Air Methods breaks out; time to buy?

Air Methods (NASDAQ: AIRM), an air medical transportation company, has just broken out of a trading range. For those who don't understand technical analysis, this basically means that the stock has been forming a "range" that it's been trading it and, recently, the price of the stock has broken out of this range. Technicians view this as a bullish sign for the stock price because the upside is no longer limited by a resistance line -- that's why many technicians look at the 52 week high list for buying ideas.

As you can see from the chart to the right, the stock has been stuck in a trading range over the last several weeks. Just today the stock broke out with a stroke move of nearly 11%. The one issue with this breakout was the fact that it wasn't done on tremendous volume. However, I attribute this to the fact that it was a slow summer trading day and many traders are hesitant to enter full positions in the current market environment.

While breakouts a very good indication of future price action, I tend to believe that it makes sense to only enter a 1/2 or 1/3 position at the time of the breakout because oftentimes, in my experience, stocks tend to pullback to the base of the breakout before taking off again.

Air Methods is a very interesting stock here on the heels of breaking out today, but I still wouldn't be starting a full position here because I believe traders will have a better buying opportunity in the next few trading sessions. However, I would still start a position in case the stock takes off without looking back.