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Dialight at the end of the tunnel

 <blink>Buy me</blink>

Dialight’s chart reminds me of our politicians, huffing and puffing, but not achieving much. The price now, adjusted for splits and consolidations, is pretty much what it was back in 1994, as far back as Sharescope shows, though it’s also returned money to investors.
Judging by the numbers, Dialight is flashing a great big LED powered [...]

Churchill China still pottering

In practice:
Don’t bet on the Jamie Oliver effect…
Compared to other potteries, Churchill China (CHH) has coped admirably with globalisation, and put itself in a good position during a recession.Waterford Wedgwood went bust in January and Portmeirion’s bought the rights to Royal Worcester and Spode after Royal Worcester entered administration last November.
Although Churchill’s shares had halved [...]

ASOS makes me look like an ass…

‘A’ is for acronym, and anomaly
Here’s a rarity these days, a couple of charts that go from bottom left to top right:

Yesterday, ASOS (ASC) announced it had doubled sales and and almost doubled of pre-tax profit and is looking ahead to another year of strong growth.
I cringe whenever I look at charts like ASOS, and [...]

Recruiters flirting with the buy-zone

In practice:
Directors wheeling and dealing
With 2,802 companies on the London Stock Exchange to choose from, knowing where to start is critical if, like me, your aim is to research lots of them. Regular readers know I increase my chances of stumbling on a worthwhile company by shrinking the pool from which I’ll pick, so typically [...]

Agonising about Aga again

In practice:
Trust no-one

First, a quick recap. Aga (AGA). Cult product. Cheap price. Strong finances. BIG pension.
Since I concluded that wild swings in the value of Aga Rangemaster’s pension fund relative to the present value of its obligations made an otherwise sound company too speculative for a safety-first portfolio, it’s published an annual report for the [...]

Direct mail dinosaur fights extinction

Debt isn’t the only liability that matters.

Initially I thought Communisis (CMS) was going to be one of those companies where the numbers look good but the words are indecipherable. I’ve had to read its annual report, published on 25 March, quite carefully to work out what it does, being a newcomer to the business of [...]

Market warms up, bargains still abound

In practice:
‘Bounce’ still insignificant
As promised on Wednesday, from now on Monday’s a data rich day. First, off the market, and the bad news: It’s warmed up a tiny bit since I reported that the recent stock market ‘bounce’ was insignificant.
 
By my calculation, the long-term price earnings ratio of the stock market [...]

Johnson blip may not presage recovery

That green shoot could wither
Old friend Johnson Service (JSG), a shrinking mini-conglomerate whose most visible business may be its dry cleaning chain, published its annual report last month.  A year ago, I described its gradual meltdown:
…the drip-drip-drip of collapsing ambition, rising costs, falling margins, resignations, dividend cuts, write-offs, profit warnings, refinancing and ultimately dramatic recovery, [...]

Extreme shares and extreme moves

In practice:
Naked PE shares on the move
Keith Anderson emailed me this afternoon, saying:
Nobody rings you up and tells you that the market has just turned. So here you are…
The inventor of the Naked PE is watching his portfolios of extremely cheap companies very carefully. The prices of three of the six companies in his list [...]

Thrifty companies at thrifty prices

In practice:
Technology to the rescue
A list of excuses:

It’s reporting season
Shares are trading at unusually low valuations
We just had the Easter break

So I’m struggling to keep up with the tidal wave of cheap, financially sound companies publishing their results, but  life may be about to get a lot easier.
Sharelockholmes, a share screening service, has added a [...]

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