Amber Hestla is Lead Investment Strategist behind Profitable Trading's Income Trader, Profit Amplifier and Maximum Income. She specializes in generating income using options strategies that minimize risk by applying skills she learned on military deployments and intelligence training to the markets.
While deployed overseas with the military, Amber learned the importance of analyzing data to forecast what is likely to happen in the future, a skill she now applies to financial markets. Prior to that, Amber studied risk management working undercover. While risk management is no longer a matter of life and death, she believes it is the most important factor in long-term trading success.
And although she makes her living in the markets, she continues to study the markets and trading daily. Her writing has been featured in trading magazines including the Market Technicians Association newsletter, Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities and Stocks, Futures and Options in the United States, and Shares, a weekly trading magazine published in the United Kingdom.
Analyst Articles
While irrational exuberance or excessive pessimism can lead traders to ignore fundamentals in the short term, stock prices are almost always related to earnings in the long term. Traders can benefit from fad stocks with… Read More
Handbag and accessory maker Coach (NYSE: COH), one of the best-known names in high-end fashion, has also been one of the best-performing stocks in the bull market that started in 2009. From its bear market lows, Coach gained 599% before peaking in March. Since then, the stock has pulled back and is trading 30% below its all-time highs. The chart below shows that the price could be headed even lower in the short term. Despite the stock’s recent struggles, Coach is still a… Read More
Handbag and accessory maker Coach (NYSE: COH), one of the best-known names in high-end fashion, has also been one of the best-performing stocks in the bull market that started in 2009. From its bear market lows, Coach gained 599% before peaking in March. Since then, the stock has pulled back and is trading 30% below its all-time highs. The chart below shows that the price could be headed even lower in the short term. Despite the stock’s recent struggles, Coach is still a great company for the long term. And at the right price, this stock is a buy. But right now it looks like it is a little too early. I think the holiday shopping season could lead to an additional sell-off in the stock that would push Coach shares down to where I would like to buy them. As you can see in the chart below, since Coach peaked, competitor Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS) has been a market leader. The two companies are… Read More
Market leaders often make for great shorting candidates. They tend to gain more than the overall market averages on the upside, and then usually fall more than the average stock on the downside. These are the stocks bought by momentum traders who… Read More
It happened again… just as the market expected it would. On Sept. 13, the Federal Reserve announced a new plan for quantitative easing (QE3). The plan — which started on Sept. 14 — is for… Read More
Investors looking to score big gains should always pay attention to the retail sector. Not the top retail stocks that seem to pound out modest sales gains each year, but the weaker retailers that have hit a rough patch. These retail firms could see shares slide far below prior peaks once same-store sales weaken and investors shun them. Yet these broken retailers can also become vastly oversold — and great bargain-hunting fodder. For example, I suggested that women’s apparel retailer Christopher & Banks (NYSE: CBK) was far too cheap — based on… Read More
Investors looking to score big gains should always pay attention to the retail sector. Not the top retail stocks that seem to pound out modest sales gains each year, but the weaker retailers that have hit a rough patch. These retail firms could see shares slide far below prior peaks once same-store sales weaken and investors shun them. Yet these broken retailers can also become vastly oversold — and great bargain-hunting fodder. For example, I suggested that women’s apparel retailer Christopher & Banks (NYSE: CBK) was far too cheap — based on tangible book value and sure enough, the stock eventually took off like a rocket. In fact, a number of oversold retailers make up the list of leading gainers in the just completed third quarter. In almost every instance, these retailers had traded sharply lower in prior quarters, which is precisely the time that you should be focusing on them. Whether it’s a buyout offer, or simply a… Read More
The time has come to protect yourself. On Sept. 13, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged to unleash a third wave of quantitative easing (QE3) to combat the economic slowdown. According to the Federal Reserve, the… Read More
It finally happened. Gold stocks are breaking out… Gold stocks — or gold miners to be exact — are the companies that physically remove gold bullion from the ground and bring it to market. How much money a gold-mining company makes is… Read More
(Editor’s note: Yesterday, we took a look at how to invest if Obama wins the election in November. To read that article, go here.) Though President Barack Obama leads the latest polls, it’s too soon to write Mitt Romney off as a winning candidate. And if Romney… Read More
On Friday, Sept. 28, we saw a big jump in corn and wheat prices, with both agricultural commodities spiking more than 5% higher in the session. The rally was due to a quarterly grain stocks report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that showed the stocks for corn and… Read More
Tech shares have led the market resurgence with the Nasdaq hitting new decade-long-plus highs in recent weeks. As you can see in the chart below, the year-to-date gains in the Nasdaq closely mirror… Read More
