fool.com Hidden Gems
I recently subscribed to a Motley Fool
newsletter, and I've been spending the (way too much) cash in our IRA accounts
buying up small positions of obscure little companies. I like unknown companies
that make money and might make more. I appreciate the Motley Fool guys for
their no-nonsense approach to investing. Their newsletters are sort of
expensive, but they don't pimp stocks for personal reasons, or to gain
commissions, or to sell advertising. I don't take most of their
recommendations, but they're always
interesting.
Back in October, I named
the stock I was looking at -- K-Swiss (KSWS), who makes fancy tennis shoes. I
didn't buy them; not sure why. They're up 60% since then.
Dang.
I sold most of my Polish liquor
company, Central European Distributing Company (CEDC). It's up about 900% since
I bought it, but I kept selling half every time it doubled, so I didn't make as
much as I could have. Now I think it might actually be overvalued. I should
have sold it all, but it's been such a winner that I'm a bit sentimental, so I
kept 100 shares.
Stocks I've bought
recently are:
Acme United (ACU) makes
school supplies, like scissors and staplers. Up 50% since my purchase; still
looks pretty good.
Cryptologic (CRYP) makes
internet gambling software. Just bought it; highly risky. Not as profitable as
I like, but looks like a good growth
area.
Cutter and Buck (CBUK) makes golfwear.
Down 4% since I bought it. Don't know much about
them.
eSpeed (ESPD) makes stock trading
software. Up 26% since I bought it. Stilll looks
good.
Neenah Paper (NP) makes paper. Just
bought it. Short term kind of risky because wood is so expensive now, but long
term I like them.
Pioneer (PIO) is the
Japanese electronics company. The declining dollar should hurt their profits,
but the soaring Euro should help. Up 6% since I bought
it.
Sharper Image (SHRP) is the catalog
gadget company. They've had a bad year, but I figure they'll have a good year
some day. Down 3% since I bought it.
Select
Comfort (SCSS) makes fancy mattresses. Up 10% since I bought it, and looks
promising.
QLT Phototherapeutics (QLTI)
develops eye disease drugs. Down 2% since I bought it. Very high risk, but
good upside potential.
Sanderson Farms (SAFM)
produces chicken. Up 17% since I bought it. Looks
OK.
Stanley Furniture (STLY) makes snooty
wood furniture. Up 2% since I bought it. Looks
OK.
TRI Continental (TY) is a market-traded
mutual fund that is valued some 15% lower than the value of its holdings. I
normally abhor mutual funds, but this looked like a pretty safe place to store
some spare cash. It's gone up 3% since I bought
it.
Most of these haven't changed that
much, but it's only been 3 months for the oldest of
them.
I've got a sale order in for my
Sara Lee (SLE) stock, which is up 45% since I purchased it in April
2003.
Filed Mon - January 3, 2005, 12:16 PM in
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