October 5, 2003
Hello friends! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Before we get to the week of August 18, 2003, I would like to say I am pretty impressed at the strength of the market last week. Our stocks bounced right back and if you look at the trading portfolio, you will see that our overall profits are pretty volatile and we undid the damage of the prior week, putting our total gains (realized and unrealized) up to about $22k for the year. However, the margin level is pretty high and we will need to look at pruning gains when they become available and holding tight to our 8% stops.

During the week of August 18, 2003, I listed six stocks on this site. It was indeed a mixed bag. A couple did well and a couple have done poorly. Remember, that in real life we would be holding to our 8% stops...and selling the weak ones quickly, hopefully hanging on tightly to those that are rising.

The six selections were: Measurement Specialties (MSS) at $12.31 on August 18, 2003; Polymedica Corporation (PLMD) at $46.06 on August 18, 2003; Dynacq Int'l (DYII) at $24.50 on August 19, 2003; LifeWay Foods (LWAY) at $14.51 on August 21, 2003; Electronics Boutique (ELBO) at $32.30 on August 22, 2003; and DJ Orthopedics (DJO) at $10.89 on August 22, 2003.

Measurement Specialties (MSS) closed at $13.23 on October 3, 2003. This was a gain of $.92 or 7.5%.

Polymedica split 2:1 on September 29, 2003, and closed on October 3, 2003, at $26.54 (equivalent to $53.08 on a pre-split basis). This is a gain of $7.02/share (pre-split) or $15.2%.

Dynacq Int'l wasn't as lucky when it came under fire in Barron's. DYII closed October 3, 2003 at $19.18, down from the selection price of $24.50 by ($5.32) or (21.7%).

LifeWay Foods (LWAY) was selected on August 21, 2003, at $14.51. LWAY closed October 3, 2003, at $13.86, a loss of ($.65) or (4.5%). We actually had LifeWay in our trading account and sold it at a loss as well before accumulating too much of a deficit.

Electronic Boutique (ELBO) was selected on August 22, 2003, at $32.30. ELBO closed at $30.55 on October 3, 2003 for a loss of ($1.75) or (5.4%).

Finally, DJ Orthopedics (DJO) was selected on August 22, 2003, for $10.89. DJO, one of our stronger stocks from the week, closed October 3, 2003, at $13.90, for a gain of $3.01 or 27.6%.

The performance of the six stocks were +7.5%, +15.2%, -21.7%, -4.5%, -5.4%, and +27.6%. The average of that performance is +3.1%, not terribly exciting, but not too bad considering that this evaluation allows our losses to run up without stopping them, and the time period was only about 6 weeks.

Thanks again for visiting. Please drop me a line at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com if you have any questions, comments, or words of encouragement!

Bob