Nobody is going to argue there aren’t still issues when looking at the market’s evidence. However, we don’t want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The game plan is to steadily take steps back into the market’s water should the evidence improve, and that’s what we’re doing with Shift4 Payments (FOUR), says Mike Cintolo, editor of Cabot Growth Investor.
The long-term trend, which by our measures has been down for a full year at this point, is still bearish. The intermediate-term trend remains effectively neutral, with most indexes stuck within two-month ranges.
But even as we’re only about three weeks into the market’s attempted change of character, we’re continuing to see steps in the right direction: Our Two-Second Indicator remains very encouraging, with new lows under control even when the market gets nailed on bad news; the indexes have been able to shrug off a couple of recent bear raids; and our own Aggression Index is starting to turn up after a punishing decline last year.
Now, let’s shift to Shift4. The stock has been jerked around by the market and some analyst moves recently. Still, nothing has really changed here: FOUR remains above even its 25-day line, recently tagged nine-month highs, and the business momentum remains intact.
The company recently inked a deal to be the payment provider to Utah’s major league soccer team, both in-stadium and for ticketing (through an integration with Seat Geek). Sports and entertainment have been a big growth area for Shift4 as its offerings are great for campus-like environments.
As of late last year, Shift4 was the payment provider in more than 120 stadiums (up from 77 a year before), as well as the ticketing solution for many zoos, aquariums and the largest theme park in the U.S. In total, FOUR’s recent wobbles look to be normal shake-the-tree action after a solid run from early December, and the overall chart (above all its moving averages and a real uptrend) and fundamentals are about as good as it gets in growth land.
Recommended Action: Add to FOUR, with a mental stop in the 50 to 52 area.
