

What about recent news? On April 21, 2004, STJ announced 1st quarter 2004 results. Net sales were up 24% (about 6% of that was due to currency exchange effects), to $549 million from $441 million the prior year. Earnings for the first quarter were $96 million, a $16 million or 20% increase over net earnings of $80 million. Per diluted share this came out to $.52 in 2004 a 21% increase over the $.43/diluted share in the first quarter of 2003 ended March 31st.

On April 19, 2004, JCOM reported 1st quarter results. Revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2004, increased 51% to $22.9 million from $15.2 million in the same quarter the prior year. GAAP Net Earnings per diluted share increased 25% to $.25/share from $.20/share the prior year. JCOM appears to be doing just fine!

HealthExtras reported 1st quarter 2004 results on April 28, 2004. Revenues totaled $110.5 million, a 21% increase over last year's revenues of $91.7 million. Net income came in at $3.4 million or $.10/share, a 79% increase over first quarter 2003 earnings of $1.9 million or $.06/share. HLEX appears to be right on track!

On April 28, 2004, AHS reported 1st quarter 2004 results. Revenue was $161.3 million, down from $199.8 million for the first quarter of 2003. Net income came in at $4.6 million or $.15/share compared to $12.4 million or $.29/share the prior year. However, these results were slightly better than the PRIOR quarter...so the market did not punish the stock price much at all. My judgement on this one is out. Certainly this stock does not fulfill the requirements of this blog to be picked as a possible purchase, but then again, we have a nice gain on the pick (although I do NOT own any shares)...so if I owned it, I would be sitting tight...letting the market price dictate my actions.

On April 23, 2004, ADC reported 1st quarter 2004 results. Since this is a REIT, the results are not typical for some of our other companies: funds "from operations" increased 17.4% to $4.3 million compared to $3.6 million the prior year. Diluted funds from operation were $.60/share compared to $.71/share the prior year. Net income, however, increased 29% to $2.9 million or $.45/share compared with net income the prior year of $2.2 million or $.50/share. Clearly there are more shares out this year diluting some of the income. Overall this is a satisfactory if not exciting result imho.
So how did we do that first week in May when I set out to start picking stocks for this blog? Of the five stocks picked a year ago, I recorded gains (Of these stocks I currently only own some shares of STJ in my trading account, and I believe I have some shares of HLEX in a managed account that I do not decided purchases or sales) ranging from +35.2% to +146%, with a single loss of (1.5)%, for an average performance of a gain of 54.4%. This was a GREAT week and a GREAT start for this blog!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I have added some of these LOGOS to add some spice to the site. Please let me know if it slows down the loading too much! If you have any questions, comments, or words of encouragement, please feel free to leave them right here on the blog or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com
Have a great Sunday everyone!
Bob
Posted by bobsadviceforstocks at 3:29 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 16 May 2004 12:13 AM CDT
Updated: Sunday, 16 May 2004 12:13 AM CDT