When there has been a nice market rebound, we should expect to hear the familiar refrain: It is a stock picker's market.

This wise-sounding expression means that it is no longer good enough to "buy the market" whether through index funds or market stocks. It is time for some actual analysis.

Q3 2009 Earnings Call

October 21, 2009 10:30 am ET

Q4 2008 Earnings Call

February 05, 2009 10:30 AM ET

Q3 2008 Earnings Call

October 22, 2008, 10.30 am ET

TWST: We'd like to begin with a brief historical sketch of the company and a picture of the things you are doing at the present time.

This week's list of top performers has high exposure to retail and solar; areas we have been moving into the past few weeks with greater weightings.... but more into solar than retail for the fund. This list continues to show us that "beaten down" merchandise from the past year is the market's favorite right now. At the very bottom of the entry I also posted the top returners in the $1B to $1.75B range of market capitalization since we are increasingly buying some smaller fare.

Criteria

Q1 FY08 Earnings call

April 23, 2008, 10:30 AM ET

We recently gathered the amount of buy and sell ratings that analysts have on each stock in the Russell 1,000 to see which ones analysts are currently the most bullish or bearish on. We treat consensus analyst recommendations as a contrarian indicator. When a stock has a high percentage of buy ratings, it makes it harder for analysts to get more bullish on the stock, hence the next direction in ratings is down. Conversely, when a stock has a low percentage of buy ratings, things can't get much worse, and the upside is much larger.

There are many stocks that are down significantly this year that still have a high percentage of buy ratings. The poor stock performance means analysts will most likely begin to get more negative in their recommendations.

Q4 FY07 Earnings Call

February 6, 2008, 10:30 AM ET

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit: One chart pattern that many find particularly attractive is to look for a stock which is in an uptrend and trading near its 50-day moving average. Often times when a stock pulls back, the 50-day moving average can act as support.

In the list below, we screened the S&P 1500 for stocks that are up at least 10% year to date and currently trading 2% or less above their 50-day moving average. We then filtered the list to include only those names with the best ratings based on our Bespoke Stock Scores tool.

Why Slowing Housing Sales May Be Good News For Developers: Falling Prices in Commodities (Wall Street Journal)

Bullish calls:

The Microcap Speculator submits: After a ton of research and a half dozen estimates, I replaced my furnace and air conditioner this month. In the process, I learned some information that might be useful in the stock market. It turns out that HVAC companies are having a banner quarter, thanks to the federal government. At the end of January 2006, U.S. Department of Energy regulations will require all air conditioners to have a seasonal energy efficiency rating (SEER) of 13, versus the 10 that is required today.

My informal survey indicates that the changeover will help HVAC firms in two ways. First, low end 10-12 SEER air conditioners are now commanding higher prices than usual. Second, in January, the sales of the higher SEER models will increase average replacement prices. Most of the contractors that quoted prices for me were asking about $600 more for a 13 SEER model than a 10-12 SEER model (this is for a 3.5 ton A/C unit -- the differential will be lower for smaller units and higher for larger units). A/C equipment manufacturer Lennox International (ticker: LII) stated in its third quarter report that "the movement to 13 SEER will be a net positive for our company and the industry."