Prestige Brands Holdings (PBH)

Company

"Prestige Brands, Inc. markets, sells and distributes over-the-counter healthcare, household cleaning products and personal care products to retail outlets in the US, Canada, and certain international markets." (company website)

pbh(1-1)
PBH 4-month chart
pbh(1-1)_1yr
PBH 1-year chart

Buy

15 January 2010. Bought 500 at $7.92.

In November PBH beat Expectations by 2¢, and at the beginning of December the downtrend was broken. The 50-day moving average has been climbing since then.

  • Percentage price oscillator (PPO) — dropped below signal line during recent pull-back, but converging again
  • Volume — decent vollume

Based on technical analysis, MarketEdge calls PBH a "strong buy" in a "weak upward trend."

Sell

gain Bottom line
-2%

23 February 2010. Sold 500 at $7.80.

It could have been so much worse. At one point PBH was down 10% from my buy price, but in the past two weeks has recovered most of that. When I bought, PBH's PPO line was converging back toward the signal line and I expected it to cross above. That never materialized. After earnings, it diverged even more, and it took a whole week for the market to react to what amounted to a positive earnings surprise. Volumes have been declining — as has been my confidence. Although the 1-year chart still looks like an uptrend — as does the P&F chart — I am expecting another down-swing from this point.

pbh_1day
Today's trading

I'm not sure how I actually got my price. When I saw it dropping, I put in a sell for $7.80, below the previous close, thinking that during the day it might rebound a bit. That didn't happen, but suddenly, and happily, the trade executed. I suppose someone must have put in a buy order at market.

pbh_pf Point and figure chart (P&F)