Since we've hit the end of the year and the stock market continues to tick upward, I thought it'd be worthwhile to glance over the new 52-week highs and lows. One thing apparent is just how staggeringly biased things are to the buy-side.
Some companies completely deserve to be trading at new highs. Southern Copper
Other companies, however, have me scratching my head. Here are three stocks near 52-week highs that could be worth dumping.
Empty promises
Imagine I have my hand level with my waist -- that's about how tall I was the very first time JDS Uniphase
As fellow Fool Seth Jayson points out, JDS Uniphase has seen a dramatic rise in its accounts receivable. which could be a potential red flag for the future.
It has reported four straight years of net losses on revenue that seems equally as erratic. Recently, the trend has been to sell JDS when things look to be turning around, and that might be the correct response again.
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In a true play on words, it appears Sirius XM
Sirius XM is facing growing competition from streaming radio competitor Pandora and is still not out of the woods from having a behemoth like Google potentially partner up with a smaller project like Pandora.
Sirius XM isn't exactly "cheap," either, trading at 24 times book value and 54 times 2011 earnings estimates. The jury is also still out on how Sirius plans to pay down the $3 billion in long-term debt it currently has on its balance sheet. This gives me all the more reason to pass up Sirius XM at these levels.
Get out of the zone
AutoZone
The concern here is that as consumers opt to purchase newer vehicles from Ford and GM that have longer-lasting parts, the demand for replacement parts from AutoZone should see a decline.
It also can't be overlooked that with nearly $2.9 billion in debt, AutoZone leaves shareholders with a considerably negative book value. It wouldn't take much of a downturn in the parts sector to put a crimp in AutoZone's cash flow. Perhaps it's time to drive away from this one.
Have an opinion on any of the above companies? Let's hear about it in the comment section below!
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