Weekly Sector Update: 02/26/10

Below are the Broad Sector Indices for the week ending 02/26/10.


You can find the full report here.

All data provided by Stockcharts.com; compilation courtesy of me.

Peering into Peerless

First, a warning: My subject is extremely thinly trade | Peerless Systems Corp. (PRLS)

(Click to make larger)


Second: I like this chart (weekly) as it has been building nicely and has cleared some volume by price points. It has pulled back on some lower volume, and a move may be in the offing with it consolidating here.

Third: I love the balance sheet. It is in my DNA to look at fundamentals--just a cursory view to see balance sheet strength/weakness. PRLS emerged from that view as a veritable stronghold. According to FINVIZ, PRLS has a book value of $3.16 and cash per share of $3.09. That's right--98% of it's book value is cash AND it's trading for less than the cash on the balance sheet at $2.62 per share.

Sales have taken a hit. I don't pretend to understand the fundamentals of its business (Per FINVIZ: "develops, licenses, and sells imaging and networking technologies and components to the digital document markets in the United States and Japan."). You can go here to see what Peerless says about its business.

In this trade (speculative!), I'm buying $3 cash for $2.60. If the company is burning through cash, then that cash per share gets jeopardized. I'm willing to take flier on this, and I entered a trade in my speculative account @ $2.58.



Position: Long as of 02/18/10--and reminding you of thin float.

Weekly Sector Update: 02/19/10

Below is a summary of the major sectors. As you can see, it was a good week with all major sectors in the green.


I've included the chart book with weekly, daily and monthly charts for your viewing in addition to all 164 sectors sorted by weekly performance. You can find that here. There were three negative subsectors for the week:

Home Construction

Gambling

Health Care Equipment and Services

All data furnished in the reports are courtesy of Stockcharts, and the compilation courtesy of me.

Weekly Sector Update: 02/12/10

Below is a list of the broad sectors for which I've compiled weekly, daily and monthly charts in a chart book form which you can download here in the form of a pdf.

I've also included an expanded list of sectors for more granularity.

All data courtesy of Stockcharts. Compiliation courtesy of me.

Daily Sector Sort_020910

Daily Sector Sort

Weekly Sector Update: 02/05/10

Here are the broad sectors and their comparative change to the broad market index.



I've created a PDF with the larger breakdown of the sectors/subsectors and I've included weekly, daily and monthly charts respectively of the sectors above. You can access that here.

All data is courtesy of Stockcharts. Compilation courtesy of me.

Some Pics from My Life

We are experiencing yet another snow storm in beautiful Virginia. We have had more snow in the last year than in the last 10 combined. The birds are frantic for food, and we are keeping three feeders amply filled. I trudged out today with camera in hand, and I thought I'd share some pics with you. As I was donning my clothes, my dogs went into collective excitement. Though they get excited regardless of the weather, their particular joy in being in the snow was evident.

Ella making a snow angel

Unmitigated joy running through the snow

Daisey in Black and White

Daily Sector Sort

	Daily Change	Change from Broad Market
Personal & Household Goods	-2.38%	0.79%
Telecommunications	-2.45%	0.72%
Retail	-2.49%	0.68%
Food & Beverage	-2.51%	0.66%
Utilities	-2.57%	0.60%
Consumer Goods	-2.60%	0.57%
Health Care	-2.71%	0.46%
Insurance	-2.73%	0.44%
Consumer Services	-2.84%	0.33%
Technology	-2.96%	0.21%
Media	-3.05%	0.12%
Industrial Goods & Services	-3.08%	0.09%
Industrials	-3.12%	0.05%
Total Stock Market Index	-3.17%	0.00%
Chemicals	-3.27%	-0.10%
Travel & Leisure	-3.59%	-0.42%
Construction & Materials	-3.69%	-0.52%
Financials	-3.75%	-0.58%
Oil & Gas	-4.01%	-0.84%
Financial Services	-4.08%	-0.91%
Banks	-4.17%	-1.00%
Automobiles & Parts	-4.51%	-1.34%
Basic Materials	-4.55%	-1.38%
Basic Resources	-6.01%	-2.84%

We have yet again a potential systemic risk event. Outside of cash and bonds, there is no safe place to hide as the above table show. One of my dismays in the last 'event' was that the risks were widely known, yet no money manager had the gumption to that diversification (country/sector) will not save you.

I've read few things about the market and its dispeptic jolts and gurgles than this quote sent to me some time ago and attributed to George Soros:

“Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend, and step off before it is discredited."

Unfortunately, the financial services industry provides little guidance to investors about the 'stepping off'. Rather the entire industry is devoted to to offering beguiling products and reminders that investors should be in it for the long haul. Let's see how that would have worked our for our Japanese friends:

(click to make larger)

The slope and direction of the arrow for our market depends on the outcome of the inflationista/deflationista smackdown.

The point? Understand that 'big stuff' that moves the markets. Most free advice is worth just what you pay for it. The conventional wisdom about money management and markets is mostly geared toward keeping your dollars working so that fees can be extracted.

Daily Sector Sort

	Daily Change	Change from Broad Market
Automobiles & Parts	1.26%	1.83%
Media	0.49%	1.06%
Technology	0.36%	0.93%
Travel & Leisure	-0.14%	0.43%
Food & Beverage	-0.19%	0.38%
Consumer Goods	-0.23%	0.34%
Chemicals	-0.27%	0.30%
Consumer Services	-0.31%	0.26%
Industrial Goods & Services	-0.42%	0.15%
Industrials	-0.46%	0.11%
Personal & Household Goods	-0.49%	0.08%
Total Stock Market Index	-0.57%	0.00%
Retail	-0.73%	-0.16%
Utilities	-0.77%	-0.20%
Telecommunications	-0.78%	-0.21%
Oil & Gas	-0.80%	-0.23%
Basic Materials	-0.88%	-0.31%
Construction & Materials	-0.93%	-0.36%
Health Care	-1.02%	-0.45%
Financial Services	-1.06%	-0.49%
Insurance	-1.25%	-0.68%
Financials	-1.30%	-0.73%
Banks	-1.46%	-0.89%
Basic Resources	-1.56%	-0.99%
	Publish Post

Daily Sector Sort

	Daily Change	Change from Broad Market
Chemicals	-0.06%	-1.31%
Basic Materials	0.51%	-0.74%
Banks	0.53%	-0.72%
Travel & Leisure	0.78%	-0.47%
Utilities	0.80%	-0.45%
Technology	0.83%	-0.42%
Financials	0.84%	-0.41%
Financial Services	0.87%	-0.38%
Insurance	0.92%	-0.33%
Consumer Services	1.11%	-0.14%
Food & Beverage	1.12%	-0.13%
Retail	1.13%	-0.12%
Basic Resources	1.16%	-0.09%
Telecommunications	1.21%	-0.04%
Total Stock Market Index	1.25%	0.00%
Media	1.31%	0.06%
Oil & Gas	1.47%	0.22%
Industrial Goods & Services	1.66%	0.41%
Industrials	1.68%	0.43%
Consumer Goods	1.69%	0.44%
Automobiles & Parts	1.84%	0.59%
Construction & Materials	1.88%	0.63%
Health Care	1.89%	0.64%
Personal & Household Goods	2.14%	0.89%