A portfolio of 8 stock picks from the edge

Today we have witnessed the engineered bailout of America's fourth largest bank Wachovia (WB), failure to pass the government's rescue plan, and the largest point drop for the Dow in history. In ancient Greek tradgedies there was a plot device known as "Deus ex machina." This literally means "God from a machine." Man would get himself into a insoluable crisis and a god was lowered onto the stage using machinery to quickly resolve the situation. In recent … read on »

As noted by Bespoke, Chico's stock has put together an enviable string of up-days amidst a period of market turmoil. The stock has now risen for 11 consecutive trading days. The streak started on August 22, 2008. The stock rose from the prior day's close of 4.48 to 4.84. The following days saw the stock close at 4.98, 5.09, 5.59, 5.70, 5.74, 5.90, 6.11, 6.28, 6.32, and today 6.67. During the 11 day period, Chico's experienced a … read on »

"No, there's no one else, I find, To undermine or dash a hope Quite like you." -Aimee Mann Bad news from every direction tortured the stock market 3% lower. The selling was broad based and few stocks were spared. Let's take a break from the carnage and look at some recent news items for the 8 Stock Portfolio. Chico's Chico's (CHS) reported a same store sales decline of 10% for August. This double digit decline was apparently better than expected and … read on »

Yesterday morning, Chico's (CHS) reported their second quarter earnings. As a brief recap, net sales decreased 7.1% to $405 million and net income fell 83% to $6.7 million or 4 cents per share. Same store sales at Chico's stores declined a whopping 19%. Usually an 83% decline in net income and 19% drop in same store sales would be taken as a bad thing. However, part of the idea behind the 8 Stock Portfolio is that … read on »

Over the weekend R.H. Donnelley was featured in a Barron's article. The article outlines some of the obstacles which have weighed on the stock, but provides a measure of optimism saying that the stock is a "risky but attractive" way to bet on the continued viability of the yellow pages. The stock responded by rising over 15% today. I selected RHD for the 8 Stock Portfolio when it was $1.47 per share. After today's move it … read on »

This post will bring you a recap of some recent news events for stocks in the 8 Stock Portfolio. This will become a regular feature, likely joined by lengthier posts containing commentary surrounding major or notable events. For now, here's the news recap for the week ended August 8, 2008: Whole Foods Market Whole Foods (WFMI) reported third quarter results that were absolutely horrible, along with guidance just as bad, and suspended their dividend. While some took … read on »