Top 200 July 22nd 2011

Another week has passed and it was certainly a good one for my portfolio. I had a decent Friday, largely driven by strong results from SNDK, which popped almost 10%. It does feel good to be getting a bit back on track. After my 5+ years, I am still trailing the Russell 3000 index, but I am gaining.

I am still in Dallas and tomorrow we fly back to Connecticut. We should have internet, tv, phones and even air-conditioning upstairs! The only thing we're missing is furniture.

I rarely talk politics here, but I am hoping that Congress and the President can get their act together on the debt ceiling debate. Our entire political system is built on compromise, so both sides need to relax their positions a bit and find something they can live with. We can't play "chicken" with our AAA rating... the long term costs will be enormous if there is any hint the US will not pay their debts.

Spiffy 50 vs Ed's Talking Stock

As some readers know, I created a "Spiffy 50" portfolio at the start of December and have been tracking it against Ed's Talking Stock porfolio. Ed comes across on his blog (Ed's Talking Stock) as very knowledgeable and discusses many macro economic trends, His investing though is extraordinarily haphazard and he buys and sells on gut instinct. To make things worse, he buys very volatile securities, with a penchant for 3x etfs. I shudder to think about it. He has really struggled. Here is my Spiffy 50 versus him:

stock	Initial	Shares	Current	Daily Change	Y-day	Current Value	Total Change
afam	35.17	56.87	25.57	-1.08%	1,470	1,454	-27.30%
agx	8.43	237.25	11.23	-1.92%	2,716	2,664	33.21%
amed	28.49	70.20	26.50	0.45%	1,852	1,860	-6.98%
apol	35.35	56.58	51.93	1.26%	2,901	2,938	46.90%
azn	47.99	41.68	49.67	-1.60%	2,104	2,070	7.36%
cbst	21.20	94.34	35.72	1.08%	3,334	3,370	68.49%
ccme	15.87	126.02	1.60	0.00%	202	202	-89.92%
ceu	3.44	581.40	1.17	28.57%	529	680	-65.99%
chke	19.81	100.96	16.83	-0.94%	1,715	1,699	-13.02%
cmtl	30.70	65.15	28.59	-0.94%	1,880	1,863	-5.24%
cnxt	1.43	1,398.60	2.40	0.00%	3,357	3,357	67.83%
coco	4.24	471.70	4.63	0.00%	2,184	2,184	9.20%
csgs	19.02	105.15	18.57	-1.22%	1,977	1,953	-2.37%
dell	13.65	146.52	17.04	-0.41%	2,507	2,497	24.84%
dlx	22.02	90.83	24.81	0.12%	2,251	2,253	14.94%
eesc.ob	1.90	1,052.63	1.00	0.00%	1,053	1,053	-47.37%
eme	28.02	71.38	28.69	-0.49%	2,058	2,048	2.39%
frx	32.24	62.03	38.53	-0.54%	2,403	2,390	19.51%
gme	21.15	94.56	23.47	0.64%	2,205	2,219	10.97%
hrb	13.37	149.59	15.51	0.26%	2,314	2,320	18.25%
idcc	34.71	57.62	72.96	-1.76%	4,279	4,204	110.77%
ipxl	18.29	109.35	21.02	-0.28%	2,305	2,299	14.93%
ksw	3.43	583.09	3.91	-1.76%	2,321	2,280	16.03%
lnc	25.12	79.62	27.79	0.22%	2,208	2,213	11.23%
lo	81.74	24.47	112.29	-0.82%	2,770	2,747	40.56%
lps	31.13	64.25	20.13	-0.59%	1,301	1,293	-34.05%
mail	6.84	292.40	7.58	-1.94%	2,260	2,216	10.82%
mpaa	11.68	171.23	14.06	0.00%	2,408	2,408	20.38%
mrx	26.88	74.40	38.30	-0.21%	2,856	2,850	43.60%
msft	26.89	74.38	27.53	1.61%	2,015	2,048	3.57%
navg	50.17	39.86	49.03	-1.17%	1,978	1,955	-2.27%
nvmi	7.42	269.54	9.60	0.95%	2,563	2,588	29.38%
osk	30.50	65.57	30.09	-1.70%	2,007	1,973	-1.34%
ppd	65.17	30.69	66.50	0.00%	2,041	2,041	2.04%
prsc	17.48	114.42	12.23	-1.37%	1,419	1,399	-30.03%
pwer	10.40	192.31	7.37	-1.21%	1,435	1,417	-29.13%
rtn	48.33	41.38	46.74	-1.23%	1,958	1,934	-0.73%
scei	6.76	295.86	2.27	0.44%	669	672	-66.42%
sndk	48.00	41.67	45.57	9.62%	1,732	1,899	-5.06%
solr	7.87	254.13	15.18	0.00%	3,858	3,858	92.88%
supg	2.60	769.23	3.14	2.95%	2,346	2,415	20.77%
ter	12.43	160.90	14.69	3.16%	2,291	2,364	18.18%
tnav	6.86	291.55	21.40	0.38%	6,215	6,239	211.95%
tndm	14.71	135.96	16.64	-0.89%	2,283	2,262	13.12%
tsra	19.93	100.35	17.69	1.67%	1,746	1,775	-11.24%
uis	24.27	82.41	26.24	0.23%	2,157	2,162	8.12%
untd	6.86	291.55	6.25	-0.32%	1,828	1,822	-5.98%
usb	24.76	80.78	26.91	-0.37%	2,182	2,174	9.89%
veco	45.07	44.38	41.17	1.06%	1,808	1,827	-8.65%
vr	29.59	67.59	27.70	-0.61%	1,884	1,872	-3.95%
Totals			-	0.13%	110,134	110,279	10.90%
Ed	starting 12/3/10						-11.64%

