Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Catch the Dividend

Most banks have been battered as of late due to sub-prime loans, bubble burst in the real estate markets and an uncertain future for interest rates.
In the past, bad news have been soon forgotten and sectors have kept on moving in cycles. Catching stocks at near their lows is what I aim to do.
One stock that has been in my "crosshairs" is Corus Bankshares, Inc. (CORS). It operates as the bank holding company for Corus Bank, N.A., which offers consumer and corporate banking products and services in the United States. The bank principally provides commercial real estate lending with primary focus on condominium projects comprising construction of new projects and conversion of existing apartments into condominiums. It also has a portfolio of loans secured by hotels and office buildings. The bank's primary lending market consists of various metropolitan areas in Florida and California, New York City, and the Washington, D.C.
CORS is trading today at 17.99, near a 3 year low and at about 46.7% below its 52 week high, average daily volume is 880,000 shares, leading P/E of about 6, significant fund and management ownership and an unusually large amount of short-selling.
Best of all, it pays a 5.7% dividend, ex-dividend date is 3/26/07 of .25/share.
If we can peg the lows on this stock, we may enjoy a good bounce from these prices and hopefully, squeeze out some of the short positions.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

On a Bloody Day, Opportunities Arise

Another crushing day at the market. Just two weeks after a major pull-back, we see stock prices tumble again.
At this point, I am tempted to view this action as a healthy correction (between 5% and 10%) from the February 20 record highs.
Provided this sell-off doesn't develop into a downward spiral, we may see some buying opportunities on selective stocks. If the trend continues, buckle your seatbelts, we could be in for a very rough ride.
Today, Hercules Offshore, Inc. (HERO) is down .02 at 26.87, it just broke above the 50 day moving average and is holding well at a time when everything else is bleeding.
Hercules Offshore, Inc. and subsidiaries provide shallow-water drilling and liftboat services to the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and internationally.
Average daily volume is 573,000; leading P/E is about 6, earnings have increased consistently for at least the last three years with good projections for '07 and '08, made a nice base at 25.
Trading at about 38.5% below it's 52 week high, this may be a bargain worth researching.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

What Took Them So Long?

It feels good to be one step ahead of the "experts".
This is an article I read today about Kemet Corp.:

RESEARCH ALERT-Lehman upgrades Kemet to overweight Thu Mar 8, 2007 9:47 AM ET
March 8 (Reuters) -
KEMET CORP.
Current Prior Rating Overweight Equal weight
Lehman Brothers said the beaten down stock of Kemet represents one of the best values in its coverage universe.
If the company successfully integrates the pending acquisition of Evox Rifa Group , it could post earnings of 70 cents a share or higher a year from now, Lehman said in a research note.
Investors tend to view the maker of passive electronic components as a short-term trading vehicle rather than a buy and hold stock, the brokerage, which has a price target of $11 on Kemet, said.
The shares were up almost 4.5 percent at $8.16 in early morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Sreerupa Mitra in Bangalore)