"Looking Back One Year" A review of stock picks from the week of March 7, 2005







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.

It is the weekend, and a long weekend at that! Happy Memorial Day!

One of the important parts of this blog is my use of a portfolio strategy to limit losses by selling losing stocks quickly and completely. I also advocate and implement a strategy of selling gaining stocks slowly and partially at targeted appreciation points. However, for the ease of analysis, this review assumes a "buy and hold" strategy. Certainly results using this strategy as opposed to a more disciplined buying and selling strategy will affect actual performance of stock ownership.

On March 7, 2005, I Posted EGL Inc. (EAGL) on Stock Picks Bob's Advice when it was trading at $26.97. EAGL closed at $45.99 on 5/26/06 for a gain of $19.02 or 70.5% since posting.

On May 8, 2006, EGL reported 1st quarter 2006 results. Gross revenue climbed 7% to $752.4 million from $701 million in the same quarter in 2005. Net income increased 54% to $11.1 million from $7.2 million last year. Diluted earnings per share increased 93% to $.27/share up from $.14/share in the same quarter in 2005.

On March 10, 2005, I posted Hibbett (HIBB) on Stock Picks Bob's Advice when it was trading at $29.49. Hibbett declared a 3:2 split on 9/28/05, making my effective stock pick price actually $19.66. HIBB closed at $25.70 on 5/26/6, giving my pick an appreciation of $6.04 or 30.7%.

On May 18, 2006, HIBB reported 1st quarter 2007 results. Net sales increased 10.5% to $126.9 million, up from $114.8 million for a similar 13 week period ending April 30, 2005. However "Comparable store sales decreased 0.07% compared with comparable store sales increases of 8.2% and 8.8% in the same periods in fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2005, respectively." It was this decrease in same store sales that led me to sell my own shares the other day in this otherwise exciting retail concept.

Earnings per share increased 12.9% to $.35 from $.31/diluted share the prior year same period. The company did guide to earnings of $.14/share to $.16/share in the next quarter and expected a slight improvement to 1 to 2% same store sales growth.

So how did we do that week a year ago? Really quite well thank you. I picked two stocks that both appreciated nicely in price: EAGL with a 70.5% appreciation, and HIBB with a price appreciation of 30.7%. These stocks had an average appreciation of 50.6%.

Please remember that past performance is no guarantee of future performance and that owning stocks assumes risk of loss. Phew. I wanted to get that warning out after that great review :).

Thanks again for visiting! If you have any comments or questions, I love to hear from any and all of you at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com. Please be sure to stop by and visit my Stock Picks Bob's Advice Podcast Site where you can hear me discuss many of the same stocks I write about on this blog!

Bob