Changes

So only a few days into year 2 and I am already making changes. Most notably I am dropping EWBC from my recommendations as it has reached 80% of what I believe it is worth and has risen too fast. Since June 27th when I first recommended EWBC here it has risen 104% - which given that this increase has occurred in a little over a month makes me comfortable with selling – for now.

I’m also going to again recommend WNR – an oil refiner. This was disastrous last year and probably will be again, however with oil having already fallen precipitously (however I do not believe oil will continue to fall forever) and gasoline remaining relatively stable the refiners should at least have a shot at earning a profit. WNR is risky in that they may decide to dilute shareholders by raising additional capital, which is how this investment may not work.

Also I’m adding JOSB – Jos A Banks which is an extremely well managed and cheap retailer of men’s dress clothes.

Since the last update the recommended stocks [EWBC (+23.62%), MMM (+2.12%), UNH (+8.44%), JNJ (+2.89%), PEP (+2.94%), BBY (+3.70%), BDK (+3.40%), PETS (+2.76%)] averaged a gain of 6.23%, outperforming the S&P 500 [+1.39%] by 4.84%.

I recommend at this time MMM, UNH, JNJ, PEP, BBY, BDK, PETS, JOSB, and WNR.