Top 200 List

As faithful readers know, I have my own spreadsheet that allows me to calculate the MFI statistics and then rank the stocks myself. I use FINVIZ to get all stocks greater than $50m of market cap. I then pull out everything that is in either financial or utility sectors. Finally, I exclude all stocks with less than 500 shares traded.

My list differs in several ways from the official magicformulainvesting lists. First, I do not throw out stocks. They seem to exclude some foreign stocks (like some Chinese and Israeli stocks) but I am not sure how they decide which to include and which to exclude, as some do show up. Second, I rank mine by score and show the yields (per Yahoo, which are not always right). If anyone knows a better way to get more accurate yields, that would be great. Finally, we often differ by a day... which can make a difference depending on what happened to stock price and whether finanical statements were posted in Compustat.

Ticker	Rank	Date	Stock Price	Market Cap	Earnings Yield	ROIC	Yahoo Yield
TRMS	1	7/23	2.53	56	241%	1498%	0.0%
TTHI	2	7/23	2.49	58	40%	2811%	0.0%
STV	3	7/23	5.15	304	37%	2097%	0.0%
LMLP	4	7/23	3.44	100	24%	11136%	0.0%
POZN	5	7/23	4.81	144	22%	7128%	0.0%
XNY	6	7/23	3.06	177	142%	357%	0.0%
PDLI	7	7/23	6.35	1,174	20%	489977%	12.5%
DEPO	8	7/23	8.54	476	20%	8922%	0.0%
VECO	9	7/23	41.17	1,751	31%	403%	0.0%
AGX	10	7/23	11.23	154	18%	1051%	0.0%
SUPG	11	7/23	3.14	192	22%	396%	0.0%
TSRA	12	7/23	17.69	907	26%	266%	0.0%
ESI	13	7/23	92.30	2,558	22%	295%	0.0%
MSN	14	7/23	1.90	52	145%	164%	0.0%
SCEI	15	7/23	2.27	58	1337%	159%	0.0%
APOL	16	7/23	51.93	7,288	21%	257%	0.0%
SOLR	17	7/23	15.18	1,941	16%	505%	0.0%
CRAY	18	7/23	6.37	222	31%	175%	0.0%
MNDO	19	7/23	2.70	51	15%	698%	11.9%
AFAM	20	7/23	25.57	239	26%	165%	0.0%
TRIT	21	7/23	7.61	62	26%	156%	0.0%
ACAD	22	7/23	1.67	84	14%	2450%	0.0%
BPI	23	7/23	30.50	1,787	16%	372%	0.0%
PRSC	24	7/23	12.23	163	19%	216%	0.0%
UIS	25	7/23	26.24	1,124	24%	160%	0.0%
GA	26	7/23	7.32	1,715	15%	576%	2.5%
BSQR	27	7/23	6.24	73	14%	654%	0.0%
LPS	28	7/23	20.13	1,774	19%	197%	2.0%
SNDK	29	7/23	45.57	11,113	15%	341%	0.0%
HRB	30	7/23	15.51	4,748	16%	262%	3.9%
