The 146th Festival of Stocks was posted today at The Reformed Broker. What a great name for a blog! The Reformed Broker did a great job weeding out spam and off topic posts so you can quickly get to the best blog posts about stocks written last week.

Next week’s Festival of Stocks still needs a host. Please contact me if you are interested in throwing next week’s Festival.

In the May Special Situations Real Money Portfolio update, I mentioned that I purchased 5,000 shares of XTENT (XTNT). Let me recount how this investment came about and how it turned out.

XTENT is a development stage medical device company focused on developing and commercializing customizable drug eluting stent systems for the treatment of coronary artery diseases. Based on the March 31, 2009 balance sheet, XTENT’s net current asset value is $0.46 per share and its book value is $0.53 per share. Net cash per share is about $0.40 per share. Insiders own over 60% of shares.

Management indicated on March 15, 2009 in a preliminary proxy that they estimate the amount ultimately distributed during the proposed business liquidation will be between approximately $0.11 and $0.40 per share, assuming the company is unable to sell its intellectual property. At the time, I thought there was a decent probability that the company would be able to sell some of its intellectual property, and thus boost the ultimate payout. I also thought there was the potential that someone would want to buy this company as a corporate shell.

I picked up the 5,000 shares of XTENT (XTNT) on May 27th at just under $0.30 per share for the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio. I shared news of my purchase with members of my premium Fat Pitch Financials Contributors Corner service. My total cost for these shares came to $1,503.86. I decided to buy these shares because XTENT was trading at less than 2/3 NCAV and the company also recently announced that it would be liquidating.

The 5,000 shares of XTENT (XTNT) were short lived in the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio. I made the mistake of keeping a limit order open to sell the shares at $0.38. I placed that limit order on June 3rd, since it appeared the shares might hit that price on no news the day before. I was also getting nervous about off balance sheet liabilities that I hadn’t originally accounted for and was more than happy to sell my shares if the stock approached $0.40 without news. Well, I guess there was news that was forthcoming.

News happened and I wasn’t quick enough to react. On June 4th, my shares were sold at the open for $0.60 per share. News broke that morning that the company received conditional approval from the FDA for an Investigational Device Exemption authorizing it to begin its pivotal clinical program for its Custom NX® drug eluting stent system. The market liked this news and sent shares of XTENT soaring.

When I sold the shares on June 4, 2009, I received $2,992.97 net of costs. My total profit came in at $1,489.11 for this investment. That comes out to a total return of 99.0%. The average annualized return was 4,016% for this 9 day investment.

I should have been thrilled by this performance. However, I suffered some sellers remorse. Shares of XTENT continued to climb until they hit a high of $2.69 on June 5, 2009. The momentum traders really hit this stock hard. However, since there has been no new news, shares have traded down significantly and closed today at $1.31, which around what I safely estimate the shares to be worth if the company is liquidated and the intellectual property is sold off. I think the lesson I learned here is not to underestimate the potential for momentum investors to drive up the price of a penny stock net-net.

I’ve recently been producing a weekly table of stocks trading below two-thirds of net current asset value and sharing it on Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner. Consider subscribing to this very affordable service to participate in our discussions of these great opportunities, and also gain access to going private transactions, odd lot tender offers, mergers, other special situations, and the current trades of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio in the premium portion of my site.

Welcome to the June 15, 2009 edition of the Festival of Stocks.  The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. Fat Pitch Financials is the actual birth place of this online weekly event, so it is always a special occasion when I get the chance to host this roving event.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s entries:

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I’m running a reader survey at Fat Pitch Financials. Don’t be alarmed if you see an overlay on the site asking you to complete a survey. Only a small portion of readers will receive the random pop-up for the survey.

Please participate in the survey. The survey will help me better understand my audience and it will also help me sell my advertising space. Thank you for your support.

Welcome to the June 8, 2009 edition of the Festival of Stocks.  The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. Fat Pitch Financials is the actual birth place of this online weekly event, so it is always a special occasion when I get the chance to host this roving event.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s entries:

Special Situations Real Money Portfolio May 2009 Update posted at Fat Pitch Financials. This unique opportunistic portfolio continues to trounce the market. Note the mention of XTENT (XTNT), a stock trading below net current asset value last week. It’s up well over 400% since this post mentioned the stock.

List of Gold ETFs posted at OneMint. With all the talk of inflation and the need to hedge for it with gold, many will find this list of ETFs helpful.

Is This Stock Market Rally For Real? posted at Jeflin’s Investment Blog. That’s my question too. This informative article may help you decide.

