Enbridge Energy (EEP) In Ascending Triangle Pattern

Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP) is deep into a classic Ascending Triangle chart pattern.  The company reported mixed earnings on Wednesday, missing analyst earnings estimates by a penny, but beating analyst revenue estimates by $320 Million.  What moved the stock, though, was some very positive forward guidance.  They expect adjusted operating income to increase by 12% over 2014, and they expect their distributable cash flow to increase by 15%.  EEP's stock gained 1.5% in Thursday's trading, bouncing off the triangle's support line on very high volume.  With only 45% institutional ownership and with a 5.9% dividend yield, the stock does have some room to run.

For today's discussion, though, let's take a look at the stock pattern itself - an Ascending Triangle.  There are several very popular stock patterns that are watched by chartists, and this is one of the more reliable patterns that can be very profitable.

The ascending triangle stock pattern is considered a continuation pattern.  So in an uptrend, as EEP has been in for the past year, the pattern is considered bullish.  What forms the pattern is a very strong area of resistance - the top horizontal line on this chart - and a support line that has a distinct upward slope - the bottom line on this chart.

For a pattern like this, we want to see at least three touches of each trend line, and in this case, we have five of each.  Remember, a chart pattern is intended to give us insight into the behavior of traders.  The five touches of the resistance line indicate points where buying pressure has been exhausted, whereas the five touches on the support line indicate the points where selling pressure is exhausted and buyers are again interested in picking up the stock.  The entry point for that buying pressure continues to increase, hence the ascending pattern.

There are two ways to play a bullish entry on an ascending triangle.  For very aggressive traders, you can enter a long position when price bounces off the support line.  This gives the greatest profit potential, but it's also carries much higher risk since there's a well-defined price ceiling in the pattern.  An entry point for more conservative traders is to wait until price closes above the resistance line, providing an entry following the breakout.

According to Thomas Bulkowski, the well-regarded guru of stock pattern analysis, breakout is upward 70% of the time on a bullish pattern, and of those that do breakout, 75% of them reach their price targets.  That's not a bad average at all!  Be aware, though, that there is a pullback to just below the resistance line 57% of the time.  That, in fact, provides a third entry possibility since, if you miss the initial breakout, 57% of the time you'll have another chance to get in when the price breaks resistance a second time.

Setting a price target for this type of pattern is relatively straightforward.  Subtract the lowest valley in the pattern from the resistance line, and - for a conservative target - multiply that by 75%.  Add the result to the resistance line and you have the price target.  So using EEP as the example, it would be (40.50-35.00)*0.75 = 4.12.  Add that to the resistance line: 40.50 + 4.12 for a price target of 44.62.

For added confidence, we'd really like to see the breakout occur on high volume.  Now, the very high volume we saw yesterday was an excellent sign, but remember, that volume was driven primarily by EEP's earnings announcement.  I'd like to see volume above its 20-day moving average on the day of the breakout above resistance, as well.  Assuming, of course, this is one of the 70% that break upward.

As always, when discussing technical analysis, it's important to remember that the charts are telling us something about the behavior of traders.  This analysis alone does not replace the due diligence we still should do before entering a position.