I realize this post is a couple of months late. Markets have rallied over 30% since March 9th, which was the lowest point in US equity markets in over 12 years. So I apologize to those that follow this blog for not getting this out sooner. Fact of the matter is that other priorities have taken over and it gets increasingly difficult for me to write meaningful and detailed posts each passing month. So I have turned as many have, to micro-blogging. You can
follow me on Twitter where I occassionally spout off my thoughts on the market among other things. In any case, I will try to pick up the slack on this site.
In Part 1 and Part 2 of the series penned under this same title, I recommended buys on TIF, ANF, USO, POT, FXY and PCLN. Lets just see how we have fared so far.
PCLN is up 33% since Feb 8th when I recommended it, while TIF is up 26% and FXY is down 7%. Meanwhile, POT is up 46% since Jan 20th when I recommended it, while ANF is up 33% and USO is up 6%.
So what is next? Well despite the 30% run in the markets, there are still values out there. But some of these stocks have had huge runs so I would be careful. Doug Kass over at theStreet.com put it succintly as he tweeted "faster than superman, greed has now replaced fear".
For my third installment of Top Stocks to Buy in 2009, I recommend the following:
Apple
The stock has recovered a some of its losses over the last 2 months. If there was ever a roller-coaster with steep rises and falls, it has to beApple (AAPL) for the last 18 months. In Dec 2007, Apple hit an all time high and missed closing above $200 by a whisker. It then retreated to $120 in less than 3 months and rose to $190 in the next 3. Since then though, the stock had run out of steam, until now.
On Feb 8th of this year, when I wrote Part 2 of this series, I closed out my post by saying Apple would probably feature in the third and final part of this series. Back then, the stock was under $100. Today it is 30% above that. But at $130, it is still 35% below its all-time high. However, the easy money has been made. The next leg up might not be as quick or easy.
