Ruminations, meanderings and recriminations

So many bargains!!

Come one, come all, its a giant pre-Christmas sale of listed NZX and foreign stocks.

Ah, Mainfreight's shares might be traveling south, Michael Hill's may have lost their sparkle and Pumpkin Patch's share price looks like it could reach the same figures as some of its clothing sizes but if you think stocks are cheap now just wait until the New Year sales.

To be fair markets have now overreacted-they always do whether up or down- to the credit crunch and its associated impacts and we now seem to be running on negative emotion caused by over zealous finance media ready to make a name for themselves and their media owners whose headlines grab at sensationalism in order to sell advertising.

This media inspired negativity is set to continue well into 2009 and the New Zealand stockmarket is unlikely to see any stability until next spring with an upturn looking promising for the 2010 year.

I thought I would be a smart arse sort of guy and buy beaten down stocks a few months back but my Pumpkin Patch purchase back in June at NZ$1.53 has nearly halved on Fridays closing price, my Michael Hill purchase of the same month went from 82c to below 60c and my Briscoes "bargain" is back in the high 70 cent range.

The only upside buy was my clear expertise led delve back into Fisher and Paykel Healthcare[FPH.NZ] Bought at $2.33 this stock is currently above 3 bucks and has at times been above $3.20, just going to prove that timing the market isn't the easiest thing to do-for me anyway.

To be fair the upside for Fishers was clear to the market because sales were going to be up and the US dollar strength meant that repatriated funds back to head office in New Zealand would be well up, so the only mistake I made there was not to buy more.

This will be one stock whose sales and profit will hold up during this economic downturn and any substantial stock slump below $2.35 will see me back in.

Having spilt my guts about some of my stock meanderings over the last few months I am nevertheless in it for the long haul and my purchases fit my investment profile and ability to eat should everything become worthless in 12 months time.

Having said that I am still very tempted to get the checkbook out again for some more "bargains" but human nature being what it is I am going to wait until prices drop further latter on in 2009.

I am looking at buying more Mainfreight Ltd [MFT.NZ] which is still doing well, Pumpkin Patch[PPL.NZ], which is struggling in North America, Britain and New Zealand, Michael Hill International[MHI.NZ], which is holding up so far, Fletcher Building [FBU.NZ] which is in the middle of a residential building slump and Briscoe[BGR.NZ]which is having the Christmas sale to end all sales at present.

So I am still optomistic for the economy and the stockmarket long-term. Short term?

Its a fools game.


Related Share Investor reading

Share Investor Portfolio: Taking a beating
Why did you buy that stock? [Briscoe Group]
Why did you buy that stock? [Fisher & Paykel Healthcare]
Why did you buy that stock? [Pumpkin Patch Ltd]
Why did you buy that stock? [Michael Hill International]
Why did you buy that stock? [Mainfreight]
Why did you buy that stock? [Fletcher Building]

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