Punk folks. Just plain punk- we had to really juke and jive just to turn a couple hundred bucks out of the last issue. Part 2 of the roundtable Barrons arrived this morning torn and tattered at my doorstep. On the cover two women- well one women actually, dressed up two ways: pretty and full of jewelry with lots of makeup & somber, no makeup, no jewelry. The title "Rich America, Poor America". Oh no not the wealth divide thing again! Well judging just by the picture I like Poor America better- she looks stable, not on the meds, and one would think a little more original in the bedroom. The Barrons thesis is that you buy certain stocks for the rich folks and certain ones for the poor folks. Wake me when it's over folks!
Alan Abelson is back. Phew! And his piece is basically a call out to Saudi Arabia saying this new low cost of oil is no accident and it's a payback for Bush staying in Iraq. I'm inclined to believe that 100%. The only problem with Alan's reasoning is he goes on to apologize for saying that oil was going to 70 before 50 whoops! Get your conspiracy stories straight guys!
In Barrons Champagne bucket of stocks for the wealthy are quite a few good picks among them:
Intercontinental Hotels our play from 2 weeks ago, Lifetime Fitness a GREAT stock I own that is only $4 higher than where it traded last year, sotheby's, Tiffany, Nordstrom. You don't have to really research any of these, they all could have a place in a well balanced portfolio.
In The Beer Bucket, it's the usual jumble of pawn shop plays and dollar general stores. I feel like I've been through this reasoning so many times- but Coach which is listed under the champagne heading is probably the only retail play that spans both demographics effectively.
The next piece is a short idea Under Armor. (UA) Could not agree more, a PE of 53 on 07' for a fad play no thanks.
Into the roundtable now and this is the second installment of three, usually the worst, and this time around it's no different. Lyondell Chem is pumped twice but I just went through researching this one last week with a No outcome due to high debt concerns.. Archie MacAllaster picks Corning, Capital One whoops! They missed earnings already!, Hartford financial- geez I was into that one at $50 now archie wants you to buy at $91? I think we have to leave Archie now. Bill Gross picks a mish moss of ETF's and Japanese bond plays, thanks Bill! Bond players are soooo boring. Next up Felix Zulauf with one of those esoteric useless lists: Buy the VIX, European telephone stocks I shares Singapore (after a correction) and a Norwegian fertilizer stock etc. Boy we are flying through the roundtable with no ideas. Next up Dear Abby! They start by saying Abby is not a stockpicker, then as if to prove that point, she gives us Royal Caribbean! Stomach flue anyone? At least she follows that up with Medimmune and Barr
Pharm to help you get over your cruise. Abby also like Symantec which is profiled in the same issue negatively and General Electric who just tossed in a so so earnings report.
Enough roundtable! Next week i imagine we will get the interesting picks. Now comes a spotlight on Manor Care the nursing home chain. This will be a potential buy. Hanson Natural comes next, a stock I have owned on and off in the past- now 30% lower that where I owned it! Hanson is profiled, detailing a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Bush. This smells like an eventual winner.
In charting the market WCI Communities stands out Carl Icahn is getting into the mix to help the company and himself unlock inherent value. We will have to research the real estate developers properties. And Manor Care is there, looking beautiful bouncing off it's trendline. Lehman raises price target to $58 from $49- undoubtedly what got the Barrons editors thinking about Manor Care in the first place. We may have to take a look at the whole nursing home segment I think.
Looking at the Amex's biggest winners and it's HiShear Tech (HSR) do you know that was the first stock I ever talked about on ET? In fact I gave it to HydroBlunt at $7 I wonder if he still has it now at $11.04? This will be a possibility. YM Bioscience is there >I considered buying mid week in the mid $3's this is a Vivian Lewis favorite biotech who has fallen on hard times. YMI is worth a look.
In research reports we have a recommendation by AmericanTechnology Research whoever the hell they are on Navteq. I love this company but it's been a tough investment vehicle- I've had little luck with it but they dominate the car mapping systems that every newfangled car or truck seems to have. These guys feel there is 38% upside potential. interesting here at $32.50.
in 13D Filings there's our friend Carl Icahn digging in at Telik. Telik is another interesting biotech I held it for years in Boston and sold it for a double. It has since crashed. Carl has bought over 5 million shares 3.8 million of them SINCE Dec 28. We may hitch a ride with Carl here.
In New Coverage we spot Navteq again- this time by JMP Securities- This is the Barrons hint we are well familiar with by now.
OK lets sum up: The Ideas To research This Week Are- Hanson Nat / Manor Care / WCI Communities /
Hi Shear / YM Bioscience / Navteq / Telik...
The mailbag segment at the end of the paper is a good read this week several readers complaining loudly about the new smaller format. And the editors groveling and promising to put this and that back in.
I hate to tell the editors this but we can look up our symbols anywhere these days ,why not get rid of the whole back of the paper and expand the writing? Clever huh? You could charge $4.00 instead of $3.00 for the in depth stock profiles and publish a separate tables only rag and sell it for 50 cents or $1.00> the result a combined $5 from some and an improved $4.00 by most everyone else. And barrons stays the same size! Did I just solve all Dow Jones' problems in one quick fix? That's Why I'm the stonedinvestor!