I have always felt that for all the blabbing we do -- or blogging, in my case -- we should try as best we can to be accountable for our good and bad calls. This report is long overdue, but I will post it anyway since all of my past year's picks and results have been made public.

The market was very harsh in the early part of 2009, filling investors fear and trepidation, and sinking to a March 9, 2009 bottom. Perhaps some of the bleeding has stopped, but the economy has not healed as bears and bulls seem to carry the day, or every other day.

Continue reading Chasing Value™: 2009 Results Crushed the S&P 500

Chasing Value™: 2009 Results Crushed the S&P 500 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Serious Money: Intuitive Surgical Hits New Highs

Serious Money: Intuitive Surgical Hits New Highs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The clock is ticking away the time before the year ends and I have only begun to sort out the possibilities. In Part 1 of this series, I discussed breaking up my potential picks into three categories: contender, on the fence, and out of the running until the 10 stocks have been identified.

Four contenders have been considered so far: American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Anglo American ADR (AAUKY) and Diageo plc (DEO).

Six more are included in today's review: EZCorp Inc. (EZPW), General Electric Company (GE), Wells Fargo & Company (WFC), Annaly Capital Management ( NLY), Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG) plus Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B). These include the remaining five from 2009 and one more familiar to most investors.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Ten stocks for 2010 -- Part 2

Chasing Value: Ten stocks for 2010 -- Part 2 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Chasing Value: What's wrong with Intuitive Surgical?

Chasing Value: What's wrong with Intuitive Surgical? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Chasing Value: The amazing Intuitive Surgical

Chasing Value: The amazing Intuitive Surgical originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical surging ahead!

Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical surging ahead! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical's right price

Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical's right price originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Serious Money: No secret for market turn-around -- AAPL, AEO, CISCO, & ISRG

Serious Money: No secret for market turn-around -- AAPL, AEO, CISCO, & ISRG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Nostradamus was a punk! Have we reached bottom?

Nostradamus was a punk! Have we reached bottom? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The 2009 clock is ticking loudly. The year has started off with a lot of continued turbulence. We have a new president, Barack Obama, who will boldly lead us where no man has gone before -- two trillion further in debt, most likely.

Not that this is his doing, but it is his chosen calling, and right now he is calling out to the Senate minority to compromise, and get yet another federal stimulus package off the shelf and out the door.

Continue reading Chasing Value: 2009 picks -- news and views

Chasing Value: 2009 picks -- news and views originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Serious Money: JNJ rumored to acquire Intuitive Surgical -- hope not!

Serious Money: JNJ rumored to acquire Intuitive Surgical -- hope not! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Anybody have capital gains to show this year? I didn't think so. Not unless you were shorting the market, and in particular financials. I got clobbered with everyone else. There were not many places to hide. Picking winners was like guessing where each piece of debris would land after the tornado moved through town.

The average crystal ball is looking quite foggy about now, nevertheless I have rummaged throughout the stock market to select nine stocks that I think offer more reward than risk. The market is priced for the worst in so many cases that I think the list could have included 50 companies without too much trouble.

In 2007 and 2008 I owned some but not all of the picks for the year. This year I own all of the stocks and they were all acquired in the latter part of the fourth quarter for a new portfolio.

Continue reading Chasing Value: 9 picks for 2009 -- APC, GE, ISRG, WFC and more

Chasing Value: 9 picks for 2009 -- APC, GE, ISRG, WFC and more originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Serious Money: What's on your watch list?

Serious Money: What's on your watch list? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yesterday, in response to Chasing Value: ISRG is falling and I'm buying I received the following comment from Beltway Greg, "You're a brave dude. Why? I've watched this stock for awhile and I worry about possible entry by other folks into the market."

Brave perhaps, even foolish on occasion, but I still think this is the time to be selectively buying equities.

To those that might be concerned about competition for Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASDAQ: ISRG) you will be interested in the following:

• NOTICE TEXT: Department of the Army U.S. Army Medical Command MEDCOM, North Atlantic Regional Contracting Office Subject: Contract prosthetic feet and leg coverings This is a notice of the Governments intent to solicit, negotiate and award a sole source contract (Note 22) contract to Intuitive surgical for Implants based on urgency. This is not a set-aside for small business. This notice is an urgent requirement for Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20307, contract number W91YTZ-09-P-0147. Parties interested in future announcements shall provide detailed information of their capabilities and certifications to clearly meet the requirements stated above.

