Opinion on  Wolverine World Wide Inc (WWW)     Sector: Consumer Cyclical  >  Industry: Footwear
Wolverine World Wide (WWW)

The market really closed on a tear today! I had a couple of stocks close to a sale and Wolverine World Wide decided to cross that 30% threshhold a few moments ago. I sold 40 shares of WWW at $30.84/share shortly before the close of the trading day. I had purchased 240 shares at a cost basis of $23.55/share on 4/19/06, just under a year ago, and with today's price move, the stock passed a 30% appreciation target, and I unloaded 1/6th of my holding, or 40 shares. This sale at $30.84 represents a gain of $7.29/share or 31%. On the upside, I plan on selling another 1/6th of my holdings if the stock should appreciate to a 60% appreciation target, otherwise, after a single sale, I shall move my 'mental stop' up to break-even or $23.55...at which time I would be unloading all of my remaining shares.

This gave me a "permission slip". I had earlier noted that another favorite of mine, Hologic (HOLX) was on the top % gainers....and I bought some...I shall write this purchase up as a separate blog entry!

Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob's Advice!  As always, please remember that I am an amater investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

As one of the things I like to do to share with all of my readers what I am thinking about investments, I have chosen to share with all of you my actual trading portfolio and my actual trades.  On weekends, I have been trying to go through each of my now 19 positions, and update you as I once again review some of the basic fundamental information about each of these stocks.

On June 17, 2007, I wrote up my holding Ventana Medical Systems (VMSI), which I recently sold after a 25 point rise after Roche announced a bid for the stock.  Going alphabetically, I am now back to the bottom of my list with Wolverine World Wide (WWW). 

WWW is an old favorite of mine.  I first wrote up Wolverine when the stock was trading at $28.90 (or actually $19.27 when adjusted for a 3:2 stock split February 2, 2005) on October 6, 2004.  I "revisited" Wolverine on April 19, 2006, when the stock was trading at $23.91.

Currently, I own 200 shares of Wolverine World Wide (WWW) in my trading account that have a basis of $23.55, purchased on 4/19/06.  WWW closed at $28.51 on July 6, 2007, for an unrealized gain of $4.96 or 21.1% on these shares.  On January 31, 2007, I sold 40 shares of my 240 original shares (1/6th of the holding) at $30.57 for a gain of $7.02 or 29.8%.

I am now trying to sell 1/7th of my holdings at appreciation targets, not 1/6th as I did with Wolverine, and would plan on the upside of selling 1/7th of my 200 shares or 28 shares if the stock should reach a 60% gain or 1.6 x $23.55 = $37.68.  On the downside, after a single sale at a 30% gain, my sale point would be at break-even or  $23.55.

First, let's take a look at the "point & figure" chart on Wolverine World Wide from StockCharts.com: 

Let's take another brief look at WWW and see if it deserves a spot on the blog!

On April 18, 2007, Wolverine World Wide (WWW) announced 1st quarter 2007 results.  Revenue totalled $281.1 million, up 6.9% over last year's first quarter revenue of $262.8 million.  First quarter earnings per share climbed 14.7% to $.39/share, up from $.34/share.  Net earnings were $22.3 million, up from $19.6 million last year. 

In light of the solid quarter, the upping of guidance at that time, the strong price chart, the impressive Morningstar.com "5-Yr restated" financials which show steady revenue, earnings, and dividend growth.  Stable outstanding shares. Solid free cash flow, and a solid balance sheet.

WOLVERINE WORLD WIDE (WWW) IS RATED A BUY

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog!  If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them on the blog or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com.

Bob 

Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob's Advice!  As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

As I like to do from time to time on this blog, I would like to share with you the current status of my Trading Portfolio.  I last wrote up my "trading portfolio update" on June 7, 2007, a month ago.  There have been a few changes since then.  But the biggest development has been my partipation in Covestor.  You now can check my Covestor page and see the daily changes, all trades, and my performance relative to the indices and other registered investors.  Thus far, I have been doing quite well as it has been a fortunate month for me especially with he Ventana bid by Roche.  I am always grateful when my portfolio and my investing strategy is woking; but I am aware that there will be times when nothing seems to work.  Sometimes the most successful approach is about persistence and patience.

