PolyOne (POL)

Company

"PolyOne brings together global resources and expertise to provide our customers with high-quality polymer products, services and solutions. Our vast product line includes plastic compounds, colorants, thermoplastic elastomers, specialty vinyl resins, polyurethanes and engineered films, plus an array of specialty additives. Through our comprehensive design and technical support services, engineers work directly with customers to formulate the right polymer compound to meet specific applications." (company website)

Buy

10-Mar-05. Oops! Bad timing! Right after I bought a lot of POL, the price started to slip. However, if it stays about $9.50 (the December peak) I should be OK. The trend is picking up strength (ADX) and money flow (CMF) is healthy. On the downside, relative strength (RSI) is slipping.

POL is up 50% for the last 12 months (see sidebar). This should be interesting.

6-Apr-05. It looked like POL was going to turn into a disaster — who knows, it still may. But after crashing down through the 50-day moving average, POL appears to have its legs back under it. While the volumes haven't been spectacular, it is now back above the average, and there are some other positive signs: The decline in price momentum (PPO) has leveled off and reversed. There's a bit of relative strength (RSI) developing, and the more-senstive stochastic RSI (StochRSI) is pointing up. The pullback has been deep but the uptrend appears to be intact (see sidebar). Perhaps pushing my luck, I've bought another 500 shares.

Sell

28-Apr-05. "Perhaps pushing my luck..." I was. Just a couple of days after I added to my position, POL took a three-day nose dive. When it pulled back near the 200-day moving average, I decided to hang in. Yesterday, POL fell back to a new low close for the year, and this morning it continued downward. Earnings were due out this afternoon, and I was worried it could plummet even farther (see PTEC).

POL is now below the October peak of last year and the January valley this year. This could be a bottomless pit, even with good earnings.