Apollo – Finding the Bottom (NASDAQ:APOL)

Recently shares of Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOL) made enough progress to have the 50-day moving average cross above the 200-day moving average.  This comes shortly after shares recently traded as low as $34 per share, a level that has not been seen by the company since 2006.  For long term investors, this may be a great buying opportunity.

Seeking Alpha reports that APOL has made a Golden Cross formation.  The company is based in Arizona, and provides educational and training services. These shares have a 52-week range of $33.75 and $66.69. The 50-day moving average is $42.73 and recently crossed the 200-day moving average which is currently at $42.27 (updated prices), so the shares are trading close to support levels and barely have made the Golden Cross Formation. Because of that, this needs to show more strength before looking like a uptrend is confirmed.

Fundamentals: Estimates for APOL are at $4.61 per share in 2011, and $4.27 for 2012. Book value is stated at $8.23. According to Yahoo Finance, APOL has about $1.04 billion in cash and about $186 million in debt, so the balance sheet looks very strong. The private education sector has been hit hard over concerns about new government regulations, which could lead to reduced enrollments. These concerns might be priced in as the PE ratio is well below the market average. It is interesting to see a couple of stocks in this sector looking better technically.

Information Source:  http://seekingalpha.com/article/261516-7-stocks-with-a-new-golden-cross-signal