4 Big Stocks Getting Big Attention

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Put down the 10-K filings and the stock screeners. It's time to take a break from the traditional methods of generating investment ideas. Instead, let the crowd do it for you.


Read More: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks



From hedge funds to individual investors, scores of market participants are turning to social media to figure out which stocks are worth watching. It's a concept that's known as "crowdsourcing," and it uses the masses to identify emerging trends in the market.


Crowdsourcing has long been a popular tool for the advertising industry, but it also makes a lot of sense as an investment tool. After all, the market is completely driven by the supply and demand, so it can be valuable to see what names are trending among the crowd.


While some fund managers are already trying to leverage social media resources like Twitter to find algorithmic trading opportunities, for most investors, crowdsourcing works best as a starting point for investors who want a starting point in their analysis. Today, we'll leverage the power of the crowd to take a look at some of the most active stocks on the market today.


Read More: Do You Own These 5 Toxic Stocks? Watch Out!

Without further ado, here's a look at today's stocks.

Post Holdings

Nearest Resistance: $40

Nearest Support: N/A

Catalyst: Q2 Earnings

Shares of cereal maker Post Holdings (POST) fell off a cliff this morning, following the firm's third-quarter earnings call. As I write this afternoon, shares are down more than 18%, the stock's biggest single-day drop since it became an independently-traded stock in 2012. Big acquisition costs in the third quarter contributed to a net loss of 92 cents per share for the quarter, a switch from a slim profit a year ago.

From a technical standpoint, you don't want to own POST right now. While this stock has been in a downtrend for almost all of 2014, today's drop just escalated things. From here, look out below.

Read More: 5 Breakout Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar

Petrobras

Nearest Resistance: $17.50

Nearest Support: $15

Catalyst: Q2 Earnings

Petrobras (PBR) is down 3.5% on volume this afternoon, selling ahead of the firm's second-quarter earnings call. Analysts expect adjusted EPS of 0.55 real on average, a number that'll get tested against actual performance after Brazilian equity markets close today. Speculation has been pretty rife this earnings season in more-volatile, high-volume stocks and PBR is no exception today.

PBR has been in a solid uptrending channel since the end of March, but that's not particularly helpful now. Shares are in the middle of the channel, leaving some room both to the upside and downside for shares to move between without changing the technical picture here. For most investors, it makes sense to wait for the earnings call.

Read More: 5 Large-Cap Stock Charts to Trade for Gains

Delta Airlines

Nearest Resistance: $38

Nearest Support: $30

Catalyst: Technical Setup

U.S. legacy carrier Delta Airlines (DAL) is seeing increased trading volume this afternoon, ostensibly because of news that Russia is considering a ban on Siberian overflights for American and European carriers, a move that could add considerable fuel costs to some of Delta's most lucrative intercontinental routes. But really, the reason for today's price action in Delta is technical.

DAL has been a momentum story for the last year, rallying hard and bringing the rest of the airline industry with it. That changed at the start of August, when shares of DAL violated trend line support for the first time. At this point, it makes sense to stay away from the long side of Delta until this stock can catch a bid again.

Read More: 5 Stocks Insiders Love Right Now

MercadoLibre

Nearest Resistance: $140

Nearest Support: $95

Catalyst: Q2 Earnings

Argentina-based online retailer MercadoLibre (MELI) is rallying more than 15% today, boosted by bullish numbers for the second quarter. MELI earned second quarter profits of 72 cents per share for the quarter, trouncing analysts' 26-cent estimates. While that number excludes the effects from Venezuelan devaluation, the comparison is stark enough to send buyers grabbing for shares.

Read More: 5 Hated Stocks That Could Pop When the S&P Drops

MELI had been in a downtrend since last October, but today's big breakout changes that. Now, shares have cleared resistance at $95, and there's minimal upside resistance going all the way up to $140. For traders who aren't too risk averse, now looks like a good time to join the buyers in MELI.

To see these stocks in action, check out the at Most-Active Stocks portfolio on Stockpickr.



-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

RELATED LINKS:

>>4 Stocks Under $10 Moving Higher

>>3 Stocks Spiking on Unusual Volume

>>5 Hated Earnings Stocks You Should Love

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in the names mentioned.

Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to

TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji