First of all I would like to apologize for the paucity of posts on the blog the last week or two.  I would encourage you all to utilize my Covestor Page to find out how my actual holdings are doing when I am not blogging.  And I shall try to get back 'in the saddle' once again, and catch all of you up on my latest thoughts and observations.

I have been making some adjustments to my trading strategy without really changing the mechanics underlying my approach.  What I am trying to say is that I have chosen to sell some positions that appear to be in the wrong 'groups' or 'industries' and switch to other companies that appear to be acting 'healthier'.  

Concerned that my Morningstar (MORN) stock was acting 'sickly', I chose to switch out of this pseudo-financial stock and try something else for my holding.  Looking through the list of top percentage gainers on the NASDAQ, I came across Genoptix (GXDX) that appeared to fit the bill. 

I went ahead and purchased 161 shares of GXDX on August 14, 2008, (a peculiar number but divisible by 7--my first partial sale amount) at $38.328/share.  However, GXDX immediately started to trade weakly, and not wanting to move from one weak stock to another, I went ahead and sold my 161 shares the same day (!) at $37.028.  Looking at the list of top % gainers on the NYSE that afternoon, I found Estee Lauder (EL) and purchased 140 shares at $49.87---but that is the subject of another blog entry.

Genoptix (GXDX) continued to trade poorly and actually closed at $33.53, down $1.66 or (4.72)% on the day yesterday (8/21/08).  However, I like the numbers on this stock, I do believe it deserves a place on the blog for continued monitoring.  With my own sale of the stock, and the technical weakness, the best I can do is

GENOPTIX (GXDX) IS RATED A HOLD

But let's take a closer look at this stock.  First of all,

What exactly does the company do?

According to the Yahoo "Profile" on Genoptix, the company

"...provides specialized laboratory service that focus on delivering customized and collaborative diagnostic services. Its services include COMPASS service offering, in which the company's hematopathologists determine the appropriate diagnostic tests to be performed, and then integrates patient history and all previous and current test results into a comprehensive diagnostic report; and CHART service offering, in which the hematologists and oncologists receives a detailed assessment of a patient's disease progression over time.