Lee Samaha
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Why This Tech Stock Looks Like a Good Value
By Lee Samaha - May 3, 2013 | Tickers: CSCO, CTXS, FFIV
The difficult earnings season for technology continues, and Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) didn't disappoint to disappoint. The market is in no mood to take prisoners right now with any kind of tech company that misses revenue and earnings forecasts. Consequently, the stock took a battering after it missed and guided earnings lower for Q2. On the other hand, I think there are some mitigating circumstances and this drop is more »
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Key Earnings this Week
By Lee Samaha - May 2, 2013 | Tickers: AGN, FB, MAS, PFE
It’s another big week for earnings and by now investors will have formulated a thesis on the first quarter. That thesis will be put to the test this week. In my view there are some clear signs that there was a bit of caution over discretionary spending among corporations. Will it continue?
As the weeks go by, let's recall that companies will get a bit more data on more »
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Are Prospects Getting Better for This Industrial Stock?
By Lee Samaha - May 2, 2013 | Tickers: CGNX, FAST, INTC
It’s been a fascinating –if at times confusing-earnings season for the industrials. In the good old days all an investor needed to do was look at the ISM manufacturing index and generally expect his stock to trade in the direction of its trends. Not anymore. In this disjointed recovery all industrial sectors are equal, but some are more equal than others. The question is does your stock have exposure more »
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The Five Things That Investors Fear With Google
By Lee Samaha - April 30, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, FB, GOOG
It’s easy for investors to take Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) for granted. The company seems to grow seamlessly while so many others flounder amid the pressure of constantly having to deal with the challenges of technological change or even just trying to stay ‘cool’. In my view Google does these things well, and in this article I want to discuss the five reasons why the market fears certain things about more »
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Scared of a Market Fall? Watch These Defensive Growth Stocks
By Lee Samaha - April 29, 2013 | Tickers: AGN, CHD, PRGO, COO, TJX
The market turbulence in April has left many if whether we are headed for another spring sell off. I have no opinion on this, per se, but what I do know is that it always makes sense for investors to try and be diversified. So if you are worried about the economy or just looking to create a balanced portfolio, the following stocks should be of interest.
Defensive growth
I more »
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Has This Stock Priced in the Near Term Risk?
By Lee Samaha - April 29, 2013 | Tickers: COV, GE, JNJ, VAR
One of the peculiar aspects of the market move upwards in 2013 is that the defensives have led the way while the traditionally more economically sensitive areas like technology have lagged. Indeed, anyone trying to construct a balanced portfolio is going to have to deal with the contradiction inherent in only wanting to buy value as well. What happens when the value is mainly within technology and therefore guiding you more »
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The Best Stock in the Industrial Sector?
By Lee Samaha - April 27, 2013 | Tickers: AA, PPG, SHW
The story with the industrial sector in this earnings season has been that there has been great variability in performance. It is very much a sector picker's market, and the broad based industrial plays like GE or Alcoa(NYSE: AA) have reported this theme. In short, Europe has been weak, but China has rebounded somewhat, the US is doing okay and the areas of relative strength overall are in more »
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A Mixed Set Of Results For This IT Security Play
By Lee Samaha - April 27, 2013 | Tickers: CHKP, FFIV, FTNT, PANW, RVBD
It’s very easy to get a bee in your bonnet with investing, and there are certain issues and metrics that just become the one big thing that guides the performance of certain stocks. In the case of IT security play Check Point (NASDAQ: CHKP) it is its falling (and now negative) product and license sales growth. In summary, there are mitigating circumstances, and there was some good news in more »
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What's Going on With This Housing Play?
