investingfromtheright

I am retired and take educated guesses on all things financial.

January 08, 2010

January 9, 2010: Seven Ideas For 2010, So Says The Screen

Occasionally I will prepare a screen with parameters that bring far-fetched criteria into play to create a list of stocks for potential inclusion within my portfolio. Most stocks that turn up on this type of list are discarded. But, like my visual scanning years ago of Barrons and the Wall Street Journal in the 1970s and 1980s, a great (some may call lucky) stock pops up and proves a winner.

Again on the hunt for uncommon stocks to investigate, I established the following parameters for all domestic mid-cap stocks (market cap of US$2-10b). For 2009, their price performance was 20-40% below the S&P 500 Index. They had to have a current Four-Star S&P Rating, have a current PE below their sector average, be rated a Long (Buy) via Market Edge nad have a positive revenue growth projection. Here are the seven that appeared:


Cephalon, Inc, (CEPH), biotechnology and drug, trading at $63.01/share.

Continental Airlines, Inc. (CAL), airline, trading at $19.95/share.

Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (HCBX), regional savings bank, trading at $14.33/share.

NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NDAQ), investment services, trading at $20.23/share.

Pulte Homes, Inc. (PHM), construction services, trading at $11.03/share.

SAIC, Inc. (SAI), software and programming, trading at $19.06/ share.

UGI Corp. (UGI), oil and gas operations, trading at $24.01/share.


From the screen, UGI appears interesting for its blend of propane business and utility assets. The yield is currently 3.3%. NASDAQ may well rise quickly once all of its moving parts in Europe are in a stronger mode. Hudson Bancorp, yielding 4.19% has an excellent franchise and may benefit if there is a move away from so-called Big Banking urged by certain politicians and progressives. None appear to be pathetic.

I encourage investors to compile your own random screens from time to time. It refreshes the portfolio palate and stimulates curiosity not to follow the latest pontifications from the experts. There may be value as an independent thinker.

THE AUTHOR OWNS NONE OF THE ABOVE AT THIS TIME.