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Retirement Strategies
IRA Investing: Modest Improvement in Indicators
03/05/08 - 10:57 AM EST
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Operating expenses were under good control and were only up 3%. This momentum should continue into 2008 as the company leverages its increased plant capacity. Valuation is very low for Stepan. The company's price/sales ratio is an extremely low .24 compared to the industry at over 2.0. Enterprise value/EBITDA ratio is 6.0, about a 20% discount to the industry ratio of 7.5. I also reduced my position in S&P Depositary Receipts SPY in order to keep my cash position near target levels. I've had a couple of big winners over the last two weeks that have helped me to continue out-performing the S & P 500. Cal-Maine Foods CALM was up 19.3% and still looks attractive at an enterprise value/EBITDA ratio of only 5.1 compared to 7.0 for the whole market universe. Stone Energy SGY reported great earnings and was up 18.0%, participating also in the strength of the whole energy segment. The stock is still priced at a huge discount to the independent oil industry and I still find it attractive. The table that follows shows all the current holdings of my IRA:
| Symbol | Name | Purchase Date | Cost | Price | Gain |
| Regular Holdings | |||||
| CALM | Cal-Maine Foods | 4/16/2007 | $13.30 | $34.50 | 159.40% |
| CTV | CommScope | 8/15/2007 | $50.79 | $41.88 | -17.54% |
| EXAC | Exactech | 11/5/2007 | $21.00 | $26.25 | 25.00% |
| FTO | Frontier Oil | 9/7/2007 | $40.60 | $35.71 | -12.04% |
| GIB | CGI Group | 3/9/2007 | $8.52 | $11.08 | 30.05% |
| HP | Helmerich & Payne | 12/27/2007 | $39.88 | $44.83 | 12.41% |
| ICFI | ICF International | 9/14/2007 | $25.28 | $26.04 | 3.01% |
| KCI | Kinetic Concepts | 2/6/2007 | $49.75 | $51.39 | 3.30% |
| OTEX | Open Text | 9/14/2007 | $25.68 | $32.20 | 25.39% |
| RSTI | Rofin Sinar Technologies | 9/21/2007 | $35.06 | $39.37 | 12.29% |
| SCL | Stepan Co. | 2/27/2008 | $34.94 | $34.10 | -2.40% |
| SCX | L. S. Starrett | 12/10/2007 | $18.88 | $17.44 | -7.63% |
| SGY | Stone Energy | 11/1/2007 | $43.74 | $50.76 | 16.05% |
| SPY | S & P Dep. Receipts | 1/14/2008+ | $135.46 | $133.82 | -1.21% |
| SY | Sybase | 11/13/2007 | $25.79 | $26.62 | 3.22% |
| USPH | US Physical Therapy | 1/17/2008 | $13.98 | $13.25 | -5.22% |
| WDC | Western Digital | 8/31/2007 | $23.33 | $30.87 | 32.32% |
| One Month Screen | |||||
| No Current Holdings | |||||
| Performance Results As Of 2/29/2008 | IRA | S&P 500 | |||
| Full Year 2007 | 33.0% | 5.5% | |||
| First Quarter To Date | -2.6% | -9.4% | |||
| Total Return For IRA S & P 500 Does Not Include Income For Latest Quarter | |||||
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