"Looking Back One Year" A review of stock picks from the week of April 26, 2004

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 consult with your professional investment advisors prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website!
It is the weekend and this is the time that I like to go back a year and see how picks that were mentioned on this website. Last week I reviewed the week of April 19, 2004, and this week, let's take a look at the week of April 26, 2004.
This analysis assumes a buy and hold strategy which is not what this blog and not what I practice in my actual trading portfolio. However, for the sake of finding out what happened to my "picks", it is at least helpful to see what would have happened if all stocks mentioned were indeed purchased and you still owned them today. In practice, I strongly believe in selling my declining stocks quickly, and selling portions of my climbing stocks slowly.

On April 28, 2004, I
posted Trimble Navigation (TRMB) on Stock Picks at a price of $25.98. TRMB closed on 6/17/05 at $38.01 for a gain of $12.03/share or 46.3%.

On April 21, 2005, TRMB
reported 1st quarter 2005 results. Revenue for the quarter ended April 1, 2005, increased 25% from $156.5 million last year to $195.4 million this year. Net income for the quarter grew 36% to $17.4 million or $.31/share, up from $12.8 million or $.24/share the prior year.

On April 29, 2004, I
posted INAMED (IMDC) on Stock Picks at a price of $58.03. IMDC closed at $64.98 on 6/17/05 for a gain of $6.95 or 12.0%.

On May 9, 2005,
IMDC reported 1st quarter 2005 results. For the quarter ended March 31, 2005, revenue grew 16% to $105.2 million, up from $90.8 million. Diluted GAAP earnings came in at $.38/share, down from $.49/share in the same quarter last year. (I don't give a quarterly report a "thumbs-up" unless both revenue and earnings have increased!)

On April 29, 2004, I
posted Fisher Scientific (FSH) on Stock Picks at a price of $58.60. FSH closed at $63.48 on 6/17/05 for a gain of $4.88 or 8.3%.

On May 9, 2005, Fisher Scientific
reported 1st quarter 2005 results. Revenue for the quarter, in large part aided by the acquisition of Apogent Technologies, grew 35% to $1.35 billion from $1 billion in the same quarter the prior year. Earnings rose to $77 million or $.61/share, up from $34.6 million, or $.51/share last year.

My last stock pick, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) was
selected for Stock Picks on April 30, 2004, at a price of $16.35. ISRG has had a phenomenal run since that time closing at $50.40 on 6/17/05 for a gain of $34.05 or 208.3% since the selection!

On April 21, 2005, ISRG
reported 1st quarter 2005 results. For the quarter ended March 31, 2005, sales grew 54% from $27.1 million last year to $41.6 million this year. Net income was up 900% to $9.1 million or $.25/diluted share from $.9 million or $.02/diluted share last year. This was a phenomenal quarter!
So how did I do on these four picks. I am happy to report that this particular week was TERRIFIC for Stock Picks! And you know that I don't always hit that ball out of the park. There were four selections and all four showed gains, ranging from 8.3% to 208.3%! The average gain for these particular four stocks was 68.7% driven in large part by the outsized gain on ISRG, but also, with a solid performance (46.3% gain) from TRMB.
Thanks again for stopping by! I don't usually do this well on the picks so please remember that past performance is NO guarantee of future performance! But still, THAT was pretty impressive :).
If you have any comments, questions, or words of encouragement, please feel free to email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com.
Bob