Abbott Laboratories is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a line of health care products. Co. has four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, which includes a line of generic pharmaceuticals; Diagnostic Products, which includes a line of diagnostic systems and tests; Nutritional Products, which includes a line of pediatric and adult nutritional products; and Medical Devices, which includes a line of rhythm management, electrophysiology, heart failure, vascular and structural heart devices for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes care products, as well as neuromodulation devices for the management of chronic pain and movement disorders.
When researching a stock like Abbott Laboratories, many investors are the most familiar with Fundamental Analysis — looking at a company's balance sheet, earnings, revenues, and what's happening in that company's underlying business. Investors who use Fundamental Analysis to identify good stocks to buy or sell can also benefit from ABT Technical Analysis to help find a good entry or exit point. Technical Analysis is blind to the fundamentals and looks only at the trading data for ABT stock — the real life supply and demand for the stock over time — and examines that data in different ways. One of those ways is to calculate a Simpe Moving Average ("SMA") by looking back a certain number of days. One of the most popular "longer look-backs" is the ABT 200 day moving average ("ABT 200 DMA"), while one of the most popular "shorter look-backs" is the ABT 50 day moving average ("ABT 50 DMA"). A chart showing both of these popular moving averages is shown on this page for Abbott Laboratories. Comparing two moving averages against each other can be a useful visualization tool: by calculating the difference between the ABT 200 DMA and the ABT 50 DMA, we get a moving average convergence divergence indicator ("ABT MACD"). The ABT MACD chart, in conjunction with the chart of the moving averages, basically helps in visualizing how the moving averages are showing convergence (moving closer together), or divergence (moving farther apart). |
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Video: Technical Analysis