Krispey Kreme posts

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Best & Worst: Krispy Kreme has lost its glaze, but we want the sugar back!

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If you're a doughnut lover rooting for Krispy Kreme's comeback, cast your vote for it.

Poor Krispy Kreme. People once stood in line for store openings to get their free doughnuts, and the company and brand were the darling of markets and growing well. Who doesn't love a doughnut?

But Krispy Kreme (NYSE:KKD) has fallen from its perch and been dunked in the hot oil of reality: over the past few years the growth of the low-carb awareness -- in the form of Atkins, South Beach, Sugar Busters, and other diets that caused people to cut simple carbohydrates down or out of their diets -- was widespread. Even bread companies complained about the dip in sales.

Then the doughnut company got hit by a second health punch in the form of health awareness about trans fatty acids.

You want to tell customers that they should have realized well before all this that doughnuts obviously aren't good for you? Did anyone seriously think eating doughnuts was somehow not going be a dietary no-no? Were doughnut-eating customers so naive that when they were told these things were unhealthy they suddenly gave them up? If so, it might be a victory for public health awareness, but you have to wonder what kind of a rock Krispy Kreme's previous customers were under.

You want to root for Krispy Kreme to make a comeback, because really, we all like doughnuts. Sure they're not good for us, but neither is anything else that's truly fun in the world. Many of us secret doughnut lovers will be happy to put in some extra treadmill time if Krispy Kreme can come to grips with its deserters and continue to give us a standard glazed doughnut. Hang in there guys!

My take on Hilary Kramer's 10 Stocks to Sell Now

Hilary: great smile, great dimples, and best of all, GREAT calls... (Sorry, I just can't be PC -- not in a blog.)

Hilary Kramer (HK) in her stock blog, HilaryOnStocks, has changed direction and decided to make people money by saving them some money, suggesting it may be time to bail out of certain holdings. Generally speaking, her comments on the 10 stocks she reviewed were very good.

However, I must take exception to the overall principle of trading in and out of stocks because that may not be smart for certain investors. For example, she suggests that Apple may be over, with its long run-up behind it and that taking some profits is in order. I made a similar argument last week.

More in depth review might reveal that if you got in early and live in a high tax state like California you are looking at losing 22% to 24% of your gain to taxes when you add the state tax to the federal capital gains tax and then add up the transaction fees. So while HK is correct that Apple may start moving lower, the question is by how much?

Also, you must consider where you will put the money when you get it. And if you put it in cash or short-term investments, then when will you get back into the market and what will you buy? And you will be putting back 25% less perhaps.

I am not against paying taxes or rotating out of questionable companies, but you must always look at the broad picture as it applies to your own situation.

Here's my take on the 10 stocks she suggests selling:

Home Depot (HD) and KB Homes (KBH): Solid companies and while they my lag for a while, if you got in at the right price they can be good core holdings depending on your personal circumstances.

Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), Coach (COH), Gap (GPS), General Motors (GM): You don't need to bother with them now.

Apple (AAPL) and Hewlett Packard (HPQ): Big maybes.

Krispy Kreme (KKD) and Jet Blue (JBLU): No reason to own in any market!

Also check out my recent posts: "Dividends are very sexy -- no joke" and "A bad rap for a bad market"

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DJIA-74.9212,454.83
NASDAQ-1.852,837.53
S&P 500-2.861,317.82

Last updated: May 27, 2012: 07:44 AM

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