(By Rich Bieglmeier) With stocks dipping into the red again today, investors might be interested in identifying stocks that might have more room to go lower. iStock ran through the charts of the NASDAQ 100 to find companies breaking their 50-day or 200-day moving averages today.
Many times, breaching these widely-followed trend lines is a marker for more downside to come. At the very minimum, it gives traders an X marks the spot on where resistance might materialize during future rallies, and an approximate location for shorts to put their stop loss orders.
50-day violators:
Amgen Inc. (AMGN): The biotech major is clinging to its 50-day average, barely. If the stock trades much lower than it is today, iStock doesn't see much support until $80, downside of 5.85% from its current price. Options traders seem to agree with our take as November 80 put options have the most open interest at 11,204.
eBay Inc. (EBAY): The online retailer and payment services provider's shares are dipping the pinky toe below $48.59. If the stock closes below the key benchmark, then shares could settle at support $46 – 4.4% downside, potentially.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD): Gilead is another biotech that could be hitting the skids. It's not too surprising considering that biotechs did make our bearish sector list in Tuesday's sector performance review. Today, GILD shares have moved below its 50-day average of $65.26. iStock sees the next level of support at $60 – 6.77% potential downside.
Symantec Corporation (SYMC): The security software & services stock could be headed to its 200-day average of $17 following today's breach of $18.23, which is the 50-day mark. Shareholders could see 5.66% more downside.
200-day violators:
BMC Software Inc. (BMC): Big trouble, price-wise, could be in store for the application software maker's shareholders. Today, the stock slipped below the 200-day average of $40.76. The next level of support comes in at $38. After $38, then $37ish comes into play. If the price falls below $37ish, then it is timbeeer. Be careful.
Celgene Corporation (
CELG): Celgene is the third biotech company to make our list – see a trend here? With traders taking CELG under $72.32, the next stop lower could be $68. There is a lot of technical junk between $68 and $62; so, shares could bounce around a bit before moving decisively in either direction.