Charting Your Way to Stock Gains By David Edwards About this article: The human eye sees a straight line and projects it to eternity. The investing world is more complicated. Companies may grow earnings "above trend," only to "revert to the mean" or even "fall below trend." Venture capitalists search for "hockey stick" markets, in which sales go from flat to infinity. In 1999, investors saw Internet trends as "trees growing to the sky." But let's look beyond these buzz phrases at some straightforward techniques for projecting and interpreting trends. Although we'll be looking at charts, this is not technical analysis, a method of evaluating securities by relying on the assumption that market data, such as charts of price, volume, and open interest, can help predict future (usually short-term) market trends. These techniques are applicable not only to stock prices, but any data series, such as sales of DVD players. This piece will show how graphical display... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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