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April, 2007: 1 8 15 22 28
Disclaimer - IMPORTANT - Read this first!
Investor's Journal is a diary focused strictly on investments and personal finance issues, primarily from a contrarian and retiree point of view. Follow along with an average guy's failures and successes as he learns, by trial and error, the fine art of value investing.


4/1/07-I have done an analysis to date of the stocks initially picked with Yummy Yielder (YY) criteria, simply the best high dividend stock I could find each time, which also had debt to equity .33 or below and a dividend payout ratio of 0.50 or below. As the long-term reader may recall, these assets were tracked separately from October, 2005 through June, 2006. In that period, there were 15 separate asset picks, or about one every 18 days. These stocks at first had a lot of promise, with annualized returns looking terrific, 50% or higher at times. However, reality began to set in after a few months, and their star power came closer to earth. Of the 15 YY picks, to date 6 have been losers and 9 were winners, for a winners to losers ratio of only 1.5. 40% of the selections turned out to be losing stocks. Based on the performance through 3/30/07, with an average hold period (closed and open positions) of 0.953 years, the absolute gains have averaged 10.9%, which works out to an annualized gain of 11.4%. This is better than the S&P 500 Index in the same interval, but substantially below either the average gain of the long-term Classic Value (CV) equities (even though it now includes all of the YY assets) or of the Leapin' Lizards (LL) assets. Even with the dividends (roughly 3[+]% each, on average) added in, the annualized total return of the YYs turns out, so far, to have been only 14.4%, compared with an annualized total return for the 50/50 LL/CV Blend Portfolio of 19.7% So, I shall continue to focus simply on finding and purchasing the best CV, regardless of its dividend status, around every other week, alternating those buys, on the alternate weeks, with the best LL I can find.


4/8/07-Since the prior entry, our Classic Value (CV) pick, OXY, has been held over a year, and so it will be sold at the early market price Monday morning, removed from the CV open positions portfolio, and its closed position info recorded, based on the 4/7/06 to early 4/9/07 per share performance. Through the close of trading on 4/5/07, after subtracting a commission (while not counting any dividends), OXY has been up 3.15% in the past 12(+) months.

My top-ten equities for mention today are: ACE; AVTR; AXS; CRWS; ELMG; NVR; RNR; TRCI; URGI; and WLK.

The focus for the current entry is on a new CV selection, ACE Ltd. (ACE) (recent price $57.29). ACE's trailing price to earnings ratio is low at 8.30. The asset's market-capitalization size is giant-cap: $18.72 billion. ACE Ltd. has a 1.70% dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 0.14. The price to sales ratio is 1.40. ACE's price to book value is below average, at 1.31. There is positive free cash flow. Return on equity is 17.64%. Debt to equity is 0.17. The current ratio is 2.64. This stock has been up 11.92% over the past year. This asset has low price to earnings and low debt in its favor. It meets Ben Graham value plus safety bargain stock criteria.

ACE Ltd. will be added to our CV tracking portfolio (and our actual nest-egg) at its market price as of early on Monday, 4/9/07.


4/15/07-Since the prior entry, our Classic Value (CV) pick, PFCO, has been held over a year, and so it will be sold at the early market price Monday morning, removed from the CV open positions portfolio, and its closed position info recorded, based on the 4/12/06 to early 4/16/07 per share performance. Through the close of trading 4/13/07, after subtracting a commission (while not counting any dividends), PFCO has been up 45.25% in the past 12(+) months.

My top-ten equities for mention today are: ABM; AGYS; BRK/A (BRK/B); DLB; JSDA; MEA; RAIL; ROCM; SYX; and XETA.

The focus for the current entry is on a new Leapin' Lizards (LL) selection, XETA Technologies (XETA) (recent price $3.24). XETA' trailing price to earnings ratio is 32.08. The asset's market-capitalization size is nano-cap: $33.09 million. XETA Technologies has no dividend. The price to sales ratio is 0.50. XETA's price to book value is low at 0.84. There is positive free cash flow. Return on equity is 2.74%. Debt to equity is 0.06. The current ratio is 1.65. Shareholder equity to total assets is 0.71. The stock price is up 44.00% in the past 52 weeks. The asset has low price to sales, low debt, low price to book value, and above average momentum in its favor.

