Technicals of stocks

[Jimbo]

Let me 1st start this by saying, I am not looking to criticize anyones methods of work, so please do not take this that way, I am trying to learn and understand.

So I started reading The single best investment, only part way through but love it so far, anyway, after reading what I have I started to try to use and understand what I am reading.

A stock is highlighted by someone so I look into it to see what I see.

Div yield 4.06% nice.
Debt/eqt -5.32 not so nice
LT debt/eq -3.69 not so nice
EPS this y -18.6 ugghh
EPS next y 11.79 not bad
EPS next 5 y 12.00 not bad
payout 71% little high no.

This is a stock that I look at some time ago after it was shakin to the core.
The stock is a nice "secure" stock and still interests me to some point.
The stock is TUP. am I missing something, or am I just not reading the whole picture.
My figures come from Finviz.

Jim

[EricL]

TUP has a large percentage of sales overseas so it has been hit hard by currency exchange the last several quarters. It also a MLM, which as a sector is out of favor following high profile issues raised about NUS and HLF.

I own it, but it isn't a high conviction position for me. The yield is nice and it seems to be a well run operation, but I don't expect a dividend raise this year unless the dollar falls a lot in the next quarter or two. I plan on holding, but its not blue chip enough for me to want to add to my position.

[earthtodan]

Jim, I think a clarification of terms is in order. Generally when people talk about technicals, it means analyzing past price movements to read patterns and predict future price movements. It is a mix of a deep understanding of underlying market mechanisms and voodoo, in what proportion I do not know, but it is not concerned with analyzing the company itself. In its pure form, there are people who scan price charts for technical indicators who probably don't know and don't care what the name of the company is behind the ticker symbol, let alone what they do or whether they make money. What you, and the rest of us are after is fundamental analysis. The numbers involved in fundamental analysis are "technical" in the sense that they require some understanding of financial and mathematical concepts, but in market terminology, technical and fundamental analysis are at opposite ends of a spectrum.

[Kerim]

(05-18-2015, 11:17 PM)earthtodan Wrote: It is a mix of a deep understanding of underlying market mechanisms and voodoo, in what proportion I do not know

Love it. In my opinion, a lot more voodoo than deep understanding, but a lot of smart people subscribe to technical analysis, so I sometimes wonder if I am being too dismissive.

[Jimbo]

Ok, my bad technical analysis, now that it's pointed out is not the term I want to use, fundamental is more the term.
Regardless, with this item, am I reading this worng or am I missing something?

[earthtodan]

(05-19-2015, 09:59 AM)Jimbo Wrote: Regardless, with this item, am I reading this worng or am I missing something?

Yep, I would agree with your commentary on every item. The one thing that is of course anyone's guess is the EPS Next 5 Yr statistic. It's some sort of average of analyst estimates and rests on plenty of assumptions.