The name of Chris Coste probably is not familiar to most investors. Heck, most fans of the Philadelphia Phillies never heard of the journeyman catcher until he made the team after languishing in the minors for more than a decade. But even investors who may not know the difference between a baseball and a football should get to know his story.His road to the major leagues was a rocky one (both literally and metaphorically, like the movie), which is neatly described in his book The 33-Year-Old Rookie:How I Finally Made it to Big Leagues after 11 Years in the Minors. The North Dakota native never gave up on his major league dream even after he suffered setback after setback. He is not a a superstar and does not pretend to be one. Teams, though, need scrappy utility players such as Coste who can produce clutch hits to help them win games. The same is true for investors building a portfolio.
Too often, the superstar stocks like Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) or Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) get all of the glory. But investors also have their reliable utility players that they can count on when the chips are down. Sometimes, like Coste, they have got some wear and tear on them, but they are still worth considering. Here are a few examples:
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) -- The maker of the BlackBerry reported disappointing earnings Wednesday, which sent the shares plunging. "Disappointing" may not be the right word. The results were actually outstanding, but just not as outstanding as Wall Street had hoped. Research in Motion may not be as cool as Apple, but it's unlikely that companies will dump their trusty BlackBerrys for iPhones without huge price cuts from Steve Jobs. That, of course, may happen.
Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) -- Shares of the world's largest cable company have barely budged this year. Wall Street seems to think that the Philadelphia-based company will wither and die in the wake of competition from Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). In May, the company confirmed its 2008 outlook despite the economic downturn. It seems as if people may be buying fewer pay-per-view movies but are still signing up for digital phone service to save money.
Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) -- Investors ditched the maker of natural foods and organic personal care products when it tightened its guidance for fiscal year 2008 to $1.38 to $1.40 versus $1.38 to $1.42 in May. The shares are down more than 23% this year. Yes, I know that consumer confidence is shaky and some wonder whether the good times will continue. But every time someone gets sickened from another tomato it encourages more people to buy organic and draws parents of young children like myself to products such as Hain's "Earth's Best" baby foods.
United Technologes Corp. (NYSE: UTX) -- This conglomerate often is overshadowed by its better-known and larger Connecticut neighbor General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE). That's a pity since over the past five years its shares have risen 74% while GE's have plunged more than 10%. United Technologies also recently approved a $4 billion buyback and reaffirmed its full year guidance in April. Shares are down about 18% this year, which seems a little harsh.
Of course, I can't guarantee that these stocks will be homeruns, but investing, like baseball, is about percentages. The proven performers may get into a slump, but they almost always get out of them too.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-26-2008 @ 6:52PM
Scott Cacciatore said...
Scott Cacciatore says to Buy AAPL....the I Phone 2 will be a huge success as the price has been dropped more then half which should help Apple take market share away from Blackberry in the smart phone wars. AT &T is paying apple a substantial amount for each I Phone so that Apple can sell the phone at $199. Apple gains because they will sell alot more phones as compared to the I Phone which came out last year and AT&T gains because they will be attempting to sign up each I Phone owner for the $30 per month extra charge for the service that will include internet, email, and a text message Scott Cacciatore package amount other benefits. Apples earnings were much higher then expected during the 4th quarter of 2007 and I would expect their earnings to continue to rise going forward this year even with the downturn in the economy. The Apple store in the heart of NYC is constantly packed with people looking to buy one of apple's hot items. The Apple notebooks are becoming very popluar due to their lightweight and their ease of use along with their wide selection of colors. Many people are switiching over from their IBM thinkpads or Dell computers to buy the Apple notebook. The Ipod is still a huge seller for Apple and even customers that have already bought an Ipod are upgrading to a newer Ipod that can hold more songs or can play video for example. Everyone wants to hook their Ipods up to their home sound systems or theur car sound systems. Apple will continue to soar and with the I Phone 2 in my opinion about to be a huge success, this will only increase Apples earnings even more in the 3rd and especially 4th quarters of 2008. For some reason, Apples product line has been immuned to the economic downturn even though all of their products are luxury type items. When Apple dropped to $110 earlier this year and Cramer said to sell Apple and Google and said to buy Apple and now while Apple is at $170 I still say to by Apple and expect it to be over 220 by years end.
Scott Cacciatore likes Apple stock alot.
6-26-2008 @ 11:48PM
The Voice of Reason said...
plus when Apple sells 15 million Iphones this year you can basically think of that as 15 million point of sale terminals for their iTunes store walking around in peoples pockets. With mac sales, iphone/ipod, and iTunes store Apple is a three-headed fire breathing profit monster that is going to eat Wall Street skeptics alive...
6-27-2008 @ 10:56AM
Bruce E Warnock said...
GE stock has declined from $60 in the year 2000 to $26 under the reign of CEO Jeff Immelt. The time has long since passed to make a change at the top. This great company has suffered too long under his leadership and the Board needs to install new faces with a fresh vision. Too much time is spent trying to sell off assets rather than introduce new and exciting products.
And while they are at it, the Board needs to separate the positions of CEO and Chairman of the Board so at least the new CEO will have a "boss" to report to.