Mayor’s Picks - December 2007

The last Mayors Picks of this year I’m sure bring a tear to everyone’s eye. It’s been a great year. We’ve had stocks double (CMG, PCU). We’ve had stocks flounder (SHLD). But overall we’ve kicked the market’s ass. Who says Wall Street has all the answers. Main Street can do pretty well too.

So with the last picks of the year as usual I’ll recap the Mayor’s performance for the last 12 months of picks. And I’ll add a great pick for the next year. Last December’s picks are up 12.22% vs. 4.86% for the S&P. The Mayor beat the market again but I think we can do better than that.

1 Month Return +6.11%, S&P +3.87%

2 Month Return -3.37%

3 Month Return +2.54%

4 Month Return +8.64%

5 Month Return -2.91%

6 Month Return +4.07%

7 Month Return +28.69%

8 Month Return +35.16%

9 Month Return +42.26%

10 Month Return +26.71%

11 Month Return +30.74%

12 Month Return +12.22%, S&P +4.86%

STOCK SYMBOL (Current Price, Monthly % Change) - Rating - Comments

DIS (33.24, +4.40%) - Buy - Disney is the only movie studio to truly embrace the electronic age and with Apple’s Steve Jobs on the board you can be sure that will continue. Movies have been solid this year and I expect that to continue. Destination resorts will be solid but not spectacular in the future and expect more big things from ESPN.

AAPL (198.80, +15.89%) - Buy - I was worried the stock was too high last month and the same worries are there this month but I can’t help but like Apple long term. Even with their current stable of products Apple is poised for fabulous growth this year and next. Consider that they have become a product development factory and you’ve got a great long term investment. I would like to see them increase R&D spending and possibly make a purchase like TiVo but I’ll assume Steve Jobs knows what he’s doing.

SNE (54.64, +11.33%) - Buy - I’ve been cautiously optimistic about Sony for a while and things have played out enough for me to recommend them. First the Blue-Ray disc player seems to be winning the next generation High Def battle. Slowly but surely. Second, PS3 has picked up steam and if others are like me they’ve sworn off the XBox 360 because it’s in for repairs all the time. Wii has it’s niche but it’s not going to push the technological envelope like PS3. Thirdly, they’re on the cutting edge of OLED TVs which will be the next TV market. And finally, they seem to have improved marketing a little bit. They’re no Apple, but they’re better than before. A new cool logo and you may have me.

UA (43.48, -9.76%) - Buy - Under Armor has fallen 35% in the last few months even while growing at a very high rate. This stock is finally a value at 32x next year’s earnings. They’ve also beaten street estimates for the past year. If that continues expect the stock to go up quickly. I like this company long term so now is the time to get in.

MMM (86.26, +4.24%) - Buy - Boring 3M will be a big blue chip gainer next year. Wall Street hates the stock but a few robust quarters and everyone will fall back in love. If they can continue to grow in double digits as expected it’s worth far more than a 14-15 P/E ratio. Bump that up to 20 with a couple of good quarters.

LVS (106.98, -3.88%0 - Buy - Palazzo opened a few days ago, Venetian Macau opened in August and more is coming on-line next year. Expect more big things from Las Vegas Sands in years to come. This is an opportunity to get in after a disappointing quarter and uncertainty on Wall Street about the future in Macau.

F (6.75, -6.12%) - Buy - Bear with me on this one. Ford has the highest initial quality of all manufacturers. They’ve got a good new design with the Fusion and Edge. Redesigns are coming for the Focus and a new car may be on the way in the fuel efficient arena. If they can weather the next few years while maintaining quality and improving design it’s Ford who may challenge Toyota as the auto leader, not GM. New CEO Mulally has done a good job moving the company in the right direction. This is a long term investment but it’s worth getting in on the ground floor.

BRK-B (4540.00, +1.45%) - Buy - This company is still a value and will continue earnings growth. Big purchase announced yesterday will add another $7 billion in sales to the company.

PANL (20.20) - Buy - Here’s our newcomer to the list. Universal Displays (PANL) is a technology company working with OLED displays. They’ve got over 800 patents in the OLED field and licensing agreements with all the big TV makers. If you doing know what OLEDs are they are the future in TV and computer displays among other things. They’re more energy efficient and have higher contrast ratios than any other display. When costs come down they will also be cheaper because the displays can basically be printed on a sheet. Ohh, did I mention they’re super thin and flexible. Maybe your Wii controller will bounce back to you next time you throw it at the TV. A contract with the DOE is demonstrating lighting possibilities as well. The possibilities are almost endless.