TSR Consulting

TSRI

Company. TSR is a contract programming company, "positioned to fulfill virtually any application or systems need of our clients. From legacy systems developers to e-commerce systems architects, TSR can provide a full range of IT staffing needs involving numerous areas of expertise from telecommunications to banking and insurance." (company website)

Buy. TSR broke out above $8, the previous 12-month high, two days ago on heavier than normal volume. It formed the "three outside up" chart formation (see sidebar). There is a lot of momentum (PPO) and the trend is strengthening (ADX).

Nevertheless, I think I'm going to be sorry I bought TSRI. I failed to notice that average daily volumes are less than 10,000 shares. That's very illiquid.

Sell

14-Feb-05. For a while it looked like TSRI might still work out. Yes, the price fell, but it consolidated above $8, which was 50¢ above the price when it broke out in December. I continued to hang on as long as it was above the 50-day moving average, but on Monday TSRI dropped below the average, which is now in danger of turning downward.

In retrospect, the last paragraph I wrote when I bought TSRI has turned out to be prophetic.