By Lee Samaha - April 26, 2013 | Tickers: GE, HD, LOW, WHR
Sometimes when companies outline their strategic thinking the market chooses to ignore them and then be surprised when the results come out in line with the company’s strategy rather than with what the market chose to think. I think there was a bit of this mentality with Whirlpool's (NYSE: WHR) recent results. Revenues were a bit less than market estimates but earnings were ahead. The company told us more »
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Why This Fast Food Play Is Facing a Tough Year
By Lee Samaha - April 25, 2013 | Tickers: BKW, MCD, YUM
The market gets what the market wants and, for the first quarter of 2013, the market has wanted relatively (as compared to treasuries) high yield ‘defensives.’ I use inverted commas because when looking at a stock like McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) I’m not convinced it is as attractive as the market thinks it is. Furthermore, if you buy a stock because it is fashionable then you better be prepared more »
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Why This Telco Stock's Outlook Was Disappointing
By Lee Samaha - April 25, 2013 | Tickers: T, INTC, VZ
After Verizon (NYSE: VZ) had given a mixed prognosis for the telco sector, the focus inevitably shifted onto AT&T (NYSE: T) and what it would be saying over spending. Going into the results there was a certain amount of hope and trepidation. Hope because it had previously excited the telco industry by outlining its plans to step up spending over the next few years. Trepidation because other tech companies more »
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Why I Bought More of This IT Company
By Lee Samaha - April 25, 2013 | Tickers: IBM, ORCL, TIBX
It’s rare that I recommend watching a movie in order to try to understand investing, but in this case I strongly suggest finding the time to look at the late great Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece ‘Rashomon.’ The film is about the relativity of truth and depicts how three different people recall (in contrasting fashion) what is broadly the same event. Tech investors will have an inkling of what I more »
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What This Industrial Giant's Results Mean to the Market
By Lee Samaha - April 24, 2013 | Tickers: AA, GE, VAR, WHR
Anyone who has watched the classic sales movie Glengarry Glen Ross or worked in sales will know that the acronym ‘ABC’ stands for ‘always be closing.’ However anyone who hasn’t and instead has solely listened to US blue chip conference calls over the last few years will probably conclude that it actually stands for ‘always be cost-cutting.’ In other words, investing for growth is still on the back-burner in more »
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The Key Earnings For The Week of April 22
By Lee Samaha - April 22, 2013 | Tickers: CHKP, CTXS, SWK, VFC, YUM
It’s another huge week for earnings. In this article I've suggested some of those companies that I find interesting and provide some ideas for further research. It’s also a good time to try and check the underlying trends in the economy versus what individual companies are saying about them.
Monday
BE Aerospace and Hexcel are two of the most interesting stocks in the aerospace sector. The latter more »
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Is it Time to Invest in Telco?
By Lee Samaha - April 22, 2013 | Tickers: T, FFIV, FTNT, VZ
We are still early in earnings season but already there are signs that corporations have been affected by a sense of caution in the quarter. Of course these things are part and parcel of an uncertain political environment, and long term investors usually see them as decent buying opportunities. The problem with this approach is that when companies start reporting disappointments it will look similar to what they might say more »
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This Healthcare Bellwether Still Has Room to Run
By Lee Samaha - April 22, 2013 | Tickers: CL, COV, JNJ
Earnings season is in full swing now and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was the first of the major health care and consumer products companies to give results. In summary, the numbers were pretty good, but the commentary contained some negatives about the health care industry with regards the medical devices and the volume of surgical procedures. On the whole, it was a net positive for the company and despite the more »
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A Semiconductor Play With a Promising Outlook
By Lee Samaha - April 22, 2013 | Tickers: ALTR, ARMH, INTC, TSM |
Investing in Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is a bit like betting on an old and slightly out of shape, but hard hitting fighter. Mr. Market keeps landing quick jabs and slows his opponent down. The odd cheeky hook to the body gets slipped in, and your fighter starts to slow and look out of place. He is way down on points by the middle rounds, so, he starts throwing haymakers, and more »
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Time to Buy This Value Stock?
By Lee Samaha - April 18, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, BBBY, PIR, WSM
Investing in stocks is a bit like a visit to an auction. Some people enjoy paying a premium for what is in fashion so they can sell it on to someone more excitable than themselves, others enjoy buying a quality item at a reasonable price, and there are those that enjoy buying anything because it’s cheap.
And then there are those who kind of think something is fashionable, the more »
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Where Are These Housing Plays Headed?
By Lee Samaha - April 17, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, JWN, PIR, WFC
Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) delivered yet another strong quarter of results that highlighted its status as one of the ‘go to’ plays for a housing recovery in the States. It is not that the US mass consumer is in particularly good shape right now, but there are a few sweet spots (housing and autos) seeing relative strength. In addition they tend to be coming off a low base so more »
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Where Are These Housing Plays Headed?
By Lee Samaha - April 17, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, JWN, PIR, WFC
Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) delivered yet another strong quarter of results that highlighted its status as one of the ‘go to’ plays for a housing recovery in the States. It is not that the US mass consumer is in particularly good shape right now, but there are a few sweet spots (housing and autos) seeing relative strength. In addition they tend to be coming off a low base so more »