Citizens Financial Services (CZFS) Just Flashed Golden Cross Signal: Do You Buy?

Citizens Financial Services Inc. (CZFS) is looking like an interesting pick from a technical perspective, as the company reached a key level of support. Recently, CZFS's 50-day simple moving average crossed above its 200-day simple moving average, known as a "golden cross."

There's a reason traders love a golden cross -- it's a technical chart pattern that can indicate a bullish breakout is on the horizon. This kind of crossover is formed when a stock's short-term moving average breaks above a longer-term moving average. Typically, a golden cross involves the 50-day and the 200-day moving averages, since bigger time periods tend to form stronger breakouts.

Golden crosses have three key stages that investors look out for. It starts with a downtrend in a stock's price that eventually bottoms out, followed by the stock's shorter moving average crossing over its longer moving average and triggering a trend reversal. The final stage is when a stock continues the upward climb to higher prices.

A golden cross is the opposite of a death cross, another technical event that indicates bearish price movement may be on the horizon.

Over the past four weeks, CZFS has gained 14.6%. The company currently sits at a #1 (Strong Buy) on the Zacks Rank, also indicating that the stock could be poised for a breakout.

Looking at CZFS's earnings expectations, investors will be even more convinced of the bullish uptrend. For the current quarter, there have been 1 change higher compared to none lower over the past 60 days, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has moved up as well.

With a winning combination of earnings estimate revisions and hitting a key technical level, investors should keep their eye on CZFS for more gains in the near future.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research