CPLA	31	7/23	46.60	759	17%	220%	0.0%
CBST	32	7/23	35.72	2,162	17%	202%	0.0%
VPHM	33	7/23	19.71	1,892	15%	288%	0.0%
DJCO	34	7/23	72.50	100	33%	120%	0.0%
PWER	35	7/23	7.37	1,039	38%	112%	0.0%
OSK	36	7/23	30.09	2,762	25%	127%	0.0%
KLIC	37	7/23	10.30	753	31%	115%	0.0%
RIMG	38	7/23	15.43	147	44%	109%	1.3%
NVMI	39	7/23	9.60	259	14%	340%	0.0%
USMO	40	7/23	15.71	351	17%	177%	12.8%
PRX	41	7/23	34.46	1,223	15%	208%	0.0%
RIMM	42	7/23	27.91	14,639	37%	104%	0.0%
GAME	43	7/23	########	########	0%	617%	0.0%
SPRD	44	7/23	15.15	836	14%	312%	0.3%
AMED	45	7/23	26.50	765	21%	121%	0.0%
MBND	46	7/23	3.21	34	15%	205%	0.0%
DELL	47	7/23	17.04	32,768	15%	219%	0.0%
MSFT	48	7/23	27.53	234,583	14%	333%	2.3%
GNI	49	7/23	105.26	158	13%	435%	12.1%
UEPS	50	7/23	8.31	379	20%	123%	0.0%
CECO	51	7/23	24.42	1,874	23%	108%	0.0%
NOK	52	7/23	5.86	21,758	20%	119%	8.9%
CREG	53	7/23	1.98	109	19%	120%	0.0%
IPXL	54	7/23	21.02	1,409	19%	119%	0.0%
RTN	55	7/23	46.74	16,864	17%	139%	6.6%
MPAA	56	7/23	14.06	177	14%	202%	0.0%
ARO	57	7/23	18.09	1,510	25%	100%	0.0%
LRCX	58	7/23	44.26	5,545	19%	114%	0.0%
CNGL	59	7/23	1.84	74	110%	81%	0.0%
CHKE	60	7/23	16.83	143	12%	356%	6.8%
WSTG	61	7/23	13.30	62	15%	155%	6.0%
GME	62	7/23	23.47	3,373	21%	105%	0.0%
AZN	63	7/23	49.67	69,737	18%	122%	5.1%
TER	64	7/23	14.69	3,409	16%	140%	0.0%
LIWA	65	7/23	8.71	264	34%	84%	0.0%
LAS	66	7/23	6.54	193	38%	82%	0.0%
CMTL	67	7/23	28.59	926	21%	100%	3.5%
DLX	68	7/23	24.81	1,286	13%	223%	19.4%
CSKI	69	7/23	3.17	54	605%	75%	0.0%
CBPO	70	7/23	9.93	255	25%	89%	0.0%
UNTD	71	7/23	6.25	549	14%	177%	6.4%
LTXC	72	7/23	8.36	421	18%	110%	0.0%
MEDW	73	7/23	11.23	92	11%	688%	0.0%
CSCO	74	7/23	16.46	91,139	13%	217%	0.7%
USNA	75	7/23	31.27	507	15%	125%	0.0%
PETS	76	7/23	11.28	246	15%	122%	34.6%
GEDU	77	7/23	4.80	125	50%	72%	0.0%
NOC	78	7/23	65.27	19,379	16%	106%	12.6%
MDP	79	7/23	29.36	1,351	15%	123%	3.3%
CHOP	80	7/23	4.31	212	80%	67%	0.0%
LO	81	7/23	112.29	16,275	11%	735%	4.7%
EGY	82	7/23	7.20	419	27%	71%	0.0%
MDCO	83	7/23	15.88	859	12%	279%	0.0%
MNTA	84	7/23	19.40	976	14%	130%	0.0%
MFW	85	7/23	25.92	505	13%	160%	0.0%
KLAC	86	7/23	44.11	7,557	16%	101%	1.7%
OMPI	87	7/23	10.61	196	13%	133%	0.0%
