Wednesday, April 25, 2007

IIVI and FMD

I bought some FMD during its demise. They report earnings after the bell tomorrow. I bought it to flip it quickly, but in looking at it more closely, it seemed to be a worthwhile holding. Plus I have no exposure to financial stocks (other than an ill-advised put on HIG).

FMD did well coming off it's lows, and it opened strongly today, only to creep downward. I could be wrong, but it looked like a shakeout to me. There was strong buying interest around 3 p.m. I hung on. I'll admit that I'm a bit nervous holding through earnings. But the expectations around this stock have to be low going into earnings. Probably more upside than downside risk given that it has already coughed up 25% of its value on investors' fears regarding the Sallie Mae deal. Tom Brown had a pretty decent write that I just read that assuaged my concerns a bit.

I bought some IIVI on its' demise yesterday. I flipped it today for a decent gain. I'm not familiar with their business. It's been interesting to see the earnings action--fairly turbulent +/- swings depending on the news. Ryland and Pulte had earnings after they bell. It wasn't pretty. Ryland will not give any further guidance.

MarkM comments in another post about the liquidity pump. There will be nothing good to come of the housing slowdown, but those risks have been soft-pedaled.

RTH was up ~1.25% though 80% of its composition stocks were up less than .5%. What's up with that? Needless to say, my puts suffered for this buoyancy. I still think April numbers will disappoint; and Target's warning seems like a lost daydream to the market. Asian markets are higher as I write--success begets success.

Party Hat time:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have found that my best performers, by far, are my ADRs. Going forward, I think that's going to become even truer for reasons I think we all understand.

Three of my top performers -- double digit returns in less than three months -- are MX, VE, and FMS. I first bought MX 17 months ago in my taxable account. Those shares are up over 100% since that first purchase. My recent MX purchase, in my IRA, was made a few months ago during a decline; those shares are now up almost 18%.

I have a few other ADRs and will be researching more. A good place to get names of companies to consider is in Securities Research Company's book on ADRs. Here's the link for more information on the ADR book and others published by the company:

http://srcstockcharts.com/product.html

For the record: I haven't used the SRC book to find my ADRs (I have used the company's Blue and Orange Books to identify other U.S. companies.)

I'm not a trader. (I wish I could be!) Instead, I'm trying to become a better (mostly) buy-and-hold investor. This requires the selection of good companies that can withstand the volatility that I think we all see coming.

Leisa♠ said...

Gemmastar--excellent success. I find that the stocks that I do best on are those that I carefully research on my own. Thank you for sharing these stocks and the ADR reference.

I think Morgan Stanley had a good ADR site. I lost so many links during my computer crash.

MarkM said...

So when you read things like Grantham's Quarterly Letter and his 7 Year Asset Class Forecasts what is it you think, Leisa? What do you think most investors would think? I can get out at the top? I can get out safely once it starts to decline? Oh, this can't possibly be right? This guy is just a Perma-Bear?

MarkM said...

And then, and only after you have given me your thinking on the average investor, peruse THIS:

http://www.dalbarinc.com/content/printerfriendly.asp?page=2003071601

See if that changes your mind.