Technical Trade Alert: ICU Medical (ICUI) On the surface, ICU Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: ICUI) may appear to be a perfectly fine company. And, we don't disagree - they're profitable, and shares aren't unreasonably priced.      Company Name: ICU Medical Inc.  Rating: Technical Trade Alert (Bearish) Stock Symbol : ICUI Trade Initiated: Jan. 23rd, 2009 Current Price: $30.48 Avg. Volume (3 mo.): 123,594 52 Week Range: $22.14 - $37.82  Market Cap: $444.5 M  However, we're not getting married to our bearish point of view. This is simply a suggested short-term technical trade - bearish - based primarily on a long-term chart pattern ... a pattern most investors may not have realized was in place.  The short-term chart (going back to the middle of last year) reveals something pretty amazing about ICU Medical ... a gain. The last few months aren't anything to write home about, but being just flat since September is still an accomplishment in itself, right?  That same chart, however, more subtly reveals that not only has that bullish momentum waned, but may also be turning bearish again.  After peaking at $35.11 in October, each subsequent peak has been marginally lower than the last. More recently, ICUI has also started to hit resistance at some key moving average lines. Though it's still been a much better performer than the overall market has been, that relative outperformance coupled with recent bouts near resistance levels may also be the inspiration for another round of selling from impatient investors. (The longer a stock remains stagnant, the less lenient its owners become.) At the same time, the way the short-term chart appears to be rolling over now is augmented by a longer-term chart pattern not as readily apparent.  Going all the way back to the peak of $48.34 in October of 2006 we can see how ICU Medical shares have been plagued by a resistance line (red). This line was a trouble spot twice in the middle of 2007, and appears to be the same reason the last three peaks since October occurred where they did (and is why each of those peaks was lower than the previous one).  Though nobody has a crystal ball, we feel the odds are high ICUI will ultimately give us a repeat performance of its prior encounters with that resistance line.  We're not offering a specific target or stop, even though this is a technical trade alert. However, we can tell you we're eying prior low points - recent and distant - as potential rebound levels. We may look at those levels in detail when the time comes.  That said, it's also much easier for us to issue a short/bearish suggestion on ICU Medical knowing that we also issued two bullish/long technical trade recommendations last week ... Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A), and Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW). And, just this Wednesday we issued two longer-term 'buy' ratings on InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC) and Briggs & Stratton (NYSE: BGG).  In other words, the bearish view on ICUI also serves as a hedge of those bullish positions.  Needless to say, if you didn't take on the Edwards, Agilent, InterDigital, and Briggs trades, shorting ICU Medical means your risk/reward profile is considerably different than most of our readers'. Just something to consider.  If you're looking to gain some leverage on this bearish idea, the options market for ICUI is relatively liquid. Spreads range anywhere from 20 cents to 40 cents, and the open interest for most options is at least a few dozen contracts. That won't be enough for an institutional speculator, but should be plenty for any retail investors who want to go that route.    Other Company Updates Optimists could argue that General Electric (NYSE: GE) did their part to help the market get out of this rut by meeting expectations. Pessimists would point out that 'meeting estimates' was a dubious achievement ... Q4 profits were down 46%, 'as expected'. The news wasn't enough to inspire any early buying; quite the opposite actually. Nevertheless, several of our followed stocks have so far managed to resist an otherwise bearish trend. Some have done it better than others, but a few are shaping up surprisingly well. Here's a partial rundown... Edwards Lifesciences We were pleased to see Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) continue to push above its 200 day moving average line on the 16th - the day we sent out the trade alert. It only took until the next day to become worried, when the stock fall back under that same long-term moving average line. Fortunately the 20 day moving average line stepped in as support again, and EW moved back above both moving averages as of the end of yesterday. Of course, the stock is waffling around the 200 day line today, getting no help from this morning's marketwide weakness. As long as the 20 day average line at $55.37 holds up, we'll remain optimistic. Agilent Technologies  Though it's only been a week, we have to say that the Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) trade has been a disappointment so far. It's not deep in the red, nor should we expect it to radically outperform the market (which is down since then), but we were expecting a little more strength. No need to bail out just yet; the stock surged the first few days of