Hormel Foods is primarily engaged in the production of meat and food products and the marketing of those products throughout the U.S. and internationally. Co.'s segments are: Grocery Products, which consists of the processing, marketing, and sale of shelf-stable food products; Refrigerated Foods, which consists of the processing, marketing, and sale of branded and unbranded pork, beef, chicken, and turkey products; Jennie-O Turkey Store, which consists of the processing, marketing, and sale of branded and unbranded turkey products; and International and Other, which includes Hormel Foods International Corporation that manufactures, markets, and sells Co.'s products internationally.
When researching a stock like Hormel Foods, 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 HRL 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 HRL 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 HRL 200 day moving average ("HRL 200 DMA"), while one of the most popular "shorter look-backs" is the HRL 50 day moving average ("HRL 50 DMA"). A chart showing both of these popular moving averages is shown on this page for Hormel Foods. Comparing two moving averages against each other can be a useful visualization tool: by calculating the difference between the HRL 200 DMA and the HRL 50 DMA, we get a moving average convergence divergence indicator ("HRL MACD"). The HRL 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). |
Video: Technical Analysis