RooneyFinancial's  Instablog

Adding some older stock picks...fyi, this stocks don't entirely reflect my personal holdings as my personal portfolio is much more aggressive.  Some I do own (HOKU, ETFC, EEE).  Perhaps I trying to myself a lesson here to track my returns if stay to stricter rules rather high risk as I tend to buy for myself.

The stock I talk about today, HOKU Scientific has been a big risk and very volatile.  I has some share called away at $10 a few years ago and hope to see this solar panel polysilicon provider get back to that level.  

Financing has been a big issue for HOKU with need to expand their production facilities.  They have too much business, literally, and cannot produce enough.  A recent deal with a Chinese solar cell producer has given HOKU the funds needed and they should have a great future with a plant being built in Idaho. 

The financing deal got me thinking about currency translation risk but this won't be a problem as HQ will remain in Hawaii despite giving over 60% of the company to a mainland China company. 

I don't know how much importers use RMB/USD on the CME to hedge their exposure but it's an interesting thought to buy long dated calls on the Chinese Renminbi.  While China keeps their currency relatively fixed the USD, this has to break eventually and when it does, the artificially low RMB will fly higher.



Disclosure: Long HOKU

Small Cap stocks are generally disregarded and under utilized in the mutual fund industry. I am managing a simulated small cap portfolio and will use this blog to present my thoughts.

Today I will talk about two stocks.  RCII and NITE.

Rent-A-Center (RCII)

I have been accumulating Rent a Center (RCII) as an extreme value buy.  A PEG ration of 1.07 with Price to Sales and Price to Book both below 1.  These metrics make a RCII a stron buy on a quantitative basis. 

The economy cerainly bolsters the outlook for RCII as well.  With household budgets and credit tightening, consumers may be more inclined to rent major appliances as the recession lingers.  The longer the US economy stuggles, the better RCII will perform.

NITE Captal Group (NITE)

NITE has been beaten down on dwindling revenues from trading.  The financial calmity of the past few quarters has hammered this whole industry.  As interest rates begin to tick higher, trading will pick up quickly and market makers like NITE will expand the margins and increase profits.  

NITE has a Price to Earnings Growth (PEG) ratio of .75.  This is an exteremly acctractive value price with quaterly revenue growth (YoY) of 25%.  I expect NITE to double in price this year from a current price of $15 to $30.

Disclosure: Long only portfolio