: What stocks within the S&P 500 show favorable price positions and trendline slope? We used these criteria to develop a list of the strongest price performers:Complete Story »

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:
Retail stocks have been some of the best performers throughout this entire bull market. After today's stronger-than-expected Retail Sales report, more than half of the 31 S&P 500 retail stocks are trading within 2.5% of their 52-week highs. Only four of the 31 names in the group are trading below their 50-day moving averages, and just six are down year to date. As shown below, Ross Stores (ROST), Macy's (M), Nordstrom (JWN), Lowe's (LOW), and Limited Brands (LTD) are the closest to their 52-week highs. Macy's is up the most year to date, and it's the second farthest above its 50-day moving average behind Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). (Click to enlarge)Complete Story »

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:
While the dollar price of a stock has nothing to do with its valuation, lots of investors out there let price influence their investment decisions. Some investors stay away from high-priced stocks because "they're too expensive" and like to buy low priced stocks because "they're cheap." For some reason, buying 500 shares of a $2 stock seems more appealing to them than buying 5 shares of a $200 stock. For most investment purposes, this is foolish, but it happens. Below we highlight the number of stocks in the Russell 3,000 that are currently trading over $100/share and under $10/share. We also highlight what the numbers were on the day of the market's all-time high (10/9/07) and the day of the bear market low (3/9/09). As shown, there are currently 45 stocks in the Russell 3,000 trading over $100/share. There are 766 trading under $10/share. At the market's peak in 2007, there were 81 $100+ stocks and 340 stocks under $10. On the day of the bear market low, there were only 15 stocks trading over $100, and there were 1,519 trading under $10!Complete Story »

Chad Brand submits: In today’s economic and financial market climate, investors have to balance a stock market that is no longer cheap and an economy that has obvious structural damage. The consensus has concluded that below-average economic growth and employment could be with us for at least several more years. Given such circumstances, we must be even more careful than usual in selecting companies to invest in. In my mind, there are four things investors should look for when choosing new investments today. The first, valuation, is the obvious one for me as a value investor. No matter how much you like the story behind a stock, if you do not pay a fair price, the odds are stacked against you if you are trying to beat the market.Complete Story »

Trader Mark submits:As we await the breakout over S&P 1100 (if not today, then surely in premarket tomorrow or Friday, when all the important work is done) let's do some chart review.A lot of stocks have taken a quite substantial turn for the better after Tuesday's low volume surge. I am seeing countless charts that look like the one below (for Caterpillar (CAT)). What is so interesting is how little "resistance" has meant when the computers go hardcore on the "inverse dollar" trade. It is as if the pretty red line means nothing. [click to enlarge any chart]Complete Story »

Trader Mark submits:I've been scratching my head and wondering where all the good action is, because most of the stocks / or sectors I am interested in have done next to nothing for 5-6 weeks. In fact, many fashionable sectors in the spring and summer have seen their stocks hit, while the indexes remain up. Which means, there is a bull market somewhere - just not in areas we typically look at. Aside from the large caps mentioned this morning, we have a very curious group of stocks surging since early to mid November: utilities, healthcare, some retail - I can't find any rhyme or reason to these names other than they are relatively safe havens (at least in defense, utilities, and healthcare). Looks like a massive sector rotation has played out ... or it could just be all the "hot groups" (the anti-dollar trade, or more speculative junk stocks) were run up so much even the egregious bulls thought it was time to give them a break. Complete Story »

optionMONSTER submits: By Jon "DRJ" Najarian Misses Analyst EsimatesThe supermarket chain reported a third-quarter net loss of $874.9 million, or $1.35 per share, compared with a profit of $237.7 million, or $0.36 per share, in the year-ago period. The analysts' consensus estimate was $0.37 EPS. Total sales for the quarter were $17.66 billion compared with $17.61 billion in the same period last year, versus analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. On the miss KR trades to $20.20 on our Depth Charge tracking system, down from yesterday's close of $22.85.Complete Story »

Zacks.com submits:
AutoZone (AZO) is expected to release its sales and earnings results for the fiscal first quarter before the opening bell on Dec 8. The Memphis, Tennessee-based retailer of automotive replacement parts reported a 3.1% year-over-year fall in its profit to $236.1 million or $4.43 per share for the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2009 ended Aug 29, 2009. With this, AutoZone has managed to come close to the Zacks Consensus Estimate profit of $4.45 per share. For the first quarter, Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company is $2.68 per share, a decline of 40%, compared to the recorded earnings in the previous quarter.Complete Story »