Let’s take a look at this Year-to-Date chart of Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN) which shows a pair of moving average crossovers, one at the start of the year, and the second just 2 weeks back (see gold circles on chart.)

With PCLN Q1 earnings scheduled to be announced after the closing bell on 5-4-16, can the crossover indicator help to reveal which way the online travel giant might track.

The first crossover happened late January, and as is often the case when the shorter of two moving averages dips below the longer, PCLN spent almost 3 weeks trending towards the bears. The second and most recent crossover saw the 50-day MA cross above its 200-day MA. So far, however, there is little indication that the bulls took the cue, as the stock is at about the same level, $1328, as it was the day of the crossover 2 weeks ago.

So whether it’s because the second crossover of the year was not quite as sharp as the first one, or the fact that it occurred heading into earnings and therefore got lost in the shuffle of other factors, it looks like the indicator isn’t revealing much, at least not so far. Obviously, positive price action following earnings could end up validating the crossover as a directional indicator again.

Thursday saw the stock drop over 2.5%, about twice that of the sell-off that the S&P 500 Index experienced today. In spite of that, PCLN has moved mostly sideways since March, defined by $1364 as resistance and the 200-day MA, $1265 as of Thursday, as support. If AAPL, GOOG, FB and AMZN are any indication, PCLN will likely break out of that range next week.

PCLN’s over/under is the same, $1364 as the bullish over and $1265 as the bearish under. A breakthrough on either side of the over/under will show which side gets to claim bragging rights.

PCLN PayDayCycle Status is now -1, with today ending well below yesterday’s green doji. There is no current PayDayCycle in play for the stock.

PayDayCycles are 4-8 day trends in stocks that help people swing trade. To learn more about PayDayCycles make sure to grab the free Swing Trading Class on the right sidebar.

The MACD, on the other hand, looks to be establishing a clear bearish trend, as it ended the day as a red bar for the 5th consecutive session. The bar is just about flat to the zero line, and the small bars show weak momentum for the bears.

Overall, PCLN isn’t showing a clear direction at the moment. Swing traders may choose to sit back and wait until after earnings to see when the next good trade opportunity presents itself.