Aptimus (APTM)

Company

"Aptimus today is a powerful performance-based Internet advertising network. For advertisers, the Aptimus Network offers a high volume, high quality platform to present their offers across a broad audience of website and e-mail distribution channels. Advertisers pay only for the results they achieve on a cost per click, cost per lead, cost per acquisition, or cost per impression basis, as well as combinations of those models. As a result, advertisers can refine their offers and payment models to achieve their exact objectives 100% of the time." (company website)

Buy

29-Mar-06. Aptimus appears to have broken a near year-long downtrend (see sidebar). Yesterday it broke above the descending 50-day moving average on respectable volume. We'll see if it can continue.

• Price momentum (PPO) — up sharply over past three weeks
• Trend (ADX) — strengthening again after buying pressure (+DI) crossed above selling pressure (-DI)
• Money flow (CMF) — still negative but improving steadily
• Relative strength (RSI) — sharp strengthening over past two weeks
• Volume — big volume on cross-over of 50-day moving average

The cautionary signal in this picture is that APTM is somewhat overbought (StochRSI) and it is up almost 50% in two weeks. The reversal, if it is one, came almost two weeks after the company reported earnings and the CFO announced that he had changed his mind and would be staying on (2-Mar-06), which news was greeted with a week of down days. Go figure.

Sell

2-May-06. Ouch! I had intended to hang on to APTM until earnings were reported, in (the probably unrealistic) hope that a positive surprise would give it a bump. But I just could no longer stand to watch it creep down day by day.