Through May, the S&P 500 is down 5%. The interesting news to me is that some stocks have been doing phenomenally well. They appear to be benefiting from the weak dollar and strong demand for raw materials -- like oil and coal -- in emerging markets.
It happens that I picked three of them for my newsletter -- whose average stock has risen 26% since the beginning of 2008. Here are the top three -- and how much they've risen since their first mention there:
- Walter Industries (NYSE: WLT) +124%. Walter is a coal, natural gas, and home construction and finance company that is spinning off the latter and is benefiting from rising coal prices.
- Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN) +36%. Southwest is an oil and gas explorer that was just added to the S&P 500.
- Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) +24%. Burlington runs trains and Warren Buffett owns its stock. One analyst boosted 2008 EPS estimates from $5.90 to $6.05 due to fuel surcharges and rate increases, partially offset by significantly higher unhedged fuel costs and flat-to-modestly-lower volumes.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-01-2008 @ 2:44PM
CrossProfit said...
I'm not aware of the date that the stocks were first mentioned, but from the beginning of the year they have appreciated more than the percentages quoted in your article.
WLT has gone from $34 to $93.
See http://www.crossprofit.com/view_symbol.asp?id=27621&content=premium
SWN started the year at $28 and is now (5/30/08) at $44.
See http://www.crossprofit.com/view_symbol.asp?id=29067&content=premium
BNI from $78 to $113.
See http://www.crossprofit.com/view_symbol.asp?id=25884
BNI may be getting ahead of itself.
CrossProfit