America celebrates Memorial Day this weekend, "the land of the free, and the home of the brave". A look at some uniquely American stocks.

Dow Jones 10136.63 (down) Week ending 05-28-2010

Memorial Day is traditionally the kickoff day to the summer season here in the US. But more importantly, it is a time of remembering the men and woman who have fought to preserve our freedom by giving their lives to protect our country and our ideals.


It is with that freedom that they have provided, that I am able to write today freely in this blog without government censorship, like in some countries in the world, and am able to share ideas with you whether they be about stocks, religion, politics, or any subject I choose. The empty chairs and coffins to the right are a stark reminder of the high cost of these freedoms.

For their ultimate devotion, I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

To assist our Veterans that have been disabled with a financial donation, you should go to:"http://www.dav.org/donate/Default.aspx". I am a lifelong devotee to this cause and would personally thank you.

Now on to buying those great American stocks. There is probably no more recognized American stock then is The Walt Disney Company (Symbol DIS, $33.42),except for possibly McDonald's Corp. (Symbol MCD, $66.87).

Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" has just broken the billion dollar mark at the box office making it the sixth movie in history to do so. The stock is up 39.31% over the last 12 months. Earnings this year of $1.91 and in 2011 projecting $2.30 per share. Of course Disney also owns the popular
ABC Network and ESPN. Disney had also at the beginning of the year merged with Marvel adding to it's cast of characters. Disney was saddened by the passing of Art Linkletter this week who had hosted Disneyland's groundbreaking live opening day broadcast on ABC in 1955.

CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Cl A (Symbol DWA, $29.69) has had it's stock beat up pretty good over the last 8 weeks. The reason? Shrek fatigue at the box office! Who would of thunk it. I didn't think the big green guy looked that tired to me. It has created a buying opportunity here at the $27.00 to $29.75 range. Most of the soft money is out. Steven Speilberg and the top 7 mutual fund holders of the stock are all low turnover folks, so I think you can start buying in here. Earnings of $2.40 projected for 2011. This stock can rocket when they hit a mega hit, be patient.

Now let's circle back to the aforementioned McDonald's Corp. (Symbol MCD, $66.87), whose stock has been on a steady rise since 2005. Truly an American institution who is recognized worldwide. It has a five year earnings growth rate of 16.07%. The stock is beaten up a bit recently in the latest market turbulence, but it will be back. Total 3 year return of 44.7%. It was in the Freewilly blog baseball lineup in October 9, 2009 blog, batting out of the 3 slot. Not a bad hitter!

So celebrate this American holiday with some respect and remembrance,
and next week buy some American stocks.

Later, Freewilly

"Let's face it, the Baby Boomers have most of the wealth, so what are they spending it on?"

Dow Jones 10,193 (Strong down) Week ending 05-21-2010

Ah yes, the Baby Boomers, born generally 1943 to 1960, getting older in body but still strong in spirit. They control 67% of the countries wealth some 28 trillion dollars and everyone is trying to get at it, including Uncle Sam who is now named Uncle Barack or Barry to his friends. Boomers have about three trillion in disposable income. Most Boomers plan to buy a new home when going into retirement. So what are they planning to spend their money on?

Boomers are usually hard working and tired by the end of the day and want to get a good night sleep so their back doesn't hurt. So the first thing is a Tempur Pedic International Inc. (Symbol TPX, $31.37) mattress. This stock has a 12 month total return of 185.3%. It has an earnings growth rate just shy of 14%. Operating income has been increasing the last 5 Quarters.


When they are not sleeping, Boomers are off to the islands taking those Carribean cruises and shopping duty free. CARNIVAL Corp. (symbol CCL, $35.61) is the most profitable in this space. Carnival is projecting $2.74 earning per share for 2011. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (Symbol RCL, $28.34) is also very well positioned in this space. 2011 earnings projected at $2.62 per share. And what are the boomers buying at these duty free shops?




Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (Symbol RL, $84.27) has projected 2011 earnings of $5.55 per share. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (Symbol WSM, $28.84) WSM has a 12 month total return of 126.7%. Also some of those 50 and 60 year olds with their new diets are squeezing into those Guess? Inc.(symbol GES, $36.79) Guess by Marciano jeans. Whoa! Guess 2011 earnings projected at $3.47 per share. Now that is sheik. All good names for your portfolio.

Last but not least, the Boomers will be buying that new home. If they are going to Florida it will probably be purchased from Lennar Corp. Cl A (Symbol LEN, $17.47) which has big real estate holdings in that state. I own this one because I found it to have the best 2011 earnings projection of .86 cents per share for the homebuilders stocks. It already has had a 12 month return of 85.4%.

Boomers also love food and gardening and Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. Cl A (symbol SNI, $43.52) rules the roost in this area of TV with Food Network, Home and Garden TV, (which also does real estate), and other similar channels. Network stars like Bobby Flay and Giada Delaurentis keep ad revenues jumping at this network. SNI operates at 24.20% net profit margins.

So put your old Woodstock tie-dyed T-Shirt on and put some of these stocks in your retirement portfolio.

Good Eats and Bon Appetit,

Freewilly

"These stocks get no pricing respect from Wall Street for their good balance sheets"

Dow Jones 10620.16 (UP) Week ending May 14th, 2010

Rodney Dangerfield.
I get no respect.

"When I was born I was so ugly the doctor slapped my mother."

"I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out."

"A girl phoned me the other day and said... Come on over, there's nobody home. I went over. Nobody was home."

"I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous - everyone hasn't met me yet."

No respect. This is the same case on Wall Street with a lot of stocks. The first one is Activision Blizzard (Symbol ATVI, $10.69). 23 analyst recommend this stock but none of them are stepping up to buy it. Five year growth rate of 26.88%, No long term debt, great balance sheet. No Respect. Nervous nillies worrying about April game sales. DECEMBER is what matters in the game business.

