What a volatile week we had in the market! The Dow closed out the week Friday with a 281.42 point loss representing a 2.09% pullback in that index. The NASDAQ composite was even worse closing at 2,511.25 down 64.73 just on Friday alone, a loss of 64.73 points or 2.51% on the index.
Glad to see that week completed! I do not know how the market will move on Monday, this week, this month, or this year. I do know that I shall still maintain my investment strategy of monitoring my holdings closely, selling them quickly on losses, and slowly and partially on gains.
Let's take a look at some stock picks from last year. As is my practice, I reviewed stock picks from the week of February 6, 2006 last wekeend. Going ahead a week, I want to review the picks from the week of February 13, 2006. For the sake of this review, this evaluation assumes a buy and hold strategy for all of the stocks selected. In actual practice, I advocate and employ a disciplined strategy of limiting losses by selling declining positions quickly and completely, and partially selling appreciating stocks at targeted appreciation levels. This difference in strategy between this review and my actual practice would certainly affect the overall outcome of stocks selected from this blog. However, for the ease of evaluation, I plan on continuing to use the "buy and hold" analysis for reviews.
On February 14, 2006, I posted Chico's FAS (CHS) on Stock Picks Bob's Advice when the stock was trading at $47.61. CHS closed at $17.99 on August 3, 2007, for a loss of $(29.62) or (62.2)% since posting.
On May 30, 2007, Chico's FAS announced 1st quarter 2007 results. Net sales for the quarter increased 16% to $453 million from $391 million in the same 2006 quarter. During the quarter comparable store sales decreased 1.6%. Net income for the quarter dropped from $52.5 million in 2006 to $47.2 million in the same quarter this year. Net income dropped to $.27/diluted share from $.29/diluted share last year.
The bad news does not appear to be over for Chico's. On July 11, 2007, Chico's reported that June 'same-store sales' declined (7.3)% in June.
With no good news in sight from my perspective, as well as a poor technical chart,
CHICO'S FAS (CHS) IS RATED A SELL
$18.03 (08/06/07)