It is possible that someday ISRG will have some competition, but there does not seem to be anything on the horizon for now. Furthermore, as the user base expands the barrier to entry increases and the cost of changing systems becomes more challenging.

The most likely scenario for competition would be if another manufacturer were to create a similar system for procedures not yet addressed by ISRG's Di Vinci robotic surgical units. Some of the potential competitors, like Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) or Medronic (NYSE: MDT), are actually corporate partners helping to distribute the units world wide. What is most likely from my point of view is that other manufacturers will find a way to partner with ISRG to develop complimentary hardware to expand the capability of the system for more procedures to get to market faster.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

Chasing Value: Feds single source Intuitive Surgical originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"I'm just curious if you hung on to your ISRG or if you bailed on it... I've been following it since this article, and man, its really heading down to the boiler room... Doctors seeem to be making cuts all over the place, and it looks like ISRG is being taken for a ride... I'm looking at getting in, but maybe if it hits 112 to even as low as sub 100... But I'm curious how you've taken to it?"

Continue reading Chasing Value: ISRG is falling and I'm buying

Chasing Value: ISRG is falling and I'm buying originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Revenues for the quarter grew 50% over the same period last year. The company's third quarter 2008 net income was $57.6 million, up 41% from $40.9 million reported for the third quarter of 2007. Earnings per share increased to $1.44 from $1.04 in the prior-year comparable quarter. Eleven analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to earn $1.27 per share for the quarter.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical Earnings -- what now?

Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical Earnings -- what now? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Radio! Radio! Intuitive Surgical is now on the radio! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Barron's covers Intuitive Surgical with wet blanket

Barron's covers Intuitive Surgical with wet blanket originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

My favorite company, Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG), the maker of the da Vinci Surgical System reported earnings Tuesday afternoon that creamed Street guesstimates by 10 cents per share. Intuitive posted earnings per share of $1.28 versus analyst consensus of $1.18.

For the 23rd quarter in a row, just like clockwork and without missing a beat, Intuitive's top and bottom line growth simply ignored the global economy, blazing its own trail. I wonder how ISRG would have done if the economy was not in the dumps?

Overall, second quarter revenue shot up 56% from $142.2 million to $219.2 million. Instruments and accessories revenue increased 61% to $73.6 million from $45.8 million. Training revenue increased 44% to $29.4 million from $20.3 million during the second quarter of 2007.

Lonnie Smith, Chairman and CEO of Intuitive Surgical, said, "We are pleased with our second quarter revenue and earnings growth. These results reflect the continued adoption of the da Vinci Surgical System platform across a broadening group of surgical procedures."

Continue reading Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical beat the street AGAIN!

Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical beat the street AGAIN! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last night Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG )reached a historic milestone in its meteoric company life when Standard & Poors decided to add it to the S&P 500 index. It will be replacing Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) after J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) completes it's acquisition in the next couple of months.

After a tough day yesterday Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical confounds Wall Street and closed down to a recent low of $274.75. It opened up today on the news and is currently trading up about 4% to $285 per share, in a market that is trading down across the board.

The following five-year chart illustrates the rapid rise of this highly specialized company that produces a robotic surgical device called the "da Vinci System". They own all the patents for the hardware, software, replacement parts, and service contracts too. That is one big moat around this company.

If you were following my post last year you might have read Serious Money: You asked about Intuitive Surgical? when ISRG was trading in the low $120's. Since that time it has reached $359.59 -- not a bad return. I have been following ISRG since the beginning and own shares at $7.70 the lowest entry point possible post IPO.

The irony of this story is that I also recommended Bear Stearns last year so my best stock pick ever is replacing one of my worst. Intuitive Surgical belongs on your watch list, and if it dips again during the sumer doldrums perhaps there might be another buying opportunity.

UPDATE: ISRG finished the day at $284.77 up $10.02 (+3.65%)

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own shares of ISRG.

Chasing Value: S&P 500 adds Intuitive Surgical originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 May 2008 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.