No New Mechanical Stocks (again)

For the 2nd consecutive week, there are no new stocks to the mechanical portfolios this weekend. We do bid adios to the Oct 10th tranche from last year:

From the top 30:

Symbol		Original	Current	Dividend	S&P O	S&P D	Stock Chg	S&P Chg	Diff
MSB	10/10/08	10.12	10.18	0.40	88.50	1.80	4.5%	23.2%	-18.7%
UEPS	10/10/08	14.58	21.62	-	88.50	1.80	48.3%	23.2%	25.1%

From the Top 50:

Symbol		Original	Current	Dividend	S&P O	S&P D	Stock Chg	S&P Chg	Diff
CTCM	10/10/08	9.02	17.60	-	88.50	1.80	95.1%	23.2%	71.9%
DAR	10/10/08	7.55	7.26	-	88.50	1.80	-3.8%	23.2%	-27.1%
NOV	10/10/08	23.42	45.25	-	88.50	1.80	93.2%	23.2%	70.0%
PRGX	10/10/08	4.69	5.99	-	88.50	1.80	27.7%	23.2%	4.5%
PCP	10/10/08	54.15	103.32	0.12	88.50	1.80	91.0%	23.2%	67.8%
ALDN	10/10/08	9.64	11.49	-	88.50	1.80	19.2%	23.2%	-4.0%

Then I will mention that investors should ignore the mechanical approach at their peril. I poo-pooed McGraw Hill a couple weeks ago when it hit the top 30 mechanical portfolio. Since then it is up 15% and got a very favorable write-up in Barron's today (A Valuable Franchise, Warts and All).

Finally, a larger MFI holding of mine, QXM also got a nice mention on Friday and shot up over 6% right away (Exploring Cheap Chinese Stocks). The article mentioned that QXM is trading for 60% of just the cash they hold. Hopefully that will translate into a higher stock price someday.

I did have another big day on Friday (up 1.2%) and am within a few percent of breakeven. Actually, I went back and figured out that if I had held in MFI ENH-PA and RNR-PC (which I "sold" in July... but didn't really sell) I'd be in the black. I had pulled them as I was trying to get back to pure MFI, and that is a big reason I'm 18% in cash.