On Financial Tides I bring you stocks that are worth considering for your portfolio. I'm taking a video course from Professor Michael Starbird of the University of Texas at Austin called Meaning from Data: Statistics made clear. The first thing he emphasises is that raw data is meaningless and has no value until it is properly analyzed. That is what this company does.

Teradata Corporation (TDC) is the world's largest company focused on raising intelligence through data warehousing and enterprise analytics. Teradata is located in more than forty countries. Teradata is a trademark or registered trademark of Teradata Corporation in the United States and other countries. Teradata Corporation employs 5,300 worldwide.

All 13 of Barchart's technical indicators are signaling a buy and the stock hit 5 new highs in the last 5 trading sessions. The stock enjoyed a 6.63% price increase in the past month. The stock trades around 33.63 with a 50 day moving average of 30.92.

Investor sentiment as measured on Motley Fool is strong with CAPS members voting 270 to 17 that the stock will beat the market. The more experienced All Stars have a similar vote of 124 to 5.

Wall Street brokerages like this stock with 7 buy and 2 hold reports published. They feel sales will increase 9.40% this year and 8.10% next year. I like their double digit earrings forecasts of increases in EPS of 12.80% this year, 15.00% next year and a 5 year compounded EPS growth rate of 12.50%,

Last year the total return to stockholders was 73.86%.

The stock should be considered because:

1 - It has had recent price appreciation and a 100% Barchart technical buy signal
2 - Strong investor sentiment
3 - Wall Street buy recommendations based on increases in sales and double digit increases in EPS.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters on Financial Tides,Barchart Portfolio Blogs, Seeking Alpha, Marketocracy and MSN Top Stocks. Please leave a comment below or email JimVanMeerten@gmail.comDisclosure: No positions in the stocks mentioned at the time of publication

Comments: View Comments |  Friday June 18, 2010

On Financial Tides I bring you stocks that are worth considering for your portfolio. I've written about this stock before but it's recent price action shows it deserves to be revisited.

Quanta ( PWR ) is a leading provider of specialty electrical contracting and maintenance services primarily related to electric and telecommunications infrastructure in North America. In addition, the Company provides electrical contracting services to the commercial and industrial markets and installs transportation control and lighting systems. Some of Quantas services include the installation, repair and maintenance of electric power transmission and distribution lines and telecommunication and cable television lines, the construction of electric substations, and the erection of cellular telephone.

Double digit sales growth is almost guaranteed as companies strive to meet the new reliability and renewable energy mandates. Congress has given some investment incentives for new infrastructure that is too good to pass up.

Two of their biggest clients, Verizon and AT&T, are in the middle of major upgrades to their networks and PWR will perform most of that work.

The stock hit 5 new highs in the last 5 trading sessions and had a 6.71% price appreciation last month. The stock is trading above it's 20, 50 & 100 day moving averages and has earned a 100% Barchart technical buy signal. The stock trades around 22.94 with a 50 day moving average of 22.66.

Investor sentiment is very high on this stock. On Motley Fool the CAPS members voted that the stock will beat the market by a vote of 539 to 11 and the more experienced All Stars have a similar vote of 161 to 3. Fool notes that of the last 22 articles columnists have written 21 have been positive.

The Wall Street brokerage analysts are very high on this stock with 14 buy and 4 hold recommendations published. Double digit sales increases of 20.40% this year and 12.60% next year are predicted. Earnings forecasts are even better with and increases of 34.30% this year and 29.80% next year. Long term investors will appreciate a forecast of a 12.18% 5 year compounded annual EPS growth rate.

The stock meets my criteria:

1 - Recent price appreciation and new highs in more than 50% of the recent trading sessions
2 - 100% Barchart technical buy signal on all 13 of the 13 technical indicators
3 - High investor sentiment
4 - Positive articles by the financial press
5 - Wall Street brokerages recommending this stock to their clients based on double digit forecasts of sales and earnings increases

This stock has something for both short and long term investors.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters on Financial Tides,Barchart Portfolio Blogs, Seeking Alpha, Marketocracy and MSN Top Stocks. Please leave a comment below or email JimVanMeerten@gmail.com

Disclosure: No positions in the stocks mentioned at the time of publication

Comments: View Comments |  Thursday June 17, 2010

Stericycle, Inc. ( SRCL ) is a multi-regional integrated company employing proprietary technology to provide environmentally responsible management of regulated medical waste for the health care industry. The Company is the second largest provider of regulated medical waste management services in the United States.

One of the product lines that has helped the bottom line is recall management. Recalls will be a fact of life and many pharma companies would rather hire an outside contractor to perform this function.

The company has a very aggressive growth through acquisition program and completed 6 new acquisitions in the past year.

The stock came to my attention by hitting 10 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions and 4 in the last 5. New highs in this soft market are hard to come by. In the last month the stock has enjoyed a 12.84% price appreciation and trades around 63.79 with a 50 day moving average of 57.61. The stock has a 100% Barchart technical buy rating.

