Revlon, Inc. (NYSE: REV) is, simply put, not one of my favorite investment ideas. However, the market seems to think that the company's second-quarter report is nothing less than beautiful. As I write this, shares are rallying almost 8% (although volume isn't that great, to be honest).

I don't know, I just don't see it. Sales declined over 12%. What's that, you want to strip out currency effects? Okay: sales went down over 7% on that basis. Net income on a reported basis was nothing, 0 cents per share. There were, however, 36 cents of charges on the books. According to Earnings.com, Revlon was expected to lose around 8 cents per share. Another source says that 25 cents before special items was the number to hit. No matter how you slice it, I think we can say that management delivered a significant beat today.

Continue reading Revlon up on second-quarter news -- am I wrong about the company?

Revlon up on second-quarter news -- am I wrong about the company? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Regular BloggingStocks readers know by now that my investment strategies are fairly conservative and relatively coarse. Please don't begrudge me that. Although I don't track my picks in a portfolio, I do mentally track the general performance of the companies I tout, and I believe that overall I've done fairly well.

There are two major differences between my stock-picking efforts and what I perceive to be Warren Buffett's style. First, Mr. Buffett has years of experience that I myself do not have. Second, Mr. Buffett likes to have a greater working understanding of the nature of the businesses he chooses to investment in than I do. I choose my companies of favor with what I call my "big picture" strategy. All that means is that I use a broader view than most of my contemporaries who like to dig right down to the very roots of their picks.

I like to think that my strategy provides solid conservative support, which shall then free an investor to do some aggressive speculating with their profits.

Continue reading Intuitive investing, gut instincts, or how I'm not like Warren Buffett

Intuitive investing, gut instincts, or how I'm not like Warren Buffett originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 08 Jul 2007 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.