Allstate is a holding company. Through its subsidiary, Allstate Insurance Company, and other subsidiaries, Co. engages in the property and casualty insurance business. Co.'s segments include: Allstate Protection, which provides private passenger auto, homeowners, other personal lines and commercial insurance products; Protection Services, which includes Allstatesm Protection Plans, Allstate Dealer Services®, and Allstate Roadside; Allstate Health and Benefits, which provides financial protection against the risk of accidents, illness and mortality; and Run-off Property Liability, which includes property and casualty insurance coverage that relates to policies written during 1960s to 1980s.
When researching a stock like Allstate, 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 ALL 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 ALL 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 ALL 200 day moving average ("ALL 200 DMA"), while one of the most popular "shorter look-backs" is the ALL 50 day moving average ("ALL 50 DMA"). A chart showing both of these popular moving averages is shown on this page for Allstate. Comparing two moving averages against each other can be a useful visualization tool: by calculating the difference between the ALL 200 DMA and the ALL 50 DMA, we get a moving average convergence divergence indicator ("ALL MACD"). The ALL 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). |