XETA Technologies will be added to our LL tracking portfolio at its market price as of early on Monday, 4/16/07.


4/22/07-Since the prior entry, there have been no open positions held for a year or more, so no sales are appropriate at this time.

My top-ten equities for mention today are: ASPV; EDUC; IDCC; ORH; PMRY; RAIL; RNR; ROCM; RSC; and ZNT.

The focus for the current entry is on a new Classic Value (CV) asset, Pomeroy IT Solutions, Inc. (PMRY) (recent price $9.25). PMRY's trailing price to earnings ratio is high at 102.70. However, its forward P/E is 14.20. The asset's market-capitalization size is nano-cap: $114.29 million. Pomeroy IT Solutions, Inc., has no dividend. The price to sales ratio is only 0.18. PMRY's price to book value is quite low at 0.54. There is positive free cash flow. Return on equity is very low at 0.56%. Debt to equity is zero. The current ratio is 1.93. The shareholder equity to total assets ratio is 0.67. The stock has low price to sales, low price to book value, and low debt in its favor. This asset meets Ben Graham bargain stock criteria.

Pomeroy IT Solutions, Inc., will be added to our CV tracking portfolio at its market price as of early on Monday, 4/23/07.


4/28/07-Since the prior entry, our Leapin' Lizards (LL) pick, FRD, has been held for a year, and so it will be sold at the early market price Monday morning, removed from the LL open positions portfolio, and its closed position info recorded, based on the 4/24/06 to early 4/30/07 per share performance. Through the close of trading on 4/27/07, after subtracting a commission (while not counting any dividends), FRD has been down 8.93% in the past 12(+) months.

Also since the prior entry, our Leapin' Lizards (LL) pick, SHLM, has been held for a year, and so it will be sold at the early market price Monday morning, removed from the LL open positions portfolio, and its closed position info recorded, based on the 4/24/06 to early 4/30/07 per share performance. Through the close of trading on 4/27/07, after subtracting a commission (while not counting any dividends), SHLM has been up 2.51% in the past 12(+) months.

Since the last entry, our Classic Value (CV) pick, HDL, has been held over a year too, and so it will likewise be sold at the early market price Monday morning. It will be removed from the CV open positions portfolio, and its closed position info recorded, based on the 4/27/06 to early 4/30/07 per share performance. Through the close of trading on 4/27/07, after subtracting a commission (while not counting any dividends), HDL has been down 12.21% in the past 12(+) months.

My top-ten equities for mention today are: ABM; AGYS; FCPO; HNT; PCR; RAIL; SYX; TESS; VLGEA; and ZONS.

The focus this time is on a new Leapin' Lizards (LL) selection, Health Net, Inc. (HNT) (recent price $56.90). HNT's trailing price to earnings ratio is 20.45. The asset's market-capitalization size is mid-cap: $6.37 billion. Health Net, Inc., has no dividend. The price to sales ratio is only 0.49. HNT's price to book value is 3.58. There is positive free cash flow. Return on equity is 19.56%. Debt to equity is 0.28. The current ratio is 1.53. HNT's share price is up 39.80% in the past 52 weeks. The stock has low price to sales, low debt, and moderate upward momentum in its favor.

Health Net, Inc., will be added to our LL tracking portfolio (as well as to our personal nest egg) at its market price early on Monday, 4/30/07.


Disclaimer and Disclosure Statement
Much as I'd love it to be otherwise, I receive no payment of any kind for disseminating investment information unless, by some fluke, millions of folks, on the strength of these entries, start buying shares of stock I own, a possibility only slightly less likely than our being destroyed by a large meteorite. Do not follow any suggestions made in Investor's Journal as if I were a professional.

Neither I nor Investor's Journal will be responsible for losses by anyone who obtained ideas from this site.

This diary is intended for personal interest and general information only. You are advised to do your own research (as well as to consult highly compensated professionals) before spending money on anything.

I know of no reason anyone should take my financial musings seriously. At best I am a dedicated amateur providing a bit of investment-related insight and entertainment, at worst an amusing diversion.

My wife, Fran, and I may at times own shares of some of the assets mentioned here. But neither of us receive any benefit from reference to them, unless you count the mutual misery when we get it wrong, or the opportunity to gloat when we get it right.

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