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Earnings are off to a volatile start for the third quarter.
Tesla and Netflix’s stocks were able to rise after their earnings reports, while Snap plunged double digits, dragging other digital ad companies down with it.
Investors are going to stay on edge as earnings season continues over the next couple of weeks.
For our Earnings Edge today, we got two stocks expected to make some big moves this week on earnings, F5 Networks and Mohawk Industries.
Totally different industries, opposite price patterns, but both signal big moves ahead.
Here’s what to look for this week.
Earnings Edge Stock No. 1: F5 Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: FFIV)
Earnings Announcement Date: Tuesday, after the close.
Expectations: Earnings at $2.75 per share. Revenue at $671 million.
Average Analyst Rating: Outperform.
F5 Networks, the cloud services tech company, is coming off a busy period for the stock. It just finished the buyout of cloud-security firm, Threat Stack. This addition strengthens its portfolio with real-time threat detection.
Yet, since F5’s last earnings report in July, FFIV is basically flat.
It headed nowhere for three months.
With this sideways movement, the stock is trading in a clear ascending triangle pattern.
FFIV Is Closing on a Big Move
Source: Optuma.
This chart pattern has a horizontal resistance level, in red, and a rising support line, in green. Typically, it’s a bullish price pattern, because it shows us that buyers are willing to get more aggressive at higher and higher prices.
FFIV is stuck around $215 per share.
With earnings coming up this week, it could easily trigger the breakout we are looking for.
Once the breakout occurs, whether it’s above the resistance level or below the key support, we can look for a double-digit move in the same direction.
The expected price move is the height of the pattern, which is $55 per share. That’s a 25% move if we break out to the upside with a price target of $270 per share.
If it is to the downside, look for FFIV to fall back to around $160 per share in quick fashion.
It won’t all happen in one day, that’s why we can use earnings as our guide.
Earnings Edge Stock No. 2: Mohawk Industries Inc. (NYSE: MHK)
Earnings Announcement Date: Thursday, after the close.
Expectations: Earnings at $3.80 per share. Revenue at $2.9 billion.
Average Analyst Rating: Outperform.
The flooring company, Mohawk Industries, has benefited from surging home prices and remodeling demand.
With everyone looking for new homes, upgrading and trying to flip houses in a hot market, demand for flooring through Mohawk has been strong.
The housing boom is slowing down due to rising interest rates and a slower time of the year for home sales. Investors have already started taking profits.
Since peaking in May, MHK has fallen more than 15%.
But along this drop, its price chart has formed a descending triangle pattern. Similar to the ascending triangle pattern in F5 Networks, but flipped. Still, it tells us a lot about what we can expect.
MHK Flirts With Disaster
Source: Optuma.
This pattern has a horizontal support line, in green, and a falling resistance level, in red. This tells us that investors are selling the runs higher at lower and lower prices.
Not exactly bullish to see, but it still points to a big breakout once one of these key levels are broken.
The height on this triangle pattern is $50 per share. From the current price, it’s a 25% expected move in the stock.
Once again, we can wait to see what happens with earnings.
MHK doesn’t even need to see a double-digit move to break out. That means it’s likely we get a decent pop, or drop, on earnings this week and then we’ll know how to trade it from there.
Chad Shoop is an options expert for Banyan Hill Publishing. He is the editor of three leading newsletters: Quick Hit Profits, Automatic Profits Alert and Pure Income. His content is frequently published on Investopedia and Seeking Alpha. Check out his YouTube Channel to see his latest market insights.
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