EDS	88	7/23	4.83	159	340%	63%	0.0%
AMAT	89	7/23	13.15	17,529	16%	93%	2.2%
CEL	90	7/23	26.68	2,654	16%	93%	13.7%
LHCG	91	7/23	22.15	406	18%	85%	0.0%
LINC	92	7/23	18.96	425	26%	69%	4.0%
CNTF	93	7/23	4.25	225	412%	62%	0.0%
CYD	94	7/23	20.16	751	223%	62%	7.3%
EME	95	7/23	28.69	1,968	15%	103%	0.0%
MRX	96	7/23	38.30	2,504	10%	856%	0.7%
TNH	97	7/23	156.29	2,891	11%	350%	6.5%
ELNK	98	7/23	7.64	838	20%	74%	5.5%
NSR	99	7/23	26.46	1,992	12%	149%	0.0%
MKSI	100	7/23	26.76	1,416	24%	67%	0.6%
CA	101	7/23	22.77	11,408	11%	307%	0.8%
ADI	102	7/23	37.06	11,474	12%	143%	2.5%
AHCI	103	7/23	2.49	109	18%	76%	0.0%
NEP	104	7/23	3.32	104	134%	59%	0.0%
GTIV	105	7/23	18.80	579	13%	126%	0.0%
RIGL	106	7/23	9.88	516	10%	744%	0.0%
NVLS	107	7/23	33.05	2,713	17%	78%	0.0%
DM	108	7/23	8.96	272	12%	183%	0.0%
HPQ	109	7/23	36.70	80,153	14%	99%	2.5%
STRA	110	7/23	144.10	1,844	12%	181%	2.2%
CYOU	111	7/23	45.96	2,447	10%	400%	0.0%
CSGS	112	7/23	18.57	616	14%	102%	0.0%
CEPH	113	7/23	80.21	6,404	14%	99%	0.0%
HITK	114	7/23	30.27	392	20%	68%	0.0%
AIXG	115	7/23	28.06	2,855	16%	76%	3.0%
MCZ	116	7/23	1.31	92	18%	70%	0.0%
KIRK	117	7/23	11.20	231	26%	59%	0.0%
COOL	118	7/23	2.61	106	12%	127%	0.0%
SAI	119	7/23	16.57	5,766	15%	81%	0.0%
DNB	120	7/23	74.46	3,723	10%	874%	1.9%
GD	121	7/23	70.80	26,647	14%	82%	2.5%
SYNA	122	7/23	24.84	878	12%	112%	0.0%
UG	123	7/23	14.70	68	11%	183%	4.7%
HRS	124	7/23	43.36	5,463	15%	74%	2.3%
MED	125	7/23	21.25	310	13%	98%	0.0%
LLTC	126	7/23	31.27	7,295	11%	160%	3.1%
MRVL	127	7/23	15.33	10,074	11%	155%	0.0%
NATH	128	7/23	19.10	99	11%	133%	0.0%
MHP	129	7/23	43.92	13,598	10%	268%	2.2%
GPS	130	7/23	19.66	11,560	18%	64%	2.2%
WU	131	7/23	19.37	12,631	10%	711%	1.4%
CUB	132	7/23	51.37	1,373	10%	208%	0.5%
CNH	133	7/23	37.29	8,987	37%	53%	0.0%
MANT	134	7/23	43.60	1,597	13%	86%	0.0%
DLB	135	7/23	44.86	5,085	10%	229%	0.0%
INTC	136	7/23	23.13	125,850	14%	76%	3.0%
RLRN	137	7/23	13.33	391	10%	583%	17.8%
LMT	138	7/23	79.60	28,067	13%	88%	3.6%
GILD	139	7/23	43.21	35,080	11%	160%	0.0%
MCRL	140	7/23	10.15	640	14%	75%	1.4%
LPH	141	7/23	1.81	185	57%	50%	0.0%
CATO	142	7/23	29.65	858	15%	67%	2.7%
CNU	143	7/23	6.31	395	11%	127%	0.0%
