Journal Register (JRC)

Company

"Journal Register Company owns 27 daily newspapers, with approximately 650,000 total daily circulation, including the New Haven Register, Connecticut's second largest daily and Sunday newspaper. The Company also owns 362 non-daily publications, with total distribution of more than 5 million, as well as commercial printing and software development companies. The Company's operations are strategically clustered in seven geographic areas: Greater Philadelphia, Michigan, Connecticut, Greater Cleveland, Central New England, and the Capital-Saratoga and Mid-Hudson regions of New York. The Company also has 220 individual Web sites featuring the Company's daily newspapers and non-daily newspaper groups. The Company has an investment in PowerOne Media, Inc., a leading provider of online solutions for newspapers, hosting the largest online newspaper network in the U.S." (company website)

Buy

11-Dec-06. Journal Register is trying to climb out of a big hole that it slid into over the past year (see sidebar). It had already begun to climb from its 52-week low when it got a big boost from the earnings report. At the moment, it is oversold (according to MarketEdge) and at a good entry point. Today it tested lower prices, but has recovered and is now back up to what I surmised would be a reasonable entry price, having pulled back and touched-up with the 50-day moving average. Unfortunately, because of the consolidation period I think, the chart doesn't look all that positive.

• Price momentum (PPO) — slowed, back to neutral
• Trend (ADX) — weakened, but still well above the threshhold
• Money flow (CMF) — neutral
• Relative strength (RSI) — fell to neutral, ticking up
• Volume — average volume has fallen since big jump after earnings

Sell

29-Dec-06. Yesterday I raised the activation price of my stop-loss order because the JRC chart shows continuing deterioration. As a result, the order was triggered early in today's session when the price briefly dropped way down. I think it's probably just as well. It looks like that one-month moving average is serving as a resistance level, and it's falling, even though the 50-day average is still rising. But that will surely change without a significant price jump. That doesn't look like it's going to happen.