What a relief.
I was braced for the worst after last week's blowout on Motley Fool CAPS, so I guess I should count my blessings in my feeble attempt to bounce back this week. As easy as it is to be a part of the CAPS stock-picking and stock-dissing community, it sure is hard to claw one's way out of the gutter.
Here's how my ratings have clocked in over the past few weeks:
I can't get too excited. A rating of just 1.91 out of 100 means that I still have more than 98% of you ahead of me since I began providing weekly updates on my public experiment to get back into the game.
Let's go over some of my recent picks and pans.
Making moves and taking names
I made three new calls this week. The first was betting against HSW International
I fear that HSW will shape up to be another Answers
My second call was to try my hand at bottom-fishing on Clear Channel
My third pick was to peg lululemon athletica
Things can only get better
I also did a little pruning this week. I went ahead and ended my bearish call on Bear Stearns
I've learned my lesson. I try to avoid betting against stocks with potential catalysts, and I just didn't see this one coming. I really felt that if all three parties involved agreed to the terms of the original $2-a-share bailout bid that it would stick. I was wrong.
I also ended my bullish calls on JAKKS Pacific
My TierOne pick was based on shares of the Nebraska bank trading at a steep discount to its buyout premium. Like way too many busted deals lately, trying to play the difference burned me when the deal didn't go through as planned.
What will I do next? You're welcome to follow along on my CAPS page to see how I'm doing even before next week's update.
Another thing you may want to do is give the 93,000-member Motley Fool CAPS community a shot. You'll be way ahead of me the moment you start. But I'm not going to stop fighting just because there's one more person ahead of me.
I'm not going to rest until my rating grows respectable. See you there!