Mentor Graphics (MENT)

Company

"Mentor Graphics® is a leader in electronic design automation. We enable companies to develop better electronic products faster and more cost-effectively. Our innovative products and solutions help engineers conquer design challenges in the increasingly complex worlds of board and chip design." (company website)

ment(3-1)
MENT 4-month chart
ment(3-1)_1yr
MENT 1-year chart

Buy

9 September 2009. Having been bumped out of SBP, I went looking at my prospects list to find a substitute. Mentor pulled off a nice earnings surprise in August, when it handily beat Expectations, turning in a profit of 2¢ compared to the expected loss of 10¢. That resulted in a big price jump on huge volume, which of course could not be sustained — over subsequent days, MENT dropped back to the lower limit of the channel in which it has been trading. Since it is only about half-way to the upper limit, there's room to make some profits on this up-cycle.

  • Percentage price oscillator (PPO) — slightly below the signal line, converging and about to cross above
  • Volume — lowered volumes for price correction.

Based on technical analysis, MarketEdge calls MENT a "strong buy" in a "strong upward trend."

Sell

gain Bottom line
3%

16 September 2009. Mentor appears to have run out of steam. I decided to take a small profit to offset the small loss on KEG.