Whenever the market turns bearish, investors dole out severe punishments to stocks for misdemeanor violations. This would be like sending someone to Guantanamo Bay for a traffic ticket. Yesterday's hero often turns into today's goat on Wall Street. The trick is figuring out which stocks deserve a second chance. Here are my five choices.

• Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) -- The no. 1 cable operator has made the foolish decision in the eyes of Wall Street of investing in its business. Its capital spending will be about $5.7 billion this year, which isn't surprising really since it's adding about 6,000 new workers and building a new swanky corporate headquarters in Philadelphia. Earlier this week, Comcast reported earnings that didn't blow away Wall Street expectations but they weren't to sneeze at either. The company's digital voice business is booming even though the basic video business is not.
• Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) -- Yeah, the world's largest oil company's earnings didn't meet expectations. But consider that the culprit was lower-than-expected natural gas price. Even the biggest tree hugger in the world should realize that is something that even Exxon Mobil can't control. I know people often accuse the oil companies of being in cahoots with one another. Have you ever met an oil executive? These guys can't agree on lunch let alone price fixing.

Continue reading For these five stocks, the punishment didn't fit the crime

For these five stocks, the punishment didn't fit the crime originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Carl Icahn has made a few bucks over the years and wants to make some more on Time Warner (TWX). Seems like he has had to cool his heels lately upon making some compromises in his discussions with the TWX Board about his desire to sell off some assets. I think what has him so animated is Time Warner's book value which is a 1.25 multiple. Consider the following comparisons.

• Comcast (CMCS.A) has a P/B of 1.66. -- Cable
• Knight Ridder (KRI) has a P/B of 3.6. -- Publishing
• Disney (DIS) has a P/B of 2.2. -- Movies/TV/Entertainment
• Yahoo (YHOO) has a P/B of 5.88. -- Internet

If you figure that some assets do not have a 1.25 P/B then you must  figure that many holdings should be valued way over considering how much is aggregated into TWX. You can see in comparing TWX's book value to other competing companies with more segregated businesses that the multiple could be much higher; but even a small increase would mean billions in added value.

Icahn and his fellow instigators ... I mean investors, surely see this. So maybe TWX has some upside. As a shareholder I can tell you that is why I have hung on. However my entry point is far less than today's $17.20 price and I can understand why others are less patient. This will be something to watch because Icahn has to be on the less patient side as well.

HEY Time Warner ... Icahn knows of what he speaks! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.