COCO	144	7/23	4.63	392	31%	52%	0.0%
PWRD	145	7/23	20.02	1,058	15%	67%	0.0%
LXK	146	7/23	29.74	2,373	25%	53%	0.0%
MO	147	7/23	26.36	54,723	10%	289%	5.7%
YONG	148	7/23	4.97	244	31%	50%	0.0%
CMLS	149	7/23	3.60	150	11%	140%	0.0%
MY	150	7/23	5.48	685	35%	48%	0.0%
SBGI	151	7/23	11.16	902	12%	83%	2.2%
ASMI	152	7/23	32.29	2,071	20%	54%	1.8%
DV	153	7/23	65.99	4,637	11%	111%	0.4%
PTNR	154	7/23	14.76	2,321	14%	71%	58.4%
BLC	155	7/23	7.49	774	12%	84%	0.0%
IILG	156	7/23	13.55	787	10%	200%	0.0%
CMFO	157	7/23	2.99	87	53%	46%	0.0%
KFY	158	7/23	22.51	1,062	10%	194%	0.0%
SPU	159	7/23	3.04	81	112%	44%	0.0%
GMAN	160	7/23	19.23	371	11%	97%	0.0%
DRCO	161	7/23	13.12	133	16%	59%	0.0%
WSTL	162	7/23	3.04	213	15%	60%	0.0%
GPIC	163	7/23	7.79	64	22%	49%	0.0%
TNAV	164	7/23	21.40	967	9%	772%	0.0%
DGIT	165	7/23	30.58	859	11%	103%	0.0%
CGA	166	7/23	5.24	140	47%	44%	0.0%
HHS	167	7/23	8.52	547	13%	68%	3.6%
CLCT	168	7/23	15.68	123	9%	788%	8.2%
HGSH	169	7/23	2.50	113	24%	47%	0.0%
BCDS	170	7/23	6.75	120	46%	44%	0.0%
BTM	171	7/23	26.06	5,124	25%	47%	6.2%
PBI	172	7/23	22.41	4,576	11%	104%	28.1%
LNCR	173	7/23	26.28	2,496	12%	76%	3.0%
ABC	174	7/23	40.52	11,336	10%	152%	1.0%
RGR	175	7/23	23.76	451	11%	86%	8.1%
BKE	176	7/23	46.19	2,183	11%	104%	7.2%
LEA	177	7/23	52.48	5,681	14%	62%	1.0%
ASEI	178	7/23	81.00	754	11%	90%	1.9%
TVL	179	7/23	4.43	250	13%	66%	0.0%
ERIC	180	7/23	13.18	42,585	12%	75%	2.7%
TXN	181	7/23	31.78	37,945	12%	69%	1.6%
CVVT	182	7/23	3.32	118	55%	42%	0.0%
DISH	183	7/23	32.01	14,368	12%	71%	0.0%
MSPD	184	7/23	7.62	245	11%	100%	0.0%
FCX	185	7/23	55.67	53,221	19%	48%	1.6%
BBY	186	7/23	29.56	11,741	19%	48%	2.0%
CHRM	187	7/23	11.51	471	12%	69%	0.0%
LLL	188	7/23	82.90	9,078	14%	61%	2.7%
GRMN	189	7/23	32.72	6,371	12%	68%	0.0%
AOL	190	7/23	19.43	2,096	16%	52%	0.0%
GSIT	191	7/23	6.85	210	15%	55%	0.0%
VCI	192	7/23	31.60	1,654	11%	92%	0.0%
AMGN	193	7/23	55.22	51,962	12%	73%	0.0%
MCK	194	7/23	82.31	21,401	10%	147%	0.9%
AAPL	195	7/23	393.30	368,841	9%	452%	0.0%
AEIS	196	7/23	12.44	549	21%	45%	0.0%
CHE	197	7/23	65.31	1,409	9%	180%	0.8%
ROST	198	7/23	78.16	9,127	11%	81%	1.0%
EXPR	199	7/23	23.72	2,105	10%	112%	0.0%
TRLG	200	7/23	30.85	774	12%	67%	0.0%

