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, and that prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website, you need to consult with a professional investment advisor, to make sure that such investments are appropriate, timely, and likely to be profitable for you!
It is getting late Sunday evening, and if you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I should already have a weekend review up and running! However, I went out to a birthday party for a couple of my friends hitting the ripe old age of 50, heaven forbid, and am just now getting settled to write up this review.
As I like to point out, the review assumes a "buy and hold" strategy for investing. I simply look at the price a stock was posted and the current price. In actual practice, in my "Current Trading Portfolio", I do not practice a buy and hold strategy; I use a quick sale at an 8% loss, and slow partial sales as a stock appreciates. This would definitely affect the performance of the stocks reviewed, but nevertheless, it is helpful to look back and see what would really have happened if you had purchased the stocks that particular week which were listed here.
On March 29, 2004, I posted Gevity HR (GVHR) on Stock Picks at a price of $28.10. GVHR closed at $17.30 on 5/20/05 for a loss of $(10.80) or (38.4)%.
On April 21, 2005 GVHR reported 1st quarter 2005 results. Revenues increased 22.2% to $153.9 million from $125.9 million the prior year same quarter. Net income increased 28.4% to $8.2 million or $.29/diluted share vs. $6.4 million or $.24/diluted share the prior year.
On March 31, 2004, I posted Harvard Bioscience (HBIO) on Stock Picks at a price of $9.14. HBIO closed at $3.05 on 5/20/05 for a loss of $(6.09) or (66.3)%.On May 5, 2005, HBIO reported 1st quarter 2005 results. Revenue grew a slim 1% to $22.4 million from $22.2 million last year. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2005, came in at $.2 million or $.01/diluted share compared with a net loss of $(51,000) or $.00/diluted share last year. This was a marginally adequate report, but I would much prefer to see a robust revenue growth alongside the improvement of earnings.
On March 31, 2004, I posted Best Buy on Stock Picks at a price of $51.65. BBY closed at $54.36 on 5/20/05, for a gain of $2.71 or 5.2%.On April 1, 2005, Best Buy reported 4th quarter results. Revenue for the quarter ended February 26, 2005, increased 9% to $9.2 billion, compared with $8.4 billion the prior year. Same-store sales increased 2.8% a modest, but exceptable increase.
Finally, on April 2, 2004, I posted Schnitzer Steel (SCHN) on Stock Picks at a price of $37.62. SCHN closed at $23.20 on 5/20/05 for a loss of $(14.42) or (38.3)%.On April 6, 2005 Schnitzer reported 2nd quarter 2005 results. Revenue grew 33% to $215.7 milllion from $161.6 million the prior year. Earnings came in at $36 million or $1.15/diluted share for the quarter, up almost 100% to $18.5 million or $.60/diluted share! This was a great quarter for Schnitzer Steel!So how did I do looking at the stocks a little over a year later for that particular week on the blog? In a word, awful. There is a very important lesson on this performance. Just because a stock is listed on this blog does not mean that the stock is guaranteed to move higher! In fact, many of these stocks do move lower. Thus, the importance of being vigilant and not letting losses grow!
In fact, I had three losing stocks and only one stock with a gain on the "picked" list. The average loss on the four stocks was a significant (34.5)%!
Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog. If you have any questions, comments, or words of encouragement, please feel free to email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com.
Bob