October 30, 2008
Our top picks this week come from portfolio manager Doug Cannon of Texas First Investment Managment Company. Texas First specializes in Texas-based companies across a wide variety of industries. Here are some of their current picks, despite the current market climate:
- Southwest Airlines (LUV)- “It traditionally has been the most efficient, most profitable airline in the country and we bought that earlier this year seeing a turnaround in the airline stocks and believing that there was a likelihood that the price of oil would go down and that profitability will improve. We bought Southwest Airlines earlier this year at about $12.25; it’s now at$15.60 so we’re up about 27% there.”
- SYSCO (SYY)- “[They are] the world’s top wholesaler of foods. It’s not an exciting business, but it’s something they do better than anyone else. Sysco is really a growth company that’s been selling at a value price. It’s not something that’s going to move overnight, but the company is going to continue to be profitable, regardless of the economic environment, and over time the stock should make some good gains.”
- Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC)- “Tenet, based in Dallas, operates hospitals, and they have a good reputation for turning hospital operations around. We bought that at just a little over $5 about a year ago and it’s up about 24% this year. We think it is a very good long-term holding. Tenet’s a good case of a company that had troubles in the past, but where the stock price just got too low. It had operational problems about two years ago, and because the stock was so cheap, we watched the company carefully.Once we saw things start to turn around, we thought it was a good time to buy. We still think that it’s got some very good potential.”
For the complete interview with Mr. Cannon, click here.
For our complete Investing Strategies report, including interview with a variety of portfolio managers giving their investment philosophy and stock picks, click here.
