Rollins stock hit an all-time high on May 8 and then consolidated. The pest-control services company's stock then reversed higher and it's rising again. It traded just below the all-time high Wednesday afternoon. Rollins also got an upgrade to its Relative Strength (RS) Rating Wednesday, from 69 to 80, passing a major milestone along the way.
The upgraded 80 RS Rating puts Rollins in the top 20% of stocks for price performance over the past year. Decades of market research show that the best stocks often have an RS Rating north of 80 in the early stages of their moves.
Rollins Other Key Ratings Better Yet
Among its other key ratings Rollins boasts a near-perfect 98 Composite Rating out of 99. The Composite Rating is a mix of five key fundamental and technical metrics. Its 95 Earnings Per Share Rating is also outstanding. It has a best-possible A SMR Rating (sales + profit margins + return on equity).
Additionally, its B+ Accumulation/Distribution Rating shows significantly more buying of its stock than selling by institutional investors such as mutual funds, ETFs and the like.
Atlanta-based Rollins earns the No. 2 rank among its peers in the Building-Maintenance & Services industry group. Further, Rollins is on the IBD Big Cap 20 list, an exclusive watchlist of the top 20 big cap stocks. Mechanical and electrical services provider Emcor Group is the top-ranked stock in the group. The building-maintenance group as a whole has a terrific A+ Composite Rating.
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Trading Just Below Recent All-Time High
Rollins formed a base recently and broke out, hitting an all-time high 47.69. It then consolidated below the 47.45 entry from a cup without handle. Wednesday afternoon, Rollins had risen above the last buy point and traded around 47.47. The latest pattern is a later-stage base, making it more challenging to establish a new position or add shares to an existing one than with earlier stage patterns.
Rollins fundamentals are strong but not flashy. The company reported 18% earnings growth last quarter to 20 cents a share on 14% higher revenue at $748.4 million. The prior three quarter EPS grew 15%, 27% and 24%. Sales rose 15%, 15% and 14%.
IBD's unique Relative Strength Rating identifies market leadership with a 1 (worst) to 99 (best) score. The rating shows how a stock's price performance over the trailing 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in our database.
Please follow James DeTar on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JimDeTar
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