There is a very small (micro-cap) insurance company in Florida called Homeowners Choice, Inc. (HCII) that I included among my stock picks for 2011. My suggestion was made with some reservations, not because of it’s growth potential, but because I was concerned that the write-up itself might impact the stock.

Yesterday, March 8, HCII reported it’s 13th straight quarter of profitability with Q4 earnings of 27 cents per share versus anticipated earnings of 14 cents.

At the time of the initial post HCII was $8.08. It was $8.50 at today’s opening and has been hovering around that mark most of the trading day. That equates to a 19.23% gain in 9 weeks (111.15% annualized).

Continue reading Chasing Value: Homeowners Choice Earnings, Another Great Quarter

Chasing Value: Homeowners Choice Earnings, Another Great Quarter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We are only one month into the new year and there have not been many dull moments. Games are going on in the Middle East and they are not the friendly kind. In Egypt a million plus protesters are playing a game of chicken with the Mubarak government demanding he step down from his 32-year-old reign as perpetual president.

This is not radical Islam fundamentalists; it is even more fundamental. The people want to improve their daily lives in a meaningful way. Education, infrastructure, clean water and clean streets. Speaking of infrastructure and getting back to the less dramatic but still important great stock picks Telefonica (TEF) and General Electric (GE) were the big winners so far bouncing over 10% in January.

Continue reading Chasing Value: 2011 Picks Dust the S&P

Chasing Value: 2011 Picks Dust the S&P originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is the fifth year that I am posting my stock picks for the year. There is a lot of foolishness in doing so because each year that I have made such suggestions, including 2009 when I owned all of the picks, it is assumed that I would hold all of the positions without responding to market conditions, or changes in the specific company. No adding to, or cutting a position. This is not the real world.

It is not possible for everything to remain static. For example, you might find that you hold a stock that made a great run through three quarters, beyond your wildest expectations, and decide it has passed a point where the metrics cannot support anything close to the price. Under normal circumstances you might sell it, except you cannot. By the end of the year the profit you might have realized fades away and you end up reporting on something that is not a true measure of your objective strategy. Nevertheless, once again I will stick with this approach because this seems to be how its done in every publication’s annual picks. This year there are eleven.

Continue reading Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks — 5 of 11

Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks — 5 of 11 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The list of stocks has been whittled down to four. Chevron Corporation (CVX) made the cut to become the oil company stock. Three defense sector powerhouses are competing for one spot in Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks — The Journey Begin.

Today we take a more comprehensive view returning to earlier metrics, and adding some other criteria in order to reach a conclusion. This series began with the contention that making specific predictions was a fools errand with the danger to your portfolio coming from “black swans”. To try and add some general counter measures to this possibility I decided that the defense and oil sectors might provide protection against the greatest of threats, war and terrorism. On that basis I posted Chasing Value: You Must Own Defense and Oil for Safety.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Defense and Oil — Part 4 Conclusion

Chasing Value: Defense and Oil — Part 4 Conclusion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The list of stocks has been whittled down to four. Chevron Corporation (CVX) made the cut to become the oil company stock. Three defense sector powerhouses are competing for one spot in Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks — The Journey Begin.

Today we take a more comprehensive view returning to earlier metrics, and adding some other criteria in order to reach a conclusion. This series began with the contention that making specific predictions was a fools errand with the danger to your portfolio coming from “black swans”. To try and add some general counter measures to this possibility I decided that the defense and oil sectors might provide protection against the greatest of threats, war and terrorism. On that basis I posted Chasing Value: You Must Own Defense and Oil for Safety.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Defense and Oil — Part 4 Conclusion

Chasing Value: Defense and Oil — Part 4 Conclusion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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