Mattel: Summer Disappointment and Winter Dreams

You can almost hear the management of Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) singing, "Christmas is a comin' and the geese are gettin' fat, will you please to put a penny in the old girl's hat." The old girl being Barbie, who'll celebrate her 55th anniversary under the tree this year. (Click here to read more).

It Ain't Love But It Ain't Bad

They - you know who you are - say that if we liked J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) at $11.06, we should love it at $7.09. Well, it ain't love but it ain't bad, as the old 1970s country and western song goes.
When we visited Penney a month ago and deemed it worthy of speculation, the stock was trading at the aforementioned entry point. Since then, after a ballyhooed analyst meeting backfired and expectations were lowered, the stock was taken out and summarily shot (Click here to read more).