Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMPH) reached a significant support level, and could be a good pick for investors from a technical perspective. Recently, AMPH's 50-day simple moving average broke out above its 200-day moving average; this is 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.

A successful golden cross event has three stages. It first begins when a stock's price on the decline bottoms out. Then, its shorter moving average crosses above its longer moving average, triggering a positive trend reversal. The third and final phase occurs when the stock maintains its upward momentum.

A golden cross contrasts with a death cross, another widely-followed chart pattern that suggests bearish momentum could be on the horizon.

AMPH has rallied 12.5% over the past four weeks, and the company is a #1 (Strong Buy) on the Zacks Rank at the moment. This combination indicates AMPH could be poised for a breakout.

The bullish case solidifies once investors consider AMPH's positive earnings outlook. For the current quarter, no earnings estimate has been cut compared to 4 revisions higher in the past 60 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased too.

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

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