You may or may not have noticed by now, but here at The Motley Fool we're rolling out new and easier ways for you to be able to keep track of your favorite stocks and writers. My Watchlist is one of those new and easy-to-use tools that even I've come around to over the past few weeks. It allows me to keep up on the latest news for some of my most-watched companies.
Today, I want to share two companies that found their way onto my Watchlist, and why it might be a good idea for you to add them to your own.
Best Buy
Great chapters have been written about the demise of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), which, according to analysts, should have gobbled up market share like Pac-Man when rival Circuit City went bankrupt. Instead, Best Buy has been haunted by multiple ghosts including weak television prices and greater online competition.
The good news is Best Buy has a plan to turn its ailing business around and you may be able to catch the company when it really is a best buy.
The company plans to focus on higher margin products like smartphones and tablet computers while opening smaller, and hopefully more profitable, stores. More importantly, the company outlined a plan to vastly expand its online inventory of merchandise which should help it battle cost-conscious online customers who have favored Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) or even Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) up until now. The point is if Best Buy can update its stale image with consumers, then the sky could be the limit for a company trading at just nine times its own projected guidance. It's definitely one worth watching.
Research In Motion
Being an iPhone drone, I may not be a fan of Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerry, but I do have to respect the numbers behind its growth. Investors are coming down hard on RIM after the company's guidance last night did little to shore up confidence in its products. The average selling price of RIM's products came in at $302, below consensus estimates of $309, and quarterly guidance also fell short.
Yet even with these shortcomings, I see nothing but potential for RIM. I say "so what?" to lower margin products selling better than higher priced items. This gives RIM the potential to retain loyal customers who otherwise wouldn't buy its phones in the first place and turn them into addicted "CrackBerry" users. I also question whether everyone was so completely turned off by the report that they failed to read all the way to the end where RIM guided full-year forecasts way past consensus figures -- a bet made on strength expected from new-generation phones and its new tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook.
Based on RIM's current price, it's trading below eight times its own full-year guidance. Couple that with growth expectations well into the double digits, and you can see why this value play could give Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) a run for its money. This play is definitely worth watching.
What stocks are currently in your Watchlist? Share them below as well as any thoughts you may have on the companies mentioned in this article. Also, consider tracking my ideas by adding them to your own Watchlist.
- Add Best Buy to My Watchlist.
- Add Research In Motion to My Watchlist.
