1. CBR.v - I have a storng precious metal position, so I wanted to choose one. I use the basket approach with my junior precious metal stocks (I own 20), selling off some or all that head up or spike, and adding to or buying new stocks that I feel are cheap. CBR is one of my four overweight positions.
I like them b/c they are a near-term producer, with a large amount of land, strong gold resource position that are fairly high-grade. They have some infrastructure in place, so they don't require as much capital towards production as some other explorers. And again, I like gold.
As is the case with most of these jr's (especially those that are starting to produce), they may need to raise cash. Unfortunately, private placements are 'the rub' for all these juniors.
2. LTUS - I use the basket approach to China stocks as well, but I have cut down on the number and individual size, but I wanted to throw one in b/c they have produced large gains and large spikes. So I picked LTUS - although I could have chosen any of the other usual suspects as well. I like them b/c they have a decent balance sheet, cheap on a p/e basis, and are in healthcare.
3. RBCL - is my US based healtcare pick. I like the healthcare sector in this market. They made .03 last qtr, and while their backlog dipped a tad, I think they should be able to match or beat that figure next qtr. Seems cheap at the current price around .80.
4. EGR - Commerce Energy in the energy trading and marketing business. Basically I like it b/c its real cheap on a Tangible Book basis, and if you believe what managment said in their last earnings pr and cc, the next qtr should be real strong. Here's my post from a few days ago on the VMC board which explains why I like it and the negatives as well:
Kik, Rogue re: EGR
I don't know if there are any others, but I have egr in PSL8.
The biggest negative is Zeff is selling and he has a ton of shares - over a million. Zeff was super pissed on their last cc. He claims he informed EGR that their was a company (or investment group) that was interested in buying them for $2.30+ a share. There is an sec filing regarding this. During the last cc, EGR said that after reviewing options with their investment advisor, shareholders would be better off if they did not pursue a sale. Zeff railed on, basically saying the company could not survive alone.
The second biggest negative is that they lost money last quarter, their seasonally weakest, due to a large increase in bad debt expense. EGR claims that they now have it under control, but from my experience, it would be difficult to get that under control in one qtr.
The third negative is that EGR's biz requires a lot of cash. In order to establish an account with a utility to 'buy energy', they have to give them a huge deposit. That why EGR may need to raise cash at some point in the next year, despite the fact that they have a decent amount for a company their size.
The biggest positive, is that EGR has been doing well this past year with the excepion of last qtr. They gave guidance last qtr that they would make .21/eps for this fiscal year. Their are three remaining qtrs this fy, so in order to hit guidance they would have to make twenty five cents over the next three qtrs. The quarter coming up is their seasonally strongest revenue qtr, last year they made nine cents in that qtr.
I mentioned that they may have to raise cash due to the requirements of their business, however they are now trading at about a huge discount to tangible book value (I think they trade at 60% of book).
Anyway, I like the risk rewared, and I bought yesterday, and I bought today.
I don't know why Zeff is selling. Maybe he does think the company is in danger of going out. But a lot of his stocks have taken a huge hit recently. For example, he bought a huge position in S P O R in 2007, and he's getting killed. TRT comes to mind as well. So maybe he needs to raise cash somewhere.
BTW, the CEO picked up 20,000 shares at $1.34 in the open market on 1/4/08.
5. KTCC - KTCC is in the EMS business. It is currently trading under book value. They had a super positive CC after their last earnings release. While they are guiding for .03 to .06 cents this coming qtr, they also stated that they expect to make greater than .50 for the year, due to a huge ramp-up of new customers.
So they made .02 last qtr, expect .05 this qtr, and over around .45 for the remaining two qtrs of this fiscl year.
There is also the possiblity of beating the .03 to .06 in q2. Basically it depends on whether they receive the raw materials in time to begin their production soon, and whether they can convince employees to work during the xmas one-week break.
The negative on this one is that they are in an economically sensitive sector, and their guidance was dependent on information from their customers, which could change.
6. ROAC - Rock of Ages Corp is in the granite quarrying, memorial manufacturing, and memorial retail biz. They are trading in the upper fours, and gave guidance of over .20 for the coming qtr.
However, they just announced this morning that they are selling their retail operations, and will use the money to pay down debt. They have been having problems with the retail biz for years, so in the mid/long run I think this is a good idea. However in this mornings pr, while they stated that they would have 'exceeded .20' in earnings this qtr, they will have to take a large charge because they are selling the retail op's for a lot less than whats on the books. So, I'm not sure how this will play out.