I’m Not Buying this Rally posted at My Wealth Builder. Another blogger questions the current rally and decides to remain disciplined and wait for the inevitable correction before making major additional purchases.

Stock Prices Do Not Represent Stock Value (or Company Value) posted at ABCs of Investing. A lower priced stock isn’t “cheap”.

AFLAC Inc. (AFL) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividends Value. Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis with commentary. The author finds AFLAC to be a strong buy.

Can the Piotroski Method Improve Magic Formula Results? posted at MagicDiligence. In the investing nightmare of 2008, only one stock screening strategy returned positive results - the Piotroski method. Learn about this technique and see Magic Formula stocks that are ranked highly using it.

How To Be Listed on Dow Jones Industrial Average posted at Jeff Rose. A look at who is on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and how it might change with the removal of GM and Citi.

Sometimes You Bend Your Trading Rules… posted at My Simple Trading System. Taking an early profit to ease your comfort in a volatile market may seem smart or it might just increase your regret later.

What is investing? posted at Cash Money Life. A look at the difference between investing, saving, and trading.”

TradeKing vs Scottrade - Online Stock Trading Comparison posted at Investing School. Many people ask me whether Scottrade or TradeKing is better. Here’s a comparison for you.

How to Avoid a Mutual Fund’s Minimum Investment posted at The Dough Roller. Here’s an easy and inexpensive alternative to a mutual fund’s minimum investment requirement.

Long Term Investing posted at Everything Finance. Investing has its own language and understanding it can make it easier to be a confident investor. Two common terms you hear when people talk about investing are “bid” and “ask.” Here’s an explanation of what they mean.

Colgate Palmolive (CL) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividend Growth Investor. Why this blogger would only consider initiating a position in Colgate Palmolive on dips below $58.66.

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That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Be sure an leave comments as you visit each of the blogs that participated in this week’s Festival of Stocks. They’ll appreciate knowing folks are reading their articles.

Next week’s Festival of Stocks is still looking for a home. If you are interested in volunteering to host a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, just contact me right away with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page for those of you interested in reviewing the archives.

The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio closed out the month of May with a balance of $21,944.03. This is up 2.2% from the record breaking performance in April. While the S&P 500 returned an amazing 5.5% last month, I’m still more than happy with how I did in May.

The year-to-date return for the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio is 18.25%. The S&P 500 has returned less than 3% so far this year. I’m trouncing the market with my unique portfolio of special situations.

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The Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio has gained a bit more ground in May. The portfolio ended May 29, 2009 with a value of $946,732.78. That is up 1.9% since I last reported on Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio in April. Over the past six months, this portfolio has continued to outpace the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. However, as you can see in the graph below, the NASDAQ has started to outperform the Fat Pitch Financials Port.

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I’m still recovering from being away the prior week, but I’m starting to finally catch up. The first thing I’ll be doing this weekend is checking out the top stories of the week at Value Investing News. Here they are:

1. Dashboard Tool for Fundamental Analysis
   Their is no limit to the tools that can be found for technical analysis, but when it comes to fundamental analysis I seem to always find myself staring at raw numbers on a balance sheet. So I started building one- have a look and let me know what you think.
2. Book Review: Animal Spirits
   George Akerlof and Robert Shiller’s book, Animal Spirits, offers an accessible look at how traditional economics can be expanded by incorporating some basic concepts from psychology.
3. Magic Formula Stock Review: Cherokee (CHKE)
   With a remarkably low capital business model and a dividend yield that stands over 10%, Cherokee makes an attractive Magic Formula pick.
4. Nine Dividend Stocks confident in raising dividends
   Several notable companies raised their dividends last week. Dividend raises are not only getting more frequent, but they also seem to be spreading globally as well. A dividend raise in this tough environment indicates confidence in the business and the ability to generate free chas flow.
5. Magic Formula Weekly Roundup 5/23
   Weekly roundup of stocks moving in and out of the Magic Formula Investing screen.
6. IPO Market Signals
   This article looks at the clue the IPO market provides regarding market valuation. The number and value of IPOs in a given year may help indicate whether or not valuations are high enough to entice companies to issue public shares.
7. Minority Interest: What it is, How it is accounted for, Why it matters
   Minority interest is an often overlooked concept when evaluating stocks. What is it? How is it accounted for? Why does it matter to Magic Formula investors?
8. Diversifying into small and mid cap dividend stocks
   As a dividend growth investor, my goal is to generate a rising stream of dividend income. Thus I would have to be selective not only about picking individual stocks, but also about selecting companies from a variety of industries, countries and size, in order to avoid a widespread implosion in overall dividend income.
9. Cheap Stocks Interview: Art Patten, President of Symmetry Capital, LLC
   This interview with Art Patten, President of Symmetry Capital, explores the investment philosophy of this deep value micro-cap investor.
10. The Writing Is on the Wall for HSN and John Malone
    Looks Like John Malone Wants HSN.
11. MLPs for tax-deferred accounts
    Master Limited Partnerships are very good investment vehicles for individuals looking for high current dividend income. There are some tax issues with reporting MLP income in a taxable account, which led me to explore investing in MLPs through an IRA or ROTH IRA account.
12. April Activist Investments - 58 Companies Targeted
    A summary list of 58 companies targeted by 61 shareholder activists during April 2009.
13. How I’m Investing Now
    Sounds like my kind of value investor. This blogger details his investment strategy and current holdings.
14. Dividend Stocks Are ‘Slow Good’
    For years Heinz ran commercials describing their product as ’slow good’. It was an obvious inference to ’so good’ and that it was worth waiting on. Investing in dividend stocks in very similar. You certainly won’t find sudden wealth on any given day, but over time the dividends will pay off.
15. 2009 Morningstar Investment Conference - Part 5
    In the final session of the day was a conversation with John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. Don Phillips, Managing Director of Morningstar, was the moderator of the conversation. This was the highlight of the day.

