I have to admit...I've been looking forward to this for a while.
Last February, I made the completely liberating decision to buy crappy stocks and not care if they lose money. Pleasantly/well timed to the market recovery, 7 of those 10 stocks are in the black one year later.
So I will repeat the selection progress from last year: 10 more lousy stocks, each 1/10th of what I usually invest per month. And 10 more snarky comments for each wretched stock.
Without further ado, I present to you the 10 newest members of "The Distressed" (percentages are from 52-week high):
Ambac Financial (ABK, -71%): bond insurer which somewhat famously imploded in the fall of 2008.
Blockbuster (BBI, -76%): just like Netflix, but with way more overhead and debt.
Borders (BGP, -73%): old-fashioned, old-media retailer very near to bankruptcy.
China Real Estate Information (CRIC, -45%): irresistible intersection of the twin bubbles of China and real estate.
Energy Conversion Devices (ENER, -74%): beat-down solar cell and nickel battery company.
E*Trade (ETFC, -49%): nearly wiped out by mortgage business. Minus points for annoying talking baby commercials.
GigaMedia (GIGM, -61%): the worst of many Chinese online gaming stocks.
Jackson Hewitt (JTX, -81%): completely inferior competitor to the larger, healthier HR Block.
Palm (PALM, -45%): largely invented the smartphone, only to get trampled by everyone else.
MetroPCS (PCS, -69%): second-tier mobile provider. Bonus points for "Tech & Talk" commercials.
Here's my current portfolio. As always, I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them.
Southern Copper (PCU) 10.92%
Apple (AAPL) 10.67%
Google (GOOG) 9.03%
Terra Nitrogen (TNH) 6.82%
Dominion Resources Black Warrior Trust (DOM) 6.46%
The Distressed (ABK, AIG, BBI, BGP, C, CRIC, ENER, ETFC, F, FNM, GIGM, JSDA, JTX, MOT, MTLQQ.PK, PALM, PCS, WFC, YRCW) 5.76%
Ace Limited (ACE) 5.07%
Tesoro (TSO) 4.90%
Frontline (FRO) 4.55%
American Software 4.02%
Blackstone (BX) 3.66%
Biovail (BVF) 3.24%
Vodafone (VOD) 3.11%
Tidewater (TDW) 3.05%
Great Northern Iron (GNI) 3.03%
Apache (APA) 2.97%
McDonald's (MCD) 2.90%
DuPont (DD) 2.42%
Annaly Capital Management (NLY) 2.40%
PDL BioPharma (PDLI) 2.35%
Cherokee (CHKE) 2.19%
