Bulkowski’s Good Same-Store Sales

ThePatternSite.com logo

Home
About
Bookstore
Contact
Glossary
Links
Search
Site Map

Click on my books below to take you to Amazon.com They pay for the referral on most items and that helps pay for the cost of this site.

Makes a great gift

Periodically, retailers announce same-store sales (sometimes called existing store sales or comparable store sales) numbers. Usually, these are the sale results for stores open at least a year. After the announcement of better than expected same-store sales, the stock jumps up but price soon falters and drops. Discovered by Thomas Bulkowski in the fall of 2003. For more information see pages 921 to 933 of the book Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Second Edition and the following...

Good same store sales
Good same store sales

Important Bull Market Results

Overall performance rank for up breakouts (1 is best): 4 out of 6
Break even failure rate for up breakouts: 20%
Average rise: 23%
Throwback rate: 59%
Percentage meeting price target for up breakouts: 82%

Identification Guidelines

Characteristic Discussion
Price trend Usually found in a price uptrend (continuation patterns) but reversals perform better.
Announcement The company announces monthly or quarterly same-store sales numbers.
Wide swing Look for announcements in which price makes a large intraday swing, 2 or 3 times the average daily intraday price swing over the last month.
Upward breakout A breakout occurs when price closes above the highest high posted on the announcement day.
Volume Above the 30-day average, usually.
Market Works best in a bull market.

Trading Tips

Trading Tactic Explanation
Measure rule Reference The Measure Rule figure to the right. On the announcement day, subtract the intraday low (point A) from the high (B) and multiply it by the above “percentage meeting price target.” Add the result to the intraday high (B) to get a price target (C).
Confirmation Wait for price to confirm the pattern because traders may push price down instead. An upward breakout (confirmation) happens when price closes above the high posted on the announcement day.
Buy Buy when the pattern confirms but be prepared to sell quickly.
Yearly low Patterns with breakouts within a third of the yearly low have the best performance.
Top Price may top out quickly. Forty-four percent in a bull market top out in less than 2 weeks, so be prepared to sell if price falters. Twenty-nine percent show continued upward strength through 70 days.
Short If price begins weakening, rounds over and starts down, consider shorting the stock. Watch for a throwback in which price returns to the breakout price and then rebounds upward.
Same-store sales measure rule
The Measure Rule

Example

Same-store sales event pattern example

The above figure shows an example of a good same-store sales event pattern. Price trends downward into the event pattern and then price forms a tall white candle on the announcement day. Price moves up in a straight-line run, peaking at A before dribbling lower over the coming days.

Copyright © 2005-2007 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. All rights reserved. Yes, we have backups. Do you want last year’s or the year before?