Remembrance Day

It is Remembrance Day here in Bermuda, when everyone wears Poppies to remember those who fought in wars. That also means I have the day off.

KSW reported earnings after the start of trading yesterday. I really don't like it when companies do that. Is it so difficult to release earnings before you have your cup of coffee? They were generally solid (KSW, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2010 Results) as they made eleven cents a share. I kind of feel that is as good as it is going to get. For some reason, they did not comment on the asset side in their release, I was curious to see the revised cash position.

My intended sale of CMFO did not go through yesterday. I had placed in a sell order, but the stock immediately dropped about 12%. I didn't think their earnings were "that" bad, so in the words of Yoda, "hold them I shall".

Transactions

I did make one switch yesterday. I sold my position in FLL at a respectable 16% gain. I did my research and decided I did not like how they were going to be positioned post their upcoming acquisition. The reason I liked FLL was their strong balance sheet and steady approach to the future. To me there is a large amount of integration risk and it is going to take a company with a strong balance sheet to one that is levered up more than I am comfortable.

To replace FLL, I bought SCEI. I will find out relatively quickly if this was a savvy move, as SCEI announced less than 24 hours after my purchase that they will be announcing their earnings tomorrow morning.

All Things Must Pass

With the down day we had yesterday and with today looking red, I think this is likely to be a down week, not a disaster though but down about 1% right now.

I do feel the strong run since July is about finished. C'est la vie, n'est pas? My barometers (the open tracking portfolios) show MFI has been losing ground in the past week to the Russell 3000. I need to create a better index to track this, rather like my portfolio charts that I publish weekly, but broader.