TTC designs, manufactures & markets professional turf maintenance equipment, irrigation systems, landscaping equipment, agricultural irrigation systems, and residential yard products. For the 3 months ended 2/2/01, net sales rose 1% to $283.5M. Net income rose 43% to $1.3M. Results reflect increased demand for landscape contractor mowing equipments, sales from two additional distributors, higher currency gains and increased royalty income.

April 29, 2001

Beautiful weather across the country is probably having people dreaming of barbecues and pool parties. However, spring and summer also bring another warm weather activity to mind, cutting the grass. This ties right into our new play, Toro. TTC is an excellent seasonal play, due to its huge line of lawn and gardening equipment. Additionally, Toro is a huge beneficiary of the boom in golf course construction. Toro's top of the line products serves to keep a multitude of golf courses across the country looking in tiptop shape. The company's fundamentals are also solid. Toro is expected to show profits of $2.29 this quarter when it reports earnings on May 23rd. Despite the company's solid earnings, it only trades at a trailing P/E of 13.21. Turning to the chart, TTC has been building a symmetrical triangle over the last two months and has just broken to the upside. Major support can be found at the 50-DMA of $43.94 (just above our initial stop of $43.50). TTC may accelerate once it surpasses the $47.00 resistance level. Traders might be interested in picking up this stock if it can make this move accompanied by midday volume of over 50,000 shares. The next resistance level after that is $47.65 (the all time high). The MACD just turned positive last week, which is a good sign that TTC is on the verge of making another foray into new high territory. The Money Flow and OBV are also both solid and the RSI has plenty of room before an overbought condition is signaled. We our placing our initial stop at $43.50 to lower our downside risk.

Picked April 29th @ $46.25
Change since picked +0.00
Stop Loss @ $43.50

May 3, 2001

If April showers (or in the case of Denver today, snow showers) bring May flowers, then demand for Toro's huge line of lawn and gardening equipment should be strong. This fact may have helped the stock brush off the broad market selling today. Technically speaking, TTC is knocking on the door of a significant breakout. If the stock can push through the $46.85 resistance, it could move very quickly to test its 52-week high of $47.65. The MACD, which recently turned positive and has been slowly climbing all week, is telling us that a test and subsequent break through the old high could come soon. The Money Flow has also been excellent, indicating there are more buyers than sellers. We also like the fact that the RSI has plenty of room to run before indicating an overbought condition. The 10-DMA, which closed today at $45.38, has been providing the support. In the event of a pullback, a bounce off $45.38 may provide traders with a good entry point. If not, a move above today’s intra-day high of $48.85 may provide another entry point.

Picked April 29th @ $46.25
Change since picked +0.29
Stop Loss @ $43.50

May 1, 2001

Toro has been pretty much ignored by market participants so far this week. Nevertheless, we still like the potential for profits with this play as we enter the peak season for lawn and gardening equipment demand. TTC is also a strong value play due to its low P/E of 13.06. Today's volume of 32,400 shares was very light and was barely more than a third of the stock's average daily volume of 93,000. This fact, which is reflected by a Money Flow that remains decidedly positive, tells us that there was very little interest in selling TTC during today's pullback. A bounce off support offered by the 10-DMA of $45.09 might provide a good entry point. If TTC can close tomorrow above $46.63 and finish with volume approaching 100,000 shares, the stock might be a more compelling buy on Thursday's open. Keep in mind that a gap up of a dollar or more might result in a bit of a pullback in the first hour of trading that may provide patient investors with a better price than the opening print. One technical indicator that is especially encouraging is the MACD, which appears to be suggesting that TTC is one the verge of starting a sustainable rally.

Picked April 29th @ $46.25
Change since picked -0.55
Stop Loss @ $43.50