Author: John Linnemeier
Model: Opportunistic and Adventurous
Disclosure: Long FEIC, ILMN, IPGP, WLK at time of writing
Here’s a short review of my four positions as of end of day 5/6/11:
FEI Company (NASDAQ: FEIC)
It’s got everything I like to see in a stock: It’s in an emerging business (nanotechnology), it has a low forward P/E of under 16 , it actually turns a profit in an area that will someday totally transform our world, and best of all the market agrees with me, as the 5 day moving average is way above the 20 day.
Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN)
Illumina is an industry leader in human gene sequencing, which is a compelling business. It’s steadily increasing earnings and has a smooth, strongly up-trending one year chart that makes my heart beat faster when I see it across a crowded room.
IPG Photonics (NASDAQ: IPGP)
IPG is a wonderfully innovative company in a strong sector (fiber optics/laser optics). Management is nicely increasing profits. Mr. Market got a little skittish after the last earnings report, which was quite good but not supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The manic-depressive Mr. M gave us some lumps, but since then has regained his composure and started bidding the price up smoothly again.
Westlake Chemical Corp (NYSE: WLK)
A solid performer in speciality chemicals. Insiders appear to be buying. It shows a nice chart with an unreasonably negative reaction to a good earnings report, followed by a strong recovery.
The Chinese and Indian governments’ concern over inflation and the steps they’ve taken to tighten credit and increase interest rates have made me temporarily less bullish on these two countries. If there is a big sell-off, or if interest rates start to drop, I’ll be all over ADRs in the consumer sectors of China and India. In the long run, betting on the middle class of these two countries is a good bet. I was in India over the winter and plan to be in Shanghai in August, so I’ll keep my eyes open for a few sweet companies.
Sources:
FEIC Price/Earnings data for year ending Dec 31, 2012, as of 5/15/11, data from Thomson Reuters via Yahoo Finance:https://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=FEIC+Key+Statistics
FEIC 20 day MA data, ILMN chart information: Google Finance, http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:FEIC
