Can Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV) Thread the Needle? Technicals at a Glance

Stock market investing can sometimes cause investors heads to spin. Following stocks on a daily basis, it is plain to see the amount of coverage that follows certain companies. This non-stop barrage of information may eventually become overwhelming for the novice investor. Filtering through all the data may involve taking a look at a company or stock from multiple angles. There are many investors out there that preach strictly following fundamental data. There are others that swear by the technical analysis. Many investors will opt to employ a research strategy that involves pieces of the two approaches. Knowing every little detail about a company may not be overly necessary, but it may help provide a bit more direction when navigating the stock market maze. Investors who put in the time to study all the fundamentals may want to also start watching the charts on stock that they are thinking about adding to the portfolio. Making sure that no stone is left unturned when examining a stock may end up being the difference between a big winner and a big loser.

Many individual investors who trade stocks are looking for the next big breakout. It can be much more exciting to be able to tell glamorous stories of picking a winning stock before everybody else was aware. Of course, this is no easy task. There are so many stocks to choose from, and hunting for undervalued stocks may take lots of time that many investors do not have. Other investors will strictly trade the big established names with the hope that consistent growth will provide stable returns to the portfolio. Understanding risks involved with picking stocks can help the investor figure out what is best for them individually. It is typically considered wise to make sure that there is proper diversification in the stock portfolio. Finding that balance to achieve long lasting portfolio health is generally what most investors attempt to accomplish when trading equities.

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV), of the Services sector recently touched $86.30 based on a recent trade, indicating movement of -0.27%. Analysts are predicting earnings per share growth of 31.30% for the current year. The earnings per share growth over the next five years are expected to be 12.00%. Fiserv, Inc. has had earnings per share growth of 19.00% over the past five years. 

Currently the return on equity is 44.10% and its debt to equity is 2.60. Fiserv, Inc. has a total market cap of $33918.49, a gross margin of 47.30% while the profit margin is 20.40% and the ROI is 16.70%.

Performance

The stats on Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV) are currently as follows. The weekly performance is 1.18%, and the quarterly performance is at 4.24%. The monthly performance is -0.72% and the yearly performance is -0.72%. The performance for Year to Date (YTD) is 17.43%.

Fiserv, Inc. has posted a trailing 12 months earnings per share of $2.91 and the earnings per share growth for this year is expected to be 31.30%. The ROI is 16.70% and the return on equity for Fiserv, Inc. stated earlier, is currently at 44.10% .The return on assets (ROA) for Fiserv, Inc. is 11.20%. 

Earnings per share (EPS) the amount of income that “belongs” to each share of common stock. This is a valuable tool that investors use to determine the value and projected value of a stock.  Earnings per share is generally reported in annualized form from the most recent fiscal year. To determine the value, the average number of shares outstanding is usually calculated by averaging the number of shares at the beginning of the fiscal period and the number of shares at the end of the period. 

Technicals

The technical stats for Fiserv, Inc. are as follows. Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV) is trading 26.11% away from the stock’s 52-week low and -5.36% off of the 52-week high. Current levels place the company -1.36% away from it’s 20-day simple moving average. The average volume stands around 3035755. Trading volume is a hugely important consideration for any investor.  By watching how many shares are trading hands and looking for any changes in that activity, trading opportunities can be spotted along with a deeper understanding of the reliability of other indicators on the stock.  A significant increase in trading volume means that more than double the average amount of stocks are moving.  When volume is decreased significantly, it may indicate there is an issue that shareholders should watch out for.  It’s also important to take into consideration how long the unusual volume sustains for.  If it’s only the one trading day, it can be dismissed as an anomaly.

The current stock levels place it 7.64% away from the 200 day moving average. Fiserv, Inc. has a beta of 0.81 and the weekly and monthly volatility stands at 1.54% and 1.55% respectively. The simple moving average is the most common method used to calculate the moving average of prices.  It takes the sum of all of the past closing prices over a specific time period and divides the result by the number of prices used in the calculation.  Increasing the number of time periods in the calculation is an effective way to ascertain the strength of the long-term trend and/or the likelihood that it might reverse.  Some argue that this type of average is not necessarily useful because each data point in the series has the exact same impact on the result no matter where it occurs in the sequence.

Beta is used to measure a stock’s price volatility relative to the market. A stock with a beta of “0” indicates that its price is not correlated with the market. A positive beta indicates that the stock follows the market. A negative beta means that the stock inversely follows the market, decreasing in value when the market goes up. 

Price Earnings Ratio

The price/earnings ratio (P/E) for Fiserv, Inc. is 29.67 and the forward P/E ratio stands at 22.35. The price to sales growth is 5.82. The price/earnings ratio (P/E) is a market prospect ratio which calculates the value of a stock relative to its earnings. On other words, the P/E ratio is and indicator of what investors are will to pay for a stock relative to its earnings.  A firm with a high P/E ratio typically indicates that investors are willing to pay a premium for the stock and higher performance in future quarters would be anticipated. Going a step further we can also look at the PEG ratio of a company.  A stock’s price/earnings ratio divided by its year-over-year earnings growth rate. In general, the lower the PEG, the better the value, because the investor would be paying less for each unit of earnings growth.

From time to time, even solid companies may experience some sort of setback. Just because a company encounters one negative event, it might not be appropriate to sell the stock. Often times, the stock may still be valuable on a fundamental level, and there may be plenty of room for resurgence. When bad news hits, the stock price may be greatly impacted. Sometimes there can be an overexaggeration which leads to erroneous selling. This can in turn provide buying opportunities to those in the know. Investors who do the homework and closely examine the underlying numbers may put themselves in a good position when situation like this arise. Investors that are looking for longer term value may find that a panic sell-off is the perfect chance to get into a stock that has just suffered a temporary setback. Paying attention to these occurrences can greatly help the investor spot potential buying opportunities in the equity market.

Disclaimer: The views of the author are in no way suggesting whether or not to buy a stock.  Data is provided by Yahoo Finance.