This past month also found me shaken-out of Gildan Activewear, which seemed to almost know I had sold on a dip and gleefully turned around to move higher making the top % gainers list that same day! O.K. that's a bit too anthropomorphic, but still, don't you just hate those days sometimes :).

So I am back to 19 positions.  Let's take a look at them and I will share with you in order: the symbol, number of shares, date of purchase, price of purchase, latest price (7/6/07), and percentage gain (or loss).

Baldor Electric Co. (BEZ), 140 shares, 5/22/07, $47.19, $50.04, 6.04%.

Bolt Technology (BTJ), 129 shares, 1/12/07, $17.44, $56.43, 223.63%

Cerner (CERN), 120 shares, 2/2/07, $49.76, $58.23, 17.02%

Coach (COH), 61 shares, 2/25/03, $8.33, $49.37, 492.58%

Covance (CVD), 119 shares, 4/9/07, $62.61, $70.19, 12.10%

Hologic (HOLX), 120 shares,  1/31/07, $55.58, $56.46, 1.58%

Harris (HRS), 120 shares, 1/31/07, $50.05, $55.91, 11.71%

Kyphon (KYPH), 125 shares, 5/20/05, $29.21, $53.18, 82.03%

Mesa Labs (MLAB), 210 shares, 5/23/07, $24.05, $24.75, 2.90%

Morningstar (MORN, 140 shares, 11/22/05, $32.57, $47.61, 46.16%

MEDTOX Scientific (MTOX), 350 shares, 6/26/07, $28.58, $29.89, 4.57%

Precision Castparts (PCP), 86 shares, 10/24/06, $69.05, $127.82, 85.11%

Quality Systems (QSII), 88 shares, 7/28/03, $7.75, $39.04, 403.82%

ResMed (RMD), 150 shares, 2/4/05, $29.87, $41.72, 39.68%

Satyam Computer Services (SAY), 210 shares, 4/20/07, $25.55, $26.25, 2.73%

Starbucks (SBUX), 50 shares, 1/24/03, $11.40, $26.55, 132.80%

Universal Electronics (UEIC), 155 shares, 2/23/07, $25.24, $36.78, 45.72%

Meridian Bioscience (VIVO), 270 shares,  4/21/05, $7.42, $22.00, 196.54%

Wolverine World Wide (WWW), 200 shares, 4/19/06, $23.55, $28.51, 21.08%

Since my last review on June 7, 2007, I sold 23 shares of Ventana at $76.83, and the rest of the 139 shares of Ventana (VMSI) at $76.502 later the same day on 6/26/07.  On that day I purchased 350 shares of MEDTOX at $28.5534, Bolt hit another appreciation target and I sold 1/7th of my holding (21 shares) at $50.52.  Finally, on 7/5/07, I sold my 210 shares of Gildan at $33.1101 when it hit an (8)% loss after purchase.

Currently I am at 19 positions.  My equity value is $119,962.09, my margin balance is at $56,031.51, giving me a 53.29% margin equity percentage.  As of 7/6/07, I have $33,571.01 in unrealized gains in my account, and with the above trades have taken $3,100.15 in net short-term gains, and $17,824.18 in net long-term gains for a total of $20,924.33 in realized gains for 2007.  I also have paid $2,563.07 in margin interest and have received a total of $272.58 in ordinary dividends and distributions and miscellaneous income.

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions regarding my Trading Account.  Please feel free to leave them on the blog or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com.  If you get a chance, be sure and visit my Stock Picks Bob's Advice Covestor page, where you can see a third-party analysis of my holdings and performance.  

Bob