Heineken (HEINY) could be acquiring a brand which will boost its market share and profitability. Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) is planning on selling some of its premium brands such as Peroni and Grolsch, with Heineken being a potential buyer. This could boost their share price as they acquire these premium brands. Earlier this month AB InBev stated it was examining a sale of the brands. Carlsberg is expected to be the most likely acquirer according to analysts but could split the sale with Heineken, with Carlsberg taking over Grolsch and Heineken takes Peroni.

The opening up of Vietnam under the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal will also benefit Heineken, as Vietnam is soon expected to reduce tax on imported beer from 35% to 0%. Both international and domestic producers are expected to scale up distribution, marketing and product development. Heineken’s Asian arm currently has 18.2% market share in Vietnam and is expected to increase as foreign firms compete on a level playing field with Vietnamese producers.

Heineken’s stock price has gapped upwards today and is currently trading at 80.36, up 1.81% on today’s open. The Fed’s decision to raise interest rates has been met with optimism by global stock markets, with European indices in the green so far today and this development is lifting European stocks such as Heineken.

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The chart above shows the 4 hour price action for Heineken’s stock price. The Ichimoku indicator, fractal levels and relative strength index are also displayed. The chart shows that for today’s trading session, the price action has gapped upwards and has moved above the base line; this provides a bullish outlook for the stock. The base line should act as support going forward, currently at 80.18. Also, notice that the conversion line has started to trend upwards, suggesting that further upwards moves are to be anticipated.

Immediate resistances are found at 81.96 and 82.84 while support should be found at the psychological 80.00 level. The relative strength index is currently at 51.9 suggesting an upward trend is forming. Also, a potential bullish signal will be given by the lagging line as it is currently moving from below to above the previous rice action, shown above. The Ichimoku cloud provides resistance around 82.00-82.50 but is very thin, offering only weak resistance. Therefore, those bullish on Heineken should wait for a breakout of the Ichimoku cloud for further bullish confirmation.

Over the longer-term, the risk is more skewed to the upside, as shown in the chart below. The daily price action is shown below and shows that Heineken’s stock price has tested support provided by the Ichimoku cloud this week but seems to be bouncing upwards. The price action has moved above the conversion line today, providing a neutral bullish signal. The base line will provide resistance at 81.69 and a close above this level today will provide a strong bullish signal. Over the long-term, as long as the gap formed today remains intact, the Heineken stock outlook will be bullish. So as long as the price action maintains above the gap (79.79 to 80.05) the price action is expected to increase. On the other hand, if this gap is broken and the price action breaks below 79.79, then we could see some consolidation inside the Ichimoku cloud or bearish momentum could dominate and bring the stock price lower towards 75.00.

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However, this upward move today is not supported by higher volumes and volumes traded have been falling for the past two weeks. This divergence could point to a resumption of the bearish trend displayed over December so far.