Saturday, August 3, 2013

Stocks Of The Month: CSCO, HSY, LVS, SBUX, WYNN (Oh, The Vices)

After selling AGNC, BBEP, and NLY last month, I needed some new, reliable dividend stocks.

Chocolate. Coffee. Gambling. The Internet. These are vices which humans just can't get enough of. As an investment idea, it seems as good as any other I've thought of.


Cisco (CSCO)

Positives:
$47B cash, "only" $16B debt.
Safe, growing 2.7% dividend yield.

Negatives:
Tepid revenue growth (5%).
$139B market cap.


Hershey (HSY)

Positives:
65% return on equity.
Seems very Heinz-ish in quality. (hey, Warren Buffett.)

Negatives:
Tepid revenue growth (7%).
More debt ($2B) than cash ($570M).


Las Vegas Sands (LVS)

Positives:
Excellent revenue (26%) and earnings (120%!) growth.
52% held by insiders.

Negatives:
More debt ($10B) than cash ($2B).


Starbucks (SBUX)

Positives:
Good profit (11%) and operating (14%) margins.
Solid revenue (13%) and earnings (25%) growth.

Negatives:
Fairly small (1.1%) dividend yield.
It is possible, maybe even likely, that someone will come along and make a better cup of coffee someday.


Wynn Resorts (WYNN)

Positives:
Outstanding earnings growth (44%).
Ridiculous return on equity (224%!!).

Negatives:
Tepid revenue growth (5%).
More debt ($6B) than cash ($2B).


Here's my current portfolio (growth, dividend, and speculative). As always, I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them.

Apple (AAPL) 10.04%
Tesla Motors (TSLA) 8.98%
Google (GOOG) 8.05%
Baidu (BIDU) 6.89%
Amazon (AMZN) 4.50%
Ace Limited (ACE) 3.90%
Southern Copper (SCCO) 3.87%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 3.11%
3D Systems (DDD) 2.62%
Blackstone (BX) 2.61%
American Software (AMSWA) 2.52%
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) 1.94%
Under Armour (UA) 1.91%
McDonald's (MCD) 1.86%
DuPont (DD) 1.83%
Qihoo 360 (QIHU) 1.79%
Apache (APA) 1.78%
Vodafone (VOD) 1.78%
Prospect Capital (PSEC) 1.74%
Intel (INTC) 1.65%
Ansys (ANSS) 1.50%
Nike (NKE) 1.44%
Cisco (CSCO) 1.39%
Starbucks (SBUX) 1.39%
Wynn Resorts (WYNN) 1.38%
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) 1.36%
American Express (AXP) 1.34%
Hershey (HSY) 1.34%
ConocoPhillips (COP) 1.33%
Wells Fargo (WFC) 1.27%
Computer Programs and Systems (CPSI) 1.25%
Coca-Cola (KO) 1.19%
International Business Machines (IBM) 1.15%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.13%
China Mobile (CHL) 1.11%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 1.09%
Stratasys (SSYS) 1.07%
ExOne (XONE) 1.05%
F5 Networks (FFIV) 1.05%
Microsoft (MSFT) 1.04%
The Distressed (BEBE, GSOL, LZB, MSI, TMUS) 0.84%

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Stocks Of The Month: SSYS, XONE

3D Systems has been a "stock of the month" twice already. However, it would be quite arrogant, and very likely incorrect, if I were to act under the assumption that DDD will the only winner in the red-hot 3D printing industry. Therefore, two high-growth competitors have been added to the portfolio...


Stratasys (SSYS)

Positives:
116% revenue growth.
$141M cash, $0 debt.
42% of shares owned by insiders.

Negatives:
No earnings as of yet; forward P/E of 34.
Negative cash flows.
Negative profit margin (-4%) and ROE (-1%).


ExOne (XONE)

Positives:
192% revenue growth.
$71M cash, $5M debt.
37% of shares owned by insiders.

Negatives:
No earnings as of yet; forward P/E of 117(!!).
Atrocious profit (-31%) and operating (-25%) margins.
Heavily shorted (32%).


Here's my current portfolio (growth, dividend, and speculative). As always, I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them. (Note that AGNC, BBEP, NLY, and PSEC have now been classified as "speculative"...if you would be thinking I am now one step away from exiting these stocks, you might be right.)

