ASTI: Low volume pullback.

On 19 September, I mentioned that "NRA has a target price of 21c for ASTI.  That is a 100% upside from my entry price of 10.5c.  Nice but I see resistance at 12c which was tested several times in recent months.  It is, however, also interesting to note that we might be seeing the formation of an ascending triangle here with 12c being the top of the formation."

Immediately the next day, "12c resistance was weakened as price briefly touched 12.5c before ending the day at 12c.  This means that 12c is still resistance and we need to see if it could be taken out in the coming sessions." and I asked "should my friend buy some shares of ASTI at 12c? Buying at 12c would be buying at resistance. Not a very good idea."

In the last session, ASTI's share price closed at 10.5c on very low volume. To me, it seems as if the counter is doing a classic low volume pullback. If we draw trendlines connecting the highs of 11 May and 20 Sep as well as the lows of 25 May and 2 Sep, ASTI's share price is clearly in an up channel.  In the last session, the closing price of 10.5c was right smack on the channel support.

We have a sell signal on the MACD histogram and the MACD has been forming lower highs, calling for caution. The OBV is, however, showing no signs of active distribution and, in fact, the picture of continual accumulation is very much intact.

ASTI would be announcing 3Q results soon in the first two weeks of November, next month.  With improving fundamentals, 3Q should turn out to be quite satisfactory. To recapt, EPS for the half year ended 30 June 2010 was at 1.31c and NAV/share was at 17.75c. I like how ASTI has been repaying bank loans which resulted in the lowering of financing costs year on year by 81.8% from $1.2 million (2Q2009) to $0.2 million (2Q2010). Its gearing now stands at only 8%.

ASTI paid out a dividend per share of 0.5c to 1.1c between 2005 to 2007. This translates to a yield of 4.76% to 10.48% based on the last done price of 10.5c per share.

Buying more at 10.5c seems like a good idea, given the improving fundamentals and the benign technicals.

See 2Q10 results here.

Related post:
ASTI: A doubling of share price in time?

Tea with AK71: Travel photos and videos.

Some readers would like to know more about me as a person and the section in the right sidebars "About AK71" was added in response to this particular email from a reader last month:

I read your blogs just recently. They are interesting and informative.

I think it may be good to tell the readers a little more about yourself. I am not looking for specifics but would like to know who we are reading about. For example, your age group, which field you are working in, are you close to retirement, male or female, years in investment? Just generics.

Recently, a fellow blogmaster also gave some suggestions as to how to make my blog more interesting:

Sadly, I do find your blog boring sometimes. Not saying that it isn't good or informative, but sometimes it's akin to reading a newspaper- you know, the same titles again and again.

To me it's not about the colours, but try putting in more creative titles or blog posts about your personal experiences. Charts and news are good but don't talk about them all the time- life isn't just about stocks and making money. Just my point of view.

ASSI has grown rapidly in readership and I might be doing something right but it does not mean that I cannot do better. So, I take all suggestions seriously but I have to think them through.

I am aware that my blog could be quite dry. Well, finance isn't exactly good material for blogbusters (pardon the pun). That's why I started a section "Tea with AK71" where I talk about non-finance matters.  However, I am also trying to stay true to the mission of ASSI and don't want to clutter it up.

Well, I have started another blog, again more accidental than intentional. It will be a blog with some of my travel photos and videos, Travel Photos and Videos. This should give AK71 a less financial flavour and I hope you like it. :)