Although short selling -- the practice of selling borrowed shares with the hope of repaying the loan by buying back the shares at a lower price -- goes against the American belief that stocks always go up, I have long been fascinated with it. Short Stories discusses what works, what doesn't, and what some of the leading lights in shorting stocks think about its opportunities and threats. I describe possible short trades and I seek your comments and questions for story ideas. I don't offer any investment advice and I don't trade on any of the posts I write.

Monday the Wall Street Journal noted that two of the worst performing stocks in the first quarter were NovaStar Financial, Inc. (NYSE: NFI) and Bally Total Fitness, Inc. (NYSE: BFT) -- both of which I suggested shorting last year. Looking for some new short ideas? Last month I was in Florida where the real estate market is tanking.

Reading about a busted residential real estate development there in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune gave me another idea for short stories: Coast Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CFHI). Although its market capitalization has tumbled 59% to $44.9 million in the last year, CFHI could file for bankruptcy. How so? In a nutshell, Coast lent money to Florida real estate developers who are going belly up. As a result it's at risk of not having enough cash to pay a $12 million portion of its long-term debt which is due this year.

Continue reading Short Stories: Will Coast Financial drown in a sea of bad debt?

Short Stories: Will Coast Financial drown in a sea of bad debt? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.