Apple (AAPL) 9.97%
Google (GOOG) 8.60%
Tesla Motors (TSLA) 8.42%
Baidu (BIDU) 4.89%
Amazon (AMZN) 4.61%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 4.34%
Southern Copper (SCCO) 4.33%
Ace Limited (ACE) 4.14%
3D Systems (DDD) 2.72%
American Software (AMSWA) 2.71%
American Capital Agency (AGNC) 2.68%
Annaly Capital Management (NLY) 2.61%
Blackstone (BX) 2.58%
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) 2.23%
McDonald's (MCD) 2.06%
Apache (APA) 1.96%
Prospect Capital (PSEC) 1.88%
Intel (INTC) 1.85%
Vodafone (VOD) 1.83%
Under Armour (UA) 1.82%
DuPont (DD) 1.76%
Nike (NKE) 1.49%
American Express (AXP) 1.45%
Qihoo 360 (QIHU) 1.37%
ConocoPhillips (COP) 1.34%
Ansys (ANSS) 1.34%
Coca-Cola (KO) 1.31%
Wells Fargo (WFC) 1.29%
International Business Machines (IBM) 1.24%
Microsoft (MSFT) 1.21%
ExOne (XONE) 1.21%
BreitBurn Energy Partners (BBEP) 1.19%
China Mobile (CHL) 1.17%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 1.17%
Computer Programs and Systems (CPSI) 1.15%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.11%
Stratasys (SSYS) 1.10%
F5 Networks (FFIV) 0.90%
The Distressed (BEBE, GSOL, LZB, MSI, TMUS) 0.88%

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Stocks Of The Month: QIHU, DDD

After watching Telsa Motors shares triple over the past 2 months, I had an appetite for a couple of growth stocks...one new to the portfolio, and one already owned...that have each doubled over the past year, yet are each only around $5B in market cap.


Qihoo 360 (QIHU)

Positives:
China. Mobile. Search. A competitor/complimentary-investment of Baidu.
Explosive revenue growth (59%).
$301M cash, $0 debt.

Negatives:
Ridiculous 141 P/E, though forward P/E of 25 is reasonable.
Modest operating (11%) and profit (10%) margins.
Negative earnings growth (-61%).


3D Systems (DDD)

Positives:
Good revenue growth (31%).
3D printing is a hot industry (like, "electric car" hot).

Negatives:
Expensive 100 P/E, though forward 35 P/E is slightly better.
Negative earnings growth (-5%).
Heavily shorted (31%).


Here's my current portfolio (growth, dividend, and speculative). As always, I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them.

Apple (AAPL) 10.86%
Google (GOOG) 8.49%
Tesla Motors (TSLA) 6.88%
Baidu (BIDU) 5.28%
Southern Copper (SCCO) 5.11%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 4.38%
Amazon (AMZN) 4.38%
Ace Limited (ACE) 4.19%
American Capital Agency (AGNC) 3.12%
Annaly Capital Management (NLY) 2.93%
3D Systems (DDD) 2.75%
Blackstone (BX) 2.66%
American Software (AMSWA) 2.63%
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) 2.21%
McDonald's (MCD) 2.05%
Apache (APA) 2.04%
Intel (INTC) 2.01%
Vodafone (VOD) 1.90%
DuPont (DD) 1.90%
Under Armour (UA) 1.89%
Prospect Capital (PSEC) 1.80%
Nike (NKE) 1.52%
American Express (AXP) 1.50%
Coca-Cola (KO) 1.37%
Ansys (ANSS) 1.36%
International Business Machines (IBM) 1.36%
ConocoPhillips (COP) 1.36%
BreitBurn Energy Partners (BBEP) 1.35%
Wells Fargo (WFC) 1.29%
Microsoft (MSFT) 1.27%
Qihoo 360 (QIHU) 1.25%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 1.23%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.21%
Computer Programs and Systems (CPSI) 1.21%
China Mobile (CHL) 1.20%
F5 Networks (FFIV) 1.02%
The Distressed (BEBE, GSOL, LZB, MSI, TMUS) 0.85%