Investors have noticed this stock and over on Motley Fool the CAPS members vote that the stock will outperform the market by a vote of 245 to 15 with the more experienced All Stars agreeing 67 to 8. Of the Wall Street columnists Fool follows it is noted that all 3 articles have been positive.

Wall Street brokerage analysts are high on the stock with 7 buy and 2 hold recommendations published. They feel the sales will increase 16.20% this year and 8.10% next year. Double digit earnings per share increases of 16.70% this year, 13.58% next year and a 5 year compounded EPS growth rate of 16.44% deserves your attention.

This stock has great prospects:

1 - 2nd largest medical waste management company
2 - Aggressive growth by acquisition strategy
3 - Hitting new highs in better than 50% of the recent trading sessions
4 - Very high investor sentiment
5 - Wall Street buy recommendations based on increases in sales and double digit EPS growth.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email JimVanMeerten@gmail.com

Disclosure: No positions in SRCL at the time of publication

Comments: View Comments |  Tuesday June 15, 2010

TIGERLOGIC ( TIGR ) has an installed customer base that includes more than five lac active users representing more than 20,000 customer sites worldwide, with a significant base of diverse vertical applications. With more than hundred employees and contractors worldwide, TigerLogic offers 24x7 customer support services and maintains a strong international presence.

Their website includes a download link for an application called youlink that purports to be a better search engine than any of the other free applications.

The stock came up on my Barchart screener when I went looking for the stocks hitting the most frequent new highs in the last 20 trading sessions. TIGR hit 13 new highs in the last 20 sessions and 4 in the last 5. The last month has shown a 35.14% price appreciation. Barchart registers 11 buy signals on it's 13 technical indicators for an 88% overall buy signal. The stock trades at 4.50 with a 50 day moving average of 3.52.

Wall Street hasn't discovered this stock yet but the analysts who has this on his watch list thinks the sales will increase by 14.20% next year. Earnings per share are expected to increase by 68.40% this year and 83.30% next year, If these estimates are met this could be a nice pick.

Investors over on Motley Fool that have found this stock vote 39 to 7 that the stock will beat the market. The more experienced All Stars have a similar vote 5 to 1.

If you're looking for a speculative pick that the rest of the herd hasn't discovered yet consider these points:

1 - The stock has recent price appreciation and is trading above it's 20, 50 & 100 day moving average
2 - Barchart has a buy signal on 11 of it's 13 technical indicators for an 88% buy signal
3 - Wall Street predicts double digit increases in sales and earnings
4 - Not a large investor following but those that have found it like it

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on investing on Financial Tides and Barchart. Please leave a comment below or email JimVanMeerten@gmail.com

Disclosure: No positions in TIGR at the time of publication

Comments: View Comments |  Friday June 11, 2010

Financial Tides likes Hypercom Corp. ( HYC) a global provider of electronic payment solutions, including multi-function point-of-sale terminals, peripherals, network products, Ascendent payment and transaction software and Internet-based and electronic commerce payment solutions. On a global basis Hypercom delivers the services and technology infrastructure required to quickly integrate and deploy new payment applications. These applications provide competitive value-added programs, improved business performance and low total cost of ownership.

All signs are ripe that the economy is in recovery and there is a lot of pent up consumers consumption about to explode both here and abroad. In this new economy cash and checks are no longer king. Purchases of all sizes will be made on cards: debit or credit - it doesn't matter Hypercom will be properly positioned to take advantage of it.

Wall Street has noticed this stock and has 4 buy reports recently published. Although sales are expected to increase only 9.70% this year and 8.60% next year; Wall Street thinks earnings are the story. They estimate an increase in EPS of 113.30% this year, 43.80% next year and a 5 year compounded EPS growth rate of 28.00%. I like these numbers too.

Recent price appreciation is reflected in Barchart's technical buy signal of 100% -- all 13 of Barchart's technical indicators are on green. The stock has appreciated 22.56% in the last month and hit 13 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions. The stock is trading above its 20, 50 & 100 day moving average. It trades around 5.09 with a 50 day moving average of 4.25.

Investor sentiment as measured on Motley Fool is positive with the CAPS members voting the stock will beat the market by a vote of 91 to 15 with the more experienced All Stars agreeing 30 to 2. Fool notes that of the Wall Street columnist they follow all 3 articles have been positive.

If you think the economy will benefit from a need to spend again here are this stocks points:

1 - Recent and consistent price appreciation
2 - 100% Barchart technical buy signal
3 - Positive investor sentiment
4 - Buy recommendations from Wall Street based on increases in sales and earnings

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email JimVanMeerten@gmail.com.

Disclosure: No positions in HYC at the time of publication

Comments: View Comments |  Thursday June 3, 2010