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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Senior who wrote (3886)	4/20/1998 9:04:00 AM
From: James Clarke	Respond to of 78464

Most people I talk to who say they are cautious and worried are also fully invested.

To: Paul Senior who wrote (3886)	4/21/1998 1:26:00 AM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 78464

Well, I'm catching the "cautious and worried" theme. So I'm making some portfolio changes too. Sold out UCR at market open (luckily)as UCR says something about they are not filing for bankuptcy. Sure looks like they might be getting prepared for this contingency though (as they probably prudently should). I've been alerted, and now I am acting. Company and stock may do just fine - in or out of bankruptcy. I just lost my confidence, and I am taking my profits. Sold a portion of SFLX (unluckily at the open). I think Paul K. got...upset... after his close reading of what may be happening to this stock. (He's the de facto guru on the thread and an occasional poster here.) This caused me to reevaluate my own position; I just think I own too much (compared to other stocks in my portfolio), and this causes me to become too concerned with the company and it's poor stock performance (losses from my initial buy points). So I've cleared out those initial buys. Buying MMO. Monarch Machine. It's in a very dull (-g- uh... that's supposed to be a pun) and prosaic business. I've always liked the metal benders I've dealt with, and Monarch supplies some of the tools these people use. MMO has excellent, excellent management. How else can you describe managers who are able to lose money (negative earnings), year after year after year after year ... and yet they are able to keep the company in business (that's iffy too IMO) and more important (-g-), themselves still on the payroll? Got to be a heck of a management team. LOL. Anyway, for some strange reason, they apparently have decided they intend to become profitable (Why change now? LOL). They are actually taking some steps to do this by selling off some unprofitable lathe making subsidiaries. (For you electronic guys/gals - a lathe is a contrivance used in machine shops (and these places still exist!) -g-). The financials look terrible to me (except maybe psr) - (but I don't claim to be an expert financial analyst either). The stock is selling below book value (8 below 12). No big deal though. This stock is ALWAYS selling below book -gg--. My idea is that if the Japanese haven't killed them off by now (Japanese are powerful in computer controlled machines), and the stock is near its lows, and managers are serious about changing (which they seem to be--there's some insider buying), I am going to spin (that's another pun -g-) with them too. LOL. Also taking a position in RDO Equipment (RDO). Here too, it's a management play but based on what the owner/controlling stockholder can do. Some people think he has a good record in this business. RDO sells/leases/rents farm and construction equipment. Company has not been public long, price is kind of expensive (but near its lows), hard for me to get comparables that I'm comfortable with. But the business model looks okay. Well capitalized to have product available in smaller towns (yes, I know --that's where the farms generally are -g-), acquisitive and apparently aggressive management with opportunities to consolidate smaller players, possible benefit from increased construction spending. It's worth it to me to take a small position in this company to see what the top guy can do. For what it's all worth.... Paul