the year, and deserved a break. So, we'll give it a little more time and room - just not a whole lot more. A move under $17.60 may be our line in the sand. Stay tuned. Spicy Pickle The last time we looked at Spicy Pickle (OTCBB: SPKL) on the 20th, shares were trading at 21 cents. We commented that the momentum may have shifted to bullishness, having witnessed SPKL's move above a couple of key moving averages. Well, now shares are at 23 cents, which isn't leaps and bounds above where it was then, but it's still a 9% gain over the span of three days. We've also continued to see higher highs and higher lows, and the heavier volume is still on the buying side of the table. I'm still hesitant to turn this slight upswing into a full-blown trade, as I want to see how these buyers respond when really tested. It's on my radar though, and I think it should be on your's too. Let's see if SPKL is going to get traction or not. China Energy Recovery As I suspected, China Energy Recovery's (OTCBB: CGYV) monster rally last week tapered off over the next few days... but that's ultimately a good thing. The pace and size of the move just pushed the stock into an extreme overbought situation, and it was difficult to say how much longevity that trend had left. As it turns out, it was none. As I said though, that's a good thing in my book. Now with that first wave - the euphoric wave - of buying done, the level-headed investors are left behind. I expect more predictable trading as a result. Anyway, nothing has really changed about our stance on CGYV - we think this is one you buy on the dips, as we expect multiple 'two steps forward and one step back' patterns to play out over the next several weeks. We'll have more updates on open and potential trades next time.    Voyant International's RocketStream Goes Online ... Literally Bulletin board company Voyant International (OTC:VOYT) adopted a brand new marketing strategy this morning for their flagship software RocketStream. The web-accelerating software had thus far been sold by resellers, and usually in bundles with other, similar software products. Now, Voyant is aiming its marketing straight at the end consumer; all versions of RocketStream are now available to anyone via a web download.  This essentially cuts out the middleman as the sales force. Plus, 'unbundling' it may actually mean it has wider appeal to ordinary retail users like me and you; we won't have to buy some tools we don't need just to get the one we do need.  More than anything though, this puts the marketing effort - and the success of that effort - squarely in Voyant's lap, which is where they wanted it. The company is confident they'll be able to promote the software as well as anybody else has. Perhaps better.  I don't know what the effective price for RocketStream was when sold as part of a software suite through resellers. I do know, however, that the starting point for the casual-use version is $100. Enterprise versions can run as much as $8000, though that version is designed for multiple users (and I assume includes a few more bells and whistles). That's pretty affordable no matter which version is needed.  To my knowledge, the downloadable versions are the exact same programs already being used by thousands on a global basis. The only difference is the method of delivery.  The only question I had wasn't addressed in the press release, but it was answered by a company representative... what about the perpetual revenue component that made RocketStream so attractive in the first place? A one-time sale is nice, but renewable revenue is even better.  As with the previous version, the online/download version is purchased with an upfront payment, and a nominal annual fee is collected to keep the software active. So, Voyant will still enjoy recurring sales.  The logical question investors are likely to ask - what does this ultimately mean in terms of company revenue?  It's still difficult to get a grasp of that kind of information, as there's nothing to really compare the product to. The software industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, but it's also a little nebulous. I can, however, offer you some realistic scope about what this could mean for Voyant's shareholders.  Not every one of the United States 300 million residents will need or want RocketStream for personal use. Some will though. Let's just conservatively say that only 0.1% of them are going to purchase the program; that's still 300,000 people. At $100 a pop (the lowest-end version), that still translates into sales of $30 million. Not bad at all. Even better though.... extrapolate that thumbnail math to the global population of 6 billion. Even if a tiny fraction of them become customers, it could be huge for Voyant.  It still remains to be seen how quickly the online version will start to get traction. Just making the software available online is one thing, but getting it sold is another. Though there's no direct competition, there's certainly a lot of distractions on the Internet that could get in the way of the marketing effort.  I suspect we'll see some fruits of the labor materialize within weeks, though I think it could take a few months for the payoff to get highly attractive.  Still, I think it's a good move - one that will sooner than later benefit shareholders.