While I have focused on the differences, at the end we match very closely. Generally all the official top 50 stocks are in my top 100.

Ticker	Mkt Cap	Date	My Ranking
ACAD	87.23	21-Jul	22
ARO	1,431.27	21-Jul	57
AFAM	242.06	21-Jul	20
AMED	776.76	21-Jul	45
APOL	7,064.82	21-Jul	16
AGX	155.74	21-Jul	10
BSQR	65.78	21-Jul	27
HRB	4,724.01	21-Jul	30
CPLA	734.90	21-Jul	31
CECO	1,869.25	21-Jul	51
CHKE	144.52	21-Jul	60
CMTL	752.81	21-Jul	67
CRAY	230.44	21-Jul	18
DELL	32,491.89	21-Jul	47
DLX	1,273.57	21-Jul	68
DEPO	453.37	21-Jul	8
SOLR	1,907.87	21-Jul	17
GME	3,295.12	21-Jul	62
GNI	158.25	21-Jul	49
ESI	2,375.32	21-Jul	13
IPXL	1,371.87	21-Jul	54
KLIC	696.59	21-Jul	37
LMLP	98.73	21-Jul	4
LTXC	404.14	21-Jul	72
LRCX	5,350.96	21-Jul	58
LPS	1,748.47	21-Jul	28
MSFT	226,947.72	21-Jul	48
MPAA	169.62	21-Jul	56
NVMI	241.32	21-Jul	39
OSK	2,788.33	21-Jul	36
PDLI	892.30	21-Jul	7
PRX	1,252.22	21-Jul	41
PETS	238.10	21-Jul	76
PWER	772.61	21-Jul	35
POZN	141.45	21-Jul	5
PRSC	160.72	21-Jul	24
RTN	16,779.67	21-Jul	55
SNDK	9,906.96	21-Jul	29
SCEI	53.04	21-Jul	15
SUPG	184.12	21-Jul	11
TER	2,637.96	21-Jul	64
TSRA	888.83	21-Jul	12
TTHI	56.54	21-Jul	2
TRMS	58.22	21-Jul	1
USMO	346.04	21-Jul	40
UIS	1,128.36	21-Jul	25
UNTD	552.50	21-Jul	71
VECO	1,659.71	21-Jul	9
VPHM	1,472.07	21-Jul	33
WSTG	63.05	21-Jul	61

New Computer

A bit off-topic, but I did get a new computer this week, a Thinkpad x220. I have not fired it up yet as I have been traveling and decided to take my Dell XPS on a final road trip. As Dell in one of my stocks, it was bad of me to go with the Lenovo. But it does have an Intel chip, and I will be buying a Cisco Linksys router for my new home. Oh, and of course I have Windows!