Buy, Don’t Buy?

The question the majority of investors are beginning to ask is “when do I buy?” Clearly there seems to be bargains everywhere! How could you possibly resist this opportunity? That’s the tough thing for me though- usually, the market is not that easy, and these “self-proclaimed” reversals are ephemeral (for example, if that bargain theory were always true, then everyone should just puy call options in the index funds and we’ll all be rich by July…. ha!). I need more proof, and therefore I resist. When you think about it, the 2-day rally that occurred last Thursday and Friday managed only to give back what was lost on Monday through Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how investors realized this over the weekend, and how they will respond tomorrow.

Nevertheless, the market has begun to move in the right direction– we have seen a market rally on bad news (CPI data guarantees interest hike), now we need to see a rally on good news or no news at all. Those are the three broad steps I’m looking for. So, no bear suit or bull suit for me- just waiting for the market to pick a direction and start moving. Until then, trading will be very difficult for my strategy.

Stocks Way Up On My Watchlist
I’ve managed to do some research on a few stocks this weekend. Here they are some that are now at the top of my watchlist (click HERE for quotes):

• Perficient (PRFT) – solid fundamentals, beautiful chart- only in June has the stock been under pressure, but other than that, PRFT survived May and June better than most stocks.
• Education Realty Trust (EDR)- a very rare pick I really like from Cramer. This is actually a unique REIT play, and it seems like the stock didn’t perform well when the rest of REITs were flying. Anyway, a 1-year chart shows EDR is turning things around!
• Komag (KOMG) – as the rest of tech is struggling to pick up, the hard-drive and storage companies have been doing awesome (SNDK, STX, MU). Komag was just not on my radar few months ago, but now it’s there thanks to so much interest that analysts are giving it.
• Emisphere Technology (EMIS)- a newsletter recommended this biotech stock, and since then it has been rising.
• India Fund (IFN) – India for sale? The India stocks got smashed following what happened to India’s market correction. I’m staying away from REDF or SIFY because they were over-hyped stocks.

Stocks Still On My Watch List:

• LONG: MA, EGY, MED, BIDU, BOOM
• SHORT: TIE, ERS, OSTK, TTWO, NCTY
• OTHER: ZOLT, VG, VSE, PEIX, ELN