Thursday, October 10, 2013

3 Huge Tech Stocks on Traders' Radars

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Put down the 10-K filings and the stock screeners. It's time to take a break from the traditional methods of generating investment ideas. Instead, let the crowd do it for you.

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar

From hedge funds to individual investors, scores of market participants are turning to social media to figure out which stocks are worth watching. It's a concept that's known as "crowdsourcing," and it uses the masses to identify emerging trends in the market.

Crowdsourcing has long been a popular tool for the advertising industry, but it also makes a lot of sense as an investment tool. After all, the market is completely driven by the supply and demand, so it can be valuable to see what names are trending among the crowd.

>>5 Big Trades to Take Now

While some fund managers are already trying to leverage social media resources like Twitter to find algorithmic trading opportunities, for most investors, crowdsourcing works best as a starting point for investors who want a starting point in their analysis. Today, we'll leverage the power of the crowd to take a look at some of the most active stocks on the market today.

These "most active" names are the most heavily-traded names on the market -- and often, uber-active names have some sort of a technical or fundamental catalyst driving investors' attention on shares. That's especially true now that earnings season is officially underway. And when there's a big catalyst, there's often a trading opportunity.

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Without further ado, here's a look at today's stocks.

Facebook

Nearest Resistance: $50

Nearest Support: $49

Catalyst: News Feed Ads, Downgrade

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Everyone's favorite social networking stock, Facebook (FB) is slipping on high volume this afternoon following news that the firm will start introducing ads for apps to users' news feeds. Analysts are reacting anxiously over the news, spurring a downgrade from Pivotal Research. Despite the downward pressure on shares in today's session, this stock is hardly in make-or-break mode right now.

Facebook has shown some serious relative strength in the last few months, rallying to new all-time highs after posting impressive fundamental improvements earlier this summer. Now, shares are consolidating in a tight range between $49 and $50. I wouldn't recommend buying FB here until it can crack resistance at $50.

BlackBerry

Nearest Resistance: $8

Nearest Support: $7.50

Catalyst: Cerberus Interest, Restructuring Costs

>>5 Stocks Insiders Love Right Now

2013 has been a rough year for BlackBerry (BBRY). Shares of the $4 billion handset maker have fallen more than 35% year-to-date, stomped down by horrendous market share losses that have left investors running scared. While recent interest from private equity firms has ensured that trading activity remains strong in BBRY right now, it hasn't spared shares from scraping along new lows. The latest rumors involve Cerberus Capital Management as a potential suitor for BlackBerry, but the news is doing little to stop selling after news that restricting costs had ballooned to $400 million.

From a technical standpoint, this chart is broken. Resistance at $8 is relatively weak, but support is even weaker -- lower ground looks likely in the interim. With so much headline risk surrounding a private equity buyout, there isn't a high-probability trade here.

Microsoft

Nearest Resistance: $34

Nearest Support: $32.50

Catalyst: Management Shakeup

>>5 Stocks in Breakout Territory With Big Volume

Microsoft (MSFT) is one of those perennial high-volume names that gets investor attention no matter what's going on in the broad market. But it's getting more attention than usual in today's market session thanks to uncertainty over management. With CEO Steve Ballmer's announced retirement creeping closer, the firm is looking for a replacement, and names such as Ford (F) CEO Alan Mulally are popping up. At the same time, an investor bid to remove Chairman Bill Gates from his role at Microsoft has been catching some attention of its own.

Failed execution has been a problem at Microsoft for a while now, and a major shift in management could change that (or make it much, much worse). But in the near-term, shares at least look constructive. Resistance is nearby at $34, and MSFT has been making higher lows. If you're looking for timing on this trade, you could do worse than buying a breakout through $34.

To see these stocks in action, check out the at Most-Active Stocks portfolio on Stockpickr.



-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.


RELATED LINKS:



>>4 Stocks Spiking on Unusual Volume



>>4 Stocks Under $10 to Watch for Breakouts



>>5 Trades to Take for October Gains

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, a portfolio managed by the author was long TSLA.

Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to

TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji


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