http://8stockportfolio.com A portfolio of 8 stock picks from the edge Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:02:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://8stockportfolio.com/where-is-our-deus-ex-machina/ When I picked stocks for the 8 Stock Portfolio, I had initially short listed a group of 28 stocks. I eventually removed 20 stocks and decided to focus on a select group of eight. I wrote a series of posts about the 20 Stocks Left Behind explaining my rationale for ... http://8stockportfolio.com/revisiting-20-stocks-left-behind/ "Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling. Potter's buying! And why? Because we're panicky and he's not." -George Bailey Around mid-week the overall performance of the 8 Stock Portfolio actually dipped into negative territory. At the time, every stock with a financial aspect was being sold into oblivion, dragging down ... http://8stockportfolio.com/week-seven-performance/ "Marge, my friend, I haven't learned a thing." -Homer Simpson I don't think I have to rehash the events of the past few days. I've put together a quick list of possible lessons or takeaways. If you've lost money, at least learn from it. You don’t have to be in on every trade ... http://8stockportfolio.com/learning-from-the-market-meltdown/ "On top of the world or in the depths of despair." This week Wall Street's fourth largest investment bank fell 77%. The largest US Savings & Loan declined 36% after being down as much as 59%. The largest US insurance company fell 46%.  But despite these crushing losses for Lehman Brothers, ... http://8stockportfolio.com/week-six-performance-down-587-from-start-up-1808/ 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 ... http://8stockportfolio.com/chicos-stock-up-11-days-in-a-row/ "If I'm too scared to use my powers... then I don't deserve them." -Hiro Nakamura Friday stories began to circulate that the government would soon act to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Today a top House Democrat confirmed that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson "intends to use the powers that Congress ... http://8stockportfolio.com/week-five-performance-down-195/ "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 ... http://8stockportfolio.com/news-recap-chicos-chs-vmware-vmw-titanium-metals-tie/ “So wake up the members of my nation It's your time to be There's no chance unless you take one And it's time to see The brighter side of every situation Some things are meant to be So give me your best and leave the rest to me” -Miranda Cosgrove With the utterly disheartening collapse of today's "Gustav ... http://8stockportfolio.com/in-defense-of-optimism/ Last week it seemed like all anyone wanted to talk about was the impending zero share price for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This week the negative chatter fell silent and FRE and FNM recovered. For anyone who thought this would send the stock market off to the races, think ... http://8stockportfolio.com/week-four-performance-up-1260/ I made brief mention of how the 8 stocks were purchased on the Performance page, but wanted to provide a full post on the topic. In general, "the bottom" is not an event, but a process. This is true of stock markets and should also hold true for individual stocks. When ... http://8stockportfolio.com/how-the-8-stocks-were-purchased/ 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 ... http://8stockportfolio.com/chicos-second-quarter-earnings/ The stock market started off the week going down because of worries about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But the market ended the week going up despite worries about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There's been an almost overwhelming consensus that the common equity in these two companies is worthless ... http://8stockportfolio.com/week-three-performance-up-380/ 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. ... http://8stockportfolio.com/rh-donnelley-rhd-in-barrons/ Another week of tumultuous action. I heard a video the other day that made an interesting point. Tom Brown from BankStocks.com called for a bottom in financial stocks and said that if you're investing in any sector except oil, you have to believe the same. For example, if you are ... http://8stockportfolio.com/week-two-performance-up-270-from-start-up-946/ It's some slightly old news, but I recently read a few articles on VMWare and their new CEO that are worth mentioning. On July 8, VMWare (VMW) simultaneously announced the abrupt replacement of co-founder and CEO Diane Greene and reduced their sales outlook. In response, the stock dropped 24% to around ... http://8stockportfolio.com/vmware-new-ceo/ "Doth suffer a sea change into something rich and strange." OK what happened this week? Sentiment seemed to swing from utterly dismal to resolutely euphoric. Some might call this kind of extreme volatility the sign of a bottom. But whatever the case, I seem to have picked a good week to ... http://8stockportfolio.com/week-one-performance-up-659/ 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 ... http://8stockportfolio.com/news-recap-august-8-2008/ And now for the final post in the 20 Stocks Left Behind series. These are stocks that had been selected as initial candidates for the portfolio, but which had been removed in favor of the chosen 8 stock portfolio. Finisar (FNSR) Finisar is a technology company which makes fiber optic subsystems and ... http://8stockportfolio.com/20-stocks-left-behind-part-three/ I am going to continue the review of stocks that I had initially selected as candidates for the portfolio, but discarded for various reasons. But first, a few words on the long term plan for this blog. I've already made one post on each of the 8 stocks in the portfolio. ... http://8stockportfolio.com/20-stocks-left-behind-part-two/