By Sean Corey
Staff Writer
Investors will remember the first quarter of 2014 by the Russian-Ukraine conflict and the harsh winter in the United States. Energy companies benefited the most from these events. Both the harsh winter and the conflict in Eastern Europe caused the prices of natural gas and oil to rise. Our top performing stocks of the semester, GasLog and Cheniere, are both companies engaged in natural gas production and transportation. Industrial and retail stocks such as Caterpillar and Foot Locker also saw excellent growth as developed economies, such as the United States, Canada, and Germany, continue to recover from the recession.
If students are interested in joining SIMM next year they can take it as a class or as an extracurricular activity. Any major and all experience levels are welcome. Researching companies and presenting recommendations provide education that can’t be found in any other class.
If you are interested feel free to contact the Long Fund manager Steve Zimmer at zimmersm11@bonaventure.edu
This Week
Long Fund: $261,580
Energy Fund: $270,350
GAINERS
GasLog (GLOG) 35.14%
Cheniere (LNG) 28.61%
Caterpillar (CAT) 17.19%
Foot Locker (FL) 16.92%
LOSERS
GNC Holdings (GNC) -10.71%
Lululemon (LULU) -10.69%
Boeing (BA) -9.74%
Atlas Pipeline (APL) -9.32%
Trading Activity
BUY
Lululemon (LULU),
Lululemon designs and sells athletic apparel primarily in Canada, the United States and Australia. They are best known for their yoga pants, but they also make a wide range of other athletic apparel. 2013 was not a good year for the company. Last March, they had to recall all the black yoga pants they sold that year, their most well-known product, because they were unintentionally transparent. In June the CEO was fired for quality control issues. As a result of their issues the stock price has fallen more than 30 percent since the start of 2013. A turnaround is in sight however, and their stock appears to be undervalued. A new CEO was hired in December that specializes in quality control. They also plan on expanding into European markets.
BUY
Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG),
Scotts Miracle-Gro manufactures, markets, and sells lawn and garden products. They primarily operate in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. The majority of their income comes from consumer products such as their Miracle-Gro® fertilizer. Their stock price has been stagnant for the past two years, but a proposed expansion plan into a new market should boost earnings. Their plan is to start manufacturing fertilizer for commercial farms and other large projects. This will diversify their product line and increase sales which will raise their stock price.
coreysm10@bonaventure.edu
