Tom Rex's  Instablog

I've also owned some (CMRG), but sold it a bit early. At the time they had negative earnings forcast for the year, which I didn't fell comfortable with.

The reason I bought the stock, is because I shop there, and they don't have too many competitors, with the selection that they have. They are sort of in a niche market, and the stock has gone up nicely since I sold it :)

Well, having learned a lesson with CASUAL MALE RETAIL (see that post), I decided to try it again, with a company who was currently losing money, because of the economy, but hopefully, had some upside potential, based upon future earnings.

I hit upon Blockbuster BBI who is now a small cap global company, but has a great recognizable brand name in their industry. They seemed to me to have some advantage over their competitors as to how they can deliver their product, and I liked their kiosks alliance with NCR. That being said, and thought over, I bought some shares!

The test for me came in their current earning release, which turned out to be somewhat of a negative surprise. The stock went down about a dime, but it's been holding it's own since then, and I'm still holding it. They seem to be going into the next quarter with a stronger balance sheet, but now they need to work on executing their strategies, and producing more profitable sales, while maintaining their balance sheet and cash flow. Here's to them, and those of us who are sticking with them!

I recently added to our position with (SYBT), which we've had for some years now. It's one of the strongest regional banks in the industry, that's been around for about a hundred years, didn't take any TARP money, and has a name we like, Stock Yard Bank.