Bio-Rad Laboratories is a manufacturer and distributor of its own life science research and clinical diagnostics products. Co. operates in two industry segments : Life Science, which develops, manufactures, sells and services reagents, apparatus and instruments used for biological research; and Clinical Diagnostics, which develops, manufactures, sells and services automated test systems, informatics systems, test kits and quality controls for the healthcare market. Co. sells its products and services to a customer base comprised of scientific research, healthcare, education and government organizations.
When researching a stock like Bio-Rad 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 BIO 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 BIO 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 BIO 200 day moving average ("BIO 200 DMA"), while one of the most popular "shorter look-backs" is the BIO 50 day moving average ("BIO 50 DMA"). A chart showing both of these popular moving averages is shown on this page for Bio-Rad Laboratories. Comparing two moving averages against each other can be a useful visualization tool: by calculating the difference between the BIO 200 DMA and the BIO 50 DMA, we get a moving average convergence divergence indicator ("BIO MACD"). The BIO 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). |