Be sure to visit Value Investing News this weekend and vote on the best new value investing stories. Just click on the up arrow for the stories you like and on the down arrow for stories you don’t like or are not related to value investing. You’ll earn “user points” for each action you take on the site.

Those points are used for our monthly contest at Value Investing News. For the May contest at Value Investing News, we are giving away three subscriptions to my very own Fat Pitch Financials Contributors. The contest ends on May 31, 2009, so be sure to take advantage of this popular prize by spending your weekend voting on stories and providing comments.

I’ve also started a thread in the Value Investing News Forum soliciting your feedback on how to make the site even better in the future. I look forward to the discussion. Have a great weekend!

This week’s Festival of Stocks is up at Fundamental Insights and Ideas. Fundamental Insights is a relatively new blog by Sajal, a stock market and technology enthusiast. Sajal did a great job with this week’s Festival, so be sure to check it out.

I’m looking for hosts for future editions of the Festival of Stocks. Just contact me if you are interested in volunteering.

Welcome to the May 18, 2009 edition of the Festival of Stocks. The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers best posts on stock market related topics. Fat Pitch Financials is the actual birth place of this online weekly event, so it is always a special occasion when I get the chance to host this roving event.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s entries:

Value Traps posted at OneMint. There is no formula for detecting value traps, but, there are some common sense guidelines that can help investors watch out for value traps.

PowerShares Shut down 19 ETFs posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary. This post list the 19 PowerShares EFTs that closed recently and discusses why these funds were shut down.

Get the Most Effective Day Trading Charting Software posted at Mikes Millions.com. A quick review of three options for charting software: Sierra Chart, Trade Maven, and ESignal.

BMO InvestorLine Discount Brokerage Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars. Review of BMO InvestorLine discount brokerage in Canada.

Earnings Yield: Better than P/E for Valuing Stocks posted at MagicDiligence. The second component of Joel Greenblatt’s “Magic Formula Investing” (MFI), Earnings Yield represents a better way of measuring the valuation of a stock. This article tells you why as well as how it’s calculated for MFI purposes.

Stock Market Rally: First Stage Of A Primary Bull Trend? posted at Jeflin’s Investment Blog. This blogger believes we’ll be in a range bound market in the months to come.

Brady Corp (BRC) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividends Value. A detailed quantitative analysis of Brady Corp (BRC).

Warning - Not All Index Funds and ETFs Are Low Cost posted at ABCs of Investing. Some index funds and etfs are too expensive.

Comparing Fixed Annuities & Certificates of Deposit posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Jim covers the similarities and differences between fixed annuities and certificates of deposit.

Zecco Online Stock Trading for Free posted at The Dough Roller. A review of online broker, Zecco.

Should You Contribute to a 401k Without an Employer Match? posted at Cash Money Life. Why you should invest in your 401k even if your company doesn’t offer a matching contribution.

See No Evil… posted at My Wealth Builder. This blogger doesn’t understand the current rally in financial stocks, and I can’t blame him. However, abandoning contrarian investing and following the trend blindly sounds like another recipe for disaster.

What are Vanguard Admiral Shares? posted at fivecentnickel.com. You could safe money on expense fees by converting your Vanguard funds to this special fund class that rewards loyalty.

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That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Next week’s Festival of Stocks is still looking for a home. If you are interested in volunteering to host a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, just contact me right away with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page for those of you interested in reviewing the archives.