TiVo - The Tale of Two Price Patterns

TiVo (TIVO), a leading provider of digital video recorders (DVR), has not been a great stock for long-term investors but short-term traders love it.

The stock shot up, peaked, went into a steep decline and then leveled off into a sideways price pattern. Slowing subscriber growth due to increased competition from cable and other DVR providers has put a damper on TIVO's growth and earnings.

From September 30, 1999 through September 2, 2005 only 35 percent of the buy and sell combinations made money. And all of the long-term investors, who bought before September 2000, are losing money.

But traders who bought and sold the stock regularly have had many opportunities to make money. On six occasions since January 2, 2001 you could have bought TIVO and at least doubled your money. And there were many more opportunities to buy and sell the stock at lesser profits. Often a sideways price pattern makes for profitable trading.