Most sectors of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up this morning, and the index itself made a slight gain of 7 points to top 1,130 early Monday. Bargain hunters were snapping up stocks, led by corporate insider buying and share repurchase plans. Advancing stocks outnumbered those declining by better than 5-to-2. Bullish sentiment was at 59% with bearish at 41%.
Goodyear (NYSE:GT) was up around 40 cents, or about 3.5%, to over $11.50. On what appears to be mean reversion trading for profits to start the week, Goodyear is down about 20% for the week, 40% for the week and 40% for the month. There is a short float of 5.3% for Goodyear, which is high. For the year, however, Goodyear is up more than 10% and has a relative strength index rating of 33, with 30 the standard for a stock to be viewed as oversold.
Up more than $2.50 to over $58, a gain of more than 5%, was Cognizant (NASDAQ:CTSH). Cognizant recently announced a $300 million share repurchase program. Down about 15% for the week, Cognizant is down about 25% for the month, quarter and year.
Another tech up more than 3% was Micron (NYSE:MU), picking up about 20 cents to climb past $5.50 per share. A positive article about Micron was welcome as the stock is down more than15% for the week, 30% for the month and 40% for the quarter. Micron has an RSI rating of 33, and there is a short float of 6.27% for MU.
Down about 5% was Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:MPC), losing about $1.70 per share to around $33.20. Energy stocks were down as rebellion in Libya could result in lower oil prices. Marathon Petroleum is down about 6% for the week and 13% for the month.
Off about 25 cents, or 1.25%, to under $21.30 per share was GameStop (NYSE:GME). Profits and sales both dropped for GameStop, which displeased investors. For the week, however, GameStop is up more than 4% and up about 15% for the year. There is a short float of almost 25% for GameStop, which is very high.
Down early but recovering to hover back to even around $36.20 was Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN). Although upgraded twice on Aug. 10, Southwestern Energy has slipped with the declining price of oil and is down more than 5% for the week, 25% for the month and 5% for the quarter. For the year, Southwestern Energy is up more than 7%.
Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