The second one is Motorola Inc. (Symbol MOT, $6.79) This one I bought this week. Mot's got the mojo back in their handsets with Google's Android inside now (Android sounds like Steroid and acts that way for Moto sales!). 3 Billion in cash and 5 billion in short term investments on the balance sheet. This company has been reforming itself for ten years. My guesstimate is 2011 earnings of .53 to .55 cents a share. Now is the time to buy.



The next company is Garmin Ltd. (Symbol GRMN, $33.53). This company has zero long term debt on the balance sheet. It trades at a PE of 11.64. The company has a 5 year revenue growth rate of 31.86%. This low cost operator even throws a 4.47% dividend your way. Sales and earnings have slowed up a bit here, but still a good company based on the numbers.

Another company where sales growth has slowed up a little bit, but still solid numbers is Ebay Inc. (Symbol EBAY,$22.25). Ebay has embedded in it Paypal which is an excellent business. Ebay operates at 27.3% net profit margins which is outstanding for a retailer. The 2011 earnings are projecting at $1.60 a share. I don't think there is much downside risk here. The wow factor may have worn off and Meg Whiteman is gone, but Ebay still cruises along with 18.99% revenue growth over the last 5 years.

So give these 4 some respect. While your at it, how about them Philadelphia Flyers! Better give them a little respect too! Go Flyers!

Freewilly

"Damage control , Scotty? Can you give me some auxillary power? What do we have on the ship that's good?"

Dow Jones 10380.43 (Strong Down) Week ending 05-07-2010


"Captain, we have quite a bit of damage down here. Some fumble fingered guy hit the wrong key on the panel and the warp drives went all haywire. The whole crew tried to fix it, but we were working in all different directions. We're gonna need a bottle of single malt Scotch and some more DiLithium crystals. You know it controls the amount of power generated in the reaction chamber, channeling the energy released by mutual annihilation into a stream of electro-plasma. Kirk: Yeah,right Scotty. Kirk: "Can't we just throw some Greece or Portugal A- bonds into the furnace to get us home?" Scotty: "Aye Captain, but the whole place is in an uproar now, we need to calm them all down first" Kirk: Damn it Scotty, we need that power to get to Dow 12,000. Do the best you can.
Kirk: "Bones give me a shot of something, I have a wicked migraine headache now." Bones: " Jim, I'm a doctor not a miracle worker. This Dow 12,000 thing is going to take some time"

Well the stock market had a perfect storm of events this week that made them realize that they need circuit breakers not only on the overall market, but also on individual stocks. Europe's got itself all tied together in one big financial EURO knot. Calls for austerity in Greece has put the citizenry in a very foul mood. A lender of last resort must step forward.

So what to do now? Well, one thing to do is see what stocks were UP on Friday.
Here are some names: Luminex (Symbol LMNX, $16.33), Activision Blizzard (Symbol ATVI, $10.56)), Goldman Sachs (Symbol GS, $142.99), Direct TV (Symbol DTV, $35.89), Marvell Technology (Symbol MRVL, $18.86), InVentiv Health (Symbol VTIV, $25.00), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (Symbol MXIM, $18.50).. If you didn't get a chance to gooble up some Accenture when it dropped from 41.00 down to $0.14 cents on Friday or to stash some Proctor and Gamble at $39.00 when in jetted across to the NYSE ARCA for a firesale on the NASDAQ, then maybe some of these names might suit you well.

So don't get nervous, Capt. Kirk and the Enterprise NCC-1701 always pulls us out of these precarious situations.

All the best and Happy Mother's Day,

Freewilly

"Sometimes you only need to look as far as your Home and Garden for good stock ideas"

Dow Jones 11,009 (Down) Week Ending 4-30-2010

Did I mention that I recommended Apple and Coinstar In February 2010 and gave you Dendreon last July in my blog. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention. Those stocks have really taken off here. Lesson learned, everyone is allowed to own the winners.

Some people feed their lawn and garden better than they feed their kids. One of the beneficiaries of that phenomenon is Scott's Miracle Grow Company (Symbol SMG, $49.40). This company is projecting $3.13 for 2010 earnings and $3.54 for 2011. The price is up 45% in the last 12 months. The Scott company has a return on equity of 29.5%.

Everybody loves Tractor Supply Company (Symbol TSCO, $67.17). From one retail store in Minot, North Dakota, Tractor Supply Company is the now the largest retail farm and ranch store chain in the United States. The company operates more than 800 retail stores in over 40 states, employs more than 10,000 team members and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn. Earnings in 2010 projected at $3.70 per share and $4.17 per share in 2011. Earnings growth over 5 years of 11.91 % and a one year Total return of 67%. What's not to like!

... and last but not least Stanley Black and Decker (Symbol SWK, $62.15). This stock has a one year stock chart that looks like a climb up Mount Washington in New Hampshire. This company is like the "Proctor and Gamble" of name brands in the work tools area. In 2010, the two companies combined to form Stanley Black & Decker, to deliver the tools and solutions that industrial companies, professionals, and consumers count on to be successful when it really matters. Not to mention their acquisition of ADT France from Tyco Electronics in the security area. When they get all these assets in alignment and going in the same direction, watch out. This stock is a store house of value. Projected earnings for 2010 of $3.23 and $4.29 for 2011. I need to credit SmartMoney.com for providing invaluable statistics that I am often quoting here in this venue. I only have a staff of one, me. My daughter and wife (English majors!) act as editors to my ramblings.

So get your hands dirty in the garden and plant some growth stocks in your portfolio.

Sincerest Regards,

Freewilly