Tag Archives: stocks
Dual ETF Momentum February Update
Scott’s Investments provides a free “Dual ETF Momentum” spreadsheet which was originally created in February 2013. The strategy was inspired by a paper written by Gary Antonacci and available on Optimal Momentum . Antonacci’s book, Dual Momentum Investing: An Innovative Strategy for Higher Returns with Lower Risk , also details Dual Momentum as a total portfolio strategy. My Dual ETF Momentum spreadsheet is available here and the objective is to track four pairs of ETFs and provide an “Invested” signal for the ETF in each pair with the highest relative momentum. Invested signals also require positive absolute momentum, hence the term “Dual Momentum”. Relative momentum is gauged by the 12 month total returns of each ETF. The 12 month total returns of each ETF is also compared to a short-term Treasury ETF (a “cash” filter) in the form of iShares Barclays 1-3 Treasury Bond ETF (NYSEARCA: SHY ). In order to have an “Invested” signal the ETF with the highest relative strength must also have 12-month total returns greater than the 12-month total returns of SHY. This is the absolute momentum filter which is detailed in depth by Antonacci, and has historically helped increase risk-adjusted returns. An “average” return signal for each ETF is also available on the spreadsheet. The concept is the same as the 12-month relative momentum. However, the “average” return signal uses the average of the past 3, 6, and 12 (“3/6/12″) month total returns for each ETF. The “invested” signal is based on the ETF with the highest relative momentum for the past 3, 6 and 12 months. The ETF with the highest average relative strength must also have an average 3/6/12 total returns greater than the 3/6/12 total returns of the cash ETF. Portfolio123 was used to test a similar strategy using the same portfolios and combined momentum score (“3/6/12″). The test results were posted in the 2013 Year in Review and the January 2015 Update . Below are the four portfolios along with current signals. “Risk-Off” is the current theme among all four portfolios: Return Data Provided by Finviz Click to enlarge As an added bonus, the spreadsheet also has four additional sheets using a dual momentum strategy with broker specific commission-free ETFs for TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard. It is important to note that each broker may have additional trade restrictions and the terms of their commission-free ETFs could change in the future. Disclosure: None
Big Stock Moves For Techs With Earnings Reports This Week
Loading the player… Several tech companies reporting earnings over the latest week lifted in the stock market Friday as major stock indexes perked 1% to 2%. It’s been a volatile trading week amid a market in correction. Twitter ( TWTR ) vaulted 11% Friday, closing at 15.88 and erasing the week’s losses around its fourth quarter report that showed slowing user growth. It’s tweaking its user interface to be a little more like Facebook ( FB ), which currently gets a top stock rating from IBD: a best-possible Composite Rating of 99. (See the video for who’s highly rated or not, and more on the week’s earnings reports.) Akamai ( AKAM ) lifted 3.3% in the stock market today after surging earlier in the week on its quarterly report. IRobot ( IRBT ) rose 4.6%. Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) and Yelp ( YELP ) gained close to 2% each. Pandora Media ( P ) plunged 12% Friday, amid a declining number of users for the streaming music service revealed in its quarterly report Thursday, plus competition from Apple ( AAPL ), highly rated Alphabet ( GOOGL ) (with a 99 IBD Composite Rating) and Amazon ( AMZN ) in its business. “Pandora’s core profitability appears challenged by higher royalties and diminishing productivity gains, and its new service efforts appear expensive given the poor history of profits in the space,” Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves said in a research report. Security firm CyberArk ( CYBR ) fell 10.8% for the day. Travel sites TripAdvisor ( TRIP ) and Expedia ( EXPE ) gave back 1.9% and 1.1%, respectively, on Friday. (Both rose Thursday.) Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) edged up 0.4% Friday. Before Friday’s action, tech companies whose stocks had lifted this week around their quarterly reports included Cisco, Akamai and TripAdvisor, with big jumps, as well as Tesla and Expedia. On the downside were Pandora, iRobot, CyberArk, Yelp and Twitter. Image provided by Shutterstock .