Friday, January 4, 2008

Down Time

Happy New Year, all. A quick review of my recent recos leaves us with an all or nothing feeling. Florida pooped their pants in the bowl game, making Chad Henne look like Tom Brady for 4 quarters, while TBow was exposed as an inaccurate groundball thrower when pressured and put into definite passing situations. Note to Urban Meyer, when your QB is getting dumped on every play, perhaps reel in the spread a little bit and use that crazy RB guy to throw a block. Awful coaching that we've seen repeatedly in these games, like the onside kick "Big Game" Bob tried against WVU after they scored on their first 2 possessions of the 2nd half. Awful like Frank Beamer not going for it on 4th and 1 at the 6 against Kansas, then getting the fg blocked and losing by 3. My Pats and Chargers picks split as the Giants put up a much better fight than expected.

Fortunately for us, my stock picks have been much better, and hopefully where the real money has gone. Simply buying PXJ (the oil services ETF) 10 days ago would've produced a better than 10% return already. My last reco, SRS, was up 7% yesterday as I believe commercial construction will continue to flail behind unsellable retail space and poor demand.

I saw on CNBC yesterday that a poll of analysts listed Financials as their most bullish sector for 2008. That only reaffirms my belief that the financials will continue to get pounded, particularly over the next 6 months. XLF, a LEAP put I recod 2 weeks ago, is down from $32 to $28 in that time, a 12.5% decline. Volatility should remain very high this year, and we need to look at stocks that will continue to suffer. Homebuilders, financials, construction services such as Home Depot, and slim margin businesses like retail and restaurants will fail unless management is precise. I don't see that in too many of the business I research. Continue to be short in the near and far except oil.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree! Oil is a great buy. What oil funds or stock do you prefer right now?

Anonymous said...

SEC or the BIG TEN? Which is the better conference? Is one faster than the other? Please post your response tomorrow as your blog of the day. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Coaching?? Does it exist in the Big Ten? If so please explain.

AX said...

Hey, thanks for the support. Oil will win this year, whether it's refineries or service stocks. I still favor the service index PXJ, which gets you Transocean (RIG) and Halliburton. I own Conoco (COP) and continue to believe it's the most undervalued company. If you're feeling frisky, overseas companies such as Petrobras (PBR, a Brazillian energy company) are strong. I have continued to do research on Canada's shale and oil companies, and will post my findings soon.

AX said...

Jumping from stocks to foosball, I believe Jamarcus (Bama' Boy) Russell summed up the differences in the 2 conferences best the other night when he said, "Bllahbidddybllahh, thanks to God, bibbidybllaahh, speed, gobbledeegoo." I shudder to think what his Wonderlick score was, but at least Clevelander Troy Smith represented well as he was well spoken and humble in a losing cause. Yikes, Bucks could've used him the other night.

To answer, SEC is worlds better. The talent throughout is tremendous. While OSU and UM put 5-10 guys in the NFL each draft, the drop off from there is precipitous. Look at an average SEC team like Arkansas, they have 2first round picks in their backfield! LSU lost twice this year (by a total of 5 pts, both in OT) and just toyed with OSU.

AX said...

To follow up, Tressel has taken OSU to the championship game 3 times in 6 years, so you can't call him a bad coach. OSU plays a very soft schedule that allows them to win 10 games every year, keeping them in the hunt. Rude awakening when they play USC instead of Washington as their big non-conference game next year. Carr sucked, JoePA, well, he's old, and the rest all meld together as a mediocre anonymous bunch. All except Tiller, who's crazy offense keeps Purdue competitive every year even when talent is down.