Cosi (COSI)

Company

"Cosi is the premium convenience restaurant that offers breakfast, lunch, afternoon coffee, dinner and dessert menus full of creative, fresh, flavorful foods and beverages. Cosi has developed featured foods that are built around a secret, generations-old recipe for crackly crust flatbread. This artisan bread is freshly baked in front of customers throughout the day in open flame stone hearth ovens prominently located in each of the restaurants. Cosi currently operates 109 Company-owned and eight franchise restaurants in sixteen states, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia." (company website)

Buy

18-Oct-06. Cosi went into a steep downtrend in March that seems to have been reversed in August. The 1-month average is rising and the 50-day average has leveled after a steep decline.

• Price momentum (PPO) — rising sharply during the past three months
• Trend (ADX) — near the threshhold (20) and buying pressure (+DI) rising sharply after crossing above selling pressure (-DI) a week ago
• Money flow (CMF) — flowing out of the stock, but improving steadily
• Relative strength (RSI) — improving smartly during past week
• Volume — average is increasing in last two weeks, and recent price increases on higher than usual volumes

Sell

19-Oct-06. Ouch, ouch, OUCH! An item from MarketWatch.com says it all:

Cosi Inc. shares sank 22% after the company said third-quarter comparable sales fell 4.2% from last year due to lower customer frequency. As a result, the Deerfield, Ill.-based franchise owner and restaurant operator expects a per-share third-quarter loss of 5 cents excluding stock-based compensation.

—MarketWatch.com

My trailing stop was triggered by the precipitous fall, getting me out with a loss of nearly 20%. True enough, COSI recovered enough to close out the week at $4.68, but even that would have been a substantial loss. I guess it's never been more true: "No news is good news."