Great Call on Wachovia! What's Next?

In a clear case of have-you-been-living-under-a-rock-itis, Wachovia (NYSE:WB) announced on Monday that it is eliminating the "pay less" option on its Pick-A-Payment mortgage loans. Just as the name implies, the Pick-A-Payment loans let borrowers pick a payment level, the lowest of which doesn't even cover the full amount of the interest accruing on the loan.

Given the turmoil that subprime and other funny-money loans have caused, Wachovia's management team deserves a big "DUH!" for just now realizing that letting borrowers pay so little is a bad idea.

On Motley Fool CAPS, nearly 2,000 investors are currently weighing in on the future of Wachovia's stock, and enough of them have been bearish to saddle Wachovia with a rock-bottom one-star rating. Of all the investors following the stock, though, none has been right on the money like current Top Fool SpecBear. SpecBear put his thumb down three times on Wachovia since July of last year, wrangling 88 points for his timely calls.

SpecBear is one of CAPS' All-Stars -- players with a rating of 80 or greater. He's managed a stock-picking accuracy of 86% on his calls, while racking up an impressive 9,752 points. Wachovia hasn't been his only great call. Here's a look at a few of his other prescient picks:

Data from CAPS.

So what is this investor looking at these days? Here are a few of his most recent calls on CAPS:

Data from CAPS.

While not all of these picks may pan out, they could be a good place to start some further research. I decided to take a closer look at USANA Health Sciences.

Where's the love for USANA?
If you're looking to get a warm and fuzzy feeling about a stock, USANA's CAPS page is the wrong place to start. Of the 354 CAPS player who have rated USANA, nearly 200 are bearish on the stock. And more than 75% of the CAPS All-Stars who've weighed in hold similar sentiments.

So why do CAPS players have such a low opinion of USANA? Skepticism ranges from the management team to the claims the company makes about its products, and -- above all else -- the company's business model. Though USANA prefers the term "network marketing," to many, the company smacks of a good old multilevel marketing scheme. Some even charge that USANA is involved in out-and-out fraud.

Summing up the communitywide concerns, XMFJordan gave the stock a thumbs down in December of last year:

Simply put this company is a ponzi scheme and things are about to collapse. Unfortunately, I can't short this one in the real world ... and the put options don't have a long enough term. But trust me, this one is going to zero. If you want to see why, just go to the Fraud Discovery Institute website and see the wonderful work of Barry Minkow on this one.

Not everyone shares this doom-and-gloom outlook for USANA, though. Not surprisingly, the company's chief supporter is its founder, chairman, and CEO, Myron Wentz. He already owns more than half of the company through an Isle of Man-based holding company, which he controls through a Liechtenstein-based entity. (That doesn't sound sketchy at all!) Wentz now wants to grab the rest of it through a $26-per-share offer.

So far, Wentz hasn't had any luck there; USANA's board has rejected the offer, claiming it undervalues the company. If he does succeed, it should allow him to continue to grow his business in relative peace as a privately held company. Of course, if there are some shenanigans going on at USANA -- as Minkow and others have alleged -- then no buyout offer will right this ship.

So what's your take on USANA? Get in the action by clicking over to CAPS. CAPS is absolutely free, and it already has more than 110,000 stock pickers chipping in to find the best stocks out there.

More CAPS Foolishness:

• 5 Dynamic Dividend Stocks
• 7 Must-Read Stock Blogs
• America's Next Top Value Stock