Charming Shoppes (CHRS)

Company

CHRS 1-year chart CHRS 1-year chart

"Charming Shoppes, Inc. is a leading multichannel specialty apparel retailer primarily focused on plus-size women's apparel. We are the parent company of four distinct store brands – Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines Plus Sizes and Petite Sophisticate – as well as Crosstown Traders, Inc., a direct marketer of women's apparel." (company website)

CHRS 6-month chart
CHRS 6-month chart

Buy

22-May-08. Charming fell sharply beginning last October, but it appears to have bottomed at $4 in January. Since then it rose quickly to $7 then gave up 2/3 of that gain. Since late April it has been rising again and has just pulled back again to the 50-day moving average.

While the latest earnings report was positive, the company was cautious in its outlook for the coming quarter.

  • Price momentum (PPO) — positive
  • Relative strength (RSI) — neutral
  • Trend (ADX) — strong, with buying pressure (+DI) above selling pressure (-DI)
  • Volume — heavily traded, although volume has declined somewhat in 2008

Based on technical analysis, MarketEdge calls CHRS a "buy" in a "weak upward trend" but is "moving against opinion."

Sell

gain Bottom line
0%

17-Jun-08. At first Charming looked like a winner, but the charm soon lost its blush. After a brief climb, CHRS fell back down to $5, equal to the earlier dip and breaking the up trend line. A new resistance line is now visible on the chart, forming a dreaded descending triangle, almost always a bearish sign. While CHRS might break above that resistance line, the odds are that it won't, so I bailed out at a price that would cover my trading expenses— just.