Optimism is building around General Electric’s stock.
Several research firms turned positive on the industrial play in recent weeks, with Citi reiterating its buy rating on Thursday and Goldman Sachs naming the stock a top idea on Tuesday.
GE now has 13 buy ratings, nine hold ratings and no sell ratings, according to FactSet.
Now that GE has broken through a key area of resistance, it does appear to be setting up for a leg higher, TradingAnalysis.com founder Todd Gordon told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Thursday.
“Since the end of 2018, this $12.50-13 zone has kind of defined an area of interest and it looks to me that we’ve broken above it, now using it as support,” Gordon said.
GE ended trading at $13.48 on Thursday.
With $12.25 defining the bottom of GE’s new floor of support, the stock is likely to move up from here, Gordon said.
“If GE were to make a move higher into earnings, which are coming up here on July 27, that could be a good jumping-off point here,” he said, adding that if GE maintains its strength through any decline in U.S. Treasury yields, that will be an equally strong indicator.
Gordon, who said he added GE to his personal portfolio on Wednesday, suggested a way to play GE earnings using the options market.
His strategy was for the options expiring on July 30: “buying the 13.50 call, selling the 15 call, a $1.50 call spread for which you’ll pay 37 cents, so, a really nice reward-to-risk ratio there in GE,” he said.
That represents a bet that GE shares could rise between 11% and 22% by the trade’s expiration.
Disclosure: Gordon owns shares of General Electric.
