Hello Friends! Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob's Advice! As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisors prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.
The weekend is almost over and I really need to get to the 'review'! I like to examine past stock picks and find out how they would have turned out if I had indeed purchased them. I occasionally do buy stocks for my trading portfolio, but when I do, I post a "trading transparency" entry! The overall performance is the average of each of the performances from the week selected. This assumes a 'buy and hold' strategy.
In practice, I advocate and utilize a disciplined portfolio management system that requires me to sell any stock which incurs a small (8%) trading loss. It also requires me to sell portions (1/6th of remaining shares) at targeted apprreciation points. Thus, this difference in portfolio management would certainly affect portfolio performance. However, for the ease of review, I have chosen to consider that I am employing a buy and hold strategy and have purchased equal-$ amounts of each stock discussed.
On August 16, 2005, I "revisited" Fargo Electronics (FRGO) when it was trading at $17.76. This was the second time I had written up this stock, first writing up Fargo on October 6, 2003, when it was trading at $14.82/share. On May 24, 2006, Assa Abloy's HID Global Corporation was reported to have completed plans for the acquisition of Fargo (FRGO) at a price of $25.50/share. Based on the latest pick price of $17.76, this represents a gain of $7.74 or 43.6% since posting.
On August 17, 2005, I posted Raven Industries (RAVN) on Stock Picks at a price of $24.12. RAVN closed on December 15, 2006, at a price of $27.25, for a gain of $3.13 or 13.0%.
On November 16, 2006, Raven Industries (RAVN) announced 3rd quarter 2006 results. For the quarter ended October 31, 2006, net sales rose 6% to $57.4 million from $54.1 million in the same quarter in 2005. Net income came in at $7.0 million, up slightly from $6.9 million or $.38/share, up from $.37/share last year.
As noted, the company also issued guidance for relatively 'flat' fourth quarter earnings compared to the prior year. So even though I give them a "thumbs-up" it isn't a very enthusiastic one at that!
On August 19, 2005, I picked LaBarge (LB) for Stock Picks when it was trading at $15.91. LaBarge closed at $13.30 on December 15, 2006, for a loss of $(2.61) or (16.4)% since being posted.
On November 2, 2006, LaBarge (LB) reported 1st quarter 2007 results. For the quarter ended October 1, 2006, net sales came in at $49.9 million, up 26% from the $39.6 million in the first quarter of 2006. Net earnings for the quarter increased 19% to $2.4 million or $.15/diluted share from $2.03 million or $.13/diluted share in the 2006 first fiscal quarter.
So how did I do picking stocks back in 2005 for the week of August 15th? I picked one stock (Fargo) that was acquired on a significant gain, one stock had a small gain another had a small loss for an average gain of 13.4%.
Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting! If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to drop me a line at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com or leave your comments right on the blog. If you get a chance, please visit my Stock Picks Podcast Website, where you can download sound files of me discussing many of the same stocks I write about herre on the blog!
Have a great week investing everyone!
Bob