Invest Wisely
December 8, 2008 at 6:05am by Walking on Sunshine
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football, SEC
Got any money left in your portfolio or 401k? If you’re like everyone else, tough times have yielded slumping stocks as the ‘Bears’ have battered stocks — a by-product of the recessionary times we find ourselves in.
With the culmination of the SEC Championship (which turned out to be a great game as advertised), it’s time to survey the SEC football landscape and see if there are any ’stocks of interest’ that are undervalued.
Buy
Florida: Pretty pricy, but still good value here. Should win the SEC’s third straight national championship. Solid management in place for the long run. Good fundamentals. Get some of this ‘blue chip’ now and hold it.
Alabama: Almost got to the top of the mountain this year with only nine seniors. Saban has his ship out of port and moving in the right direction. With the implosion of their in-state competitor, look for this giant to regain their monopolistic hold on the recruits in the ‘Yellowhammer State.’
Arkansas: Great mid-cap stock with unlimited potential. Huge upside. Good management finally in place and great facilities at their disposal. Buy it now and watch the meteoric rise. The freshman who played this year will make this one a ‘high dividend’ producer.
Tennessee: The ‘buy low, sell high’ mantra says it all. Buy it now while you can afford this once proud company. It can’t go any lower. New leadership should provide the breath of fresh air that this sleeping giant needs.
Hold
South Carolina: We can’t tell where the ‘ole ball CEO’ is taking this company. The stock keeps trading in the same range of 6-8 wins every year. Be wary though, as Spurrier may be ready to say ‘enough is enough.’ If that happens, dump it.
Kentucky: Might be a sell as the Wildcats have peaked out at seven or eight wins for the last few years. Three straight bowls spell a bit of stability. Less volatile, but not much upside. Hold for now.
Mississippi State: With the golden parachute of the old CEO awarded, the Bulldogs start over…again. Financing may be strapped, so look for this company to hire a young ‘up and comer.’ If you own this ‘dog,’ hold it…it can’t go any lower than it already is.
Sell
Georgia: Some might hold this blue chip stock, but we say sell if Moreno and Stafford bolt to the NFL. Richt and the Bulldogs could tumble when that happens.
LSU: It may be too late to sell this stock, as the Tigers faltered from a national title to five losses in 2008. Les ‘The Hat’ has his work cut out as stockholders are grumbling. Trouble looms…so get out now while you can.
Vanderbilt: Again…remembering ‘buy low, sell high.’ And it doesn’t get any higher for Vandy. The first bowl trip in 26 years means this ‘penny stock’ has broken out…but can it last? We say sell, and look to buy in later when it dips…assuming Bobby Johnson stays as CEO.
Auburn: Talk about crash and burn…WOW. This company’s earnings estimates were for a division championship in 2008. Instead, management delivered a negative EPS. So out goes the ‘old guard.’ And with their primary competitor surging, the prospects look dim for the near term. Sell if you haven’t already.
Mississippi: And finally, our good friends down in Oxford. After years of seeing their stock almost get ‘delisted,’ new CEO Houston Nutt energized the Rebels to an eight win season in 2008. Once again, Nutt was successful with someone else’s players.
Now recruiting experts at Rivals.com and others have the Rebels’ 2009 class currently ranked in the mid-50s…which would be dead last in the SEC. For that fact, and because we believe shareholders will eventually find out what they have, we say sell.
And if you have extra cash…sell short as much as you can. You can buy it back in a few years dirt cheap and retire early.
Walking… “Now recruiting experts at Rivals.com and others have the Rebels’ 2009 class currently ranked in the mid-50s…which would be dead last in the SEC.”
Try Vandy at #74! Come on guys, this is twice that I’ve had to correct your stats!
Ok… just kidding – normally you guys do a “bang up” job with your facts.
Sunshine forgot that Vandy had a football team……
Well, I was concerned he was “piling” on to poor ole Houston… so I threw the “yellow” flag!
Richt is the real deal. He won’t be down long (just long enough for the hogs to get by one rotation.)
Meyer had THE QB for the spread option and didn’t discover his offense until the 4th quarter against the hogs. He could stumble again. Two titles may lead to a bit of complacency, even for the best.
Kiffin will have to show me.
Spurrier may go out like the next Frank or Joe Pa.
We shall see. Time will tell.
Saban doesn’t know how to lose. Alabama will do the impossible and follow the Bear with the Bear II.
Arkansas v Alabama is about to become THE game in the SEC.
It’ll be interesting to see just how much the Hogs improve next season. It could resemble what happened down in Oxford this season, ending with a bang.
I think Nutt’s team will resemble something close to .500 in wins next season, with the loss of several key SRs.
Florida is a team you can bet on winning the NC this season. If Tebow comes back next season, you can bet on them again. Oklahoma only seen 1 team this season that could put pressure on Sam Bradford. Oklahoma’s only loss, by the way.
After seeing how the Gators defense was able to take on the Tide’s O-Line, does anyone really think it will be different with OU? Speed kills!
Missoui’s D-Line is pitiful! ‘nough said.
Regretfully, I have to agree that Saban has a pretty good thing going at “Bama.
It might not happen next season, but Petrino’s presence should be felt every year after.
Auburn could be in the exact same boat the Hogs were in this season. Dito on Tenn.
I agree with Blind on Georgia. Richt is the real deal. Never count out the Dogs in any year.
Spurrier has me scratching my head just a little at SC. I don’t know if he’s just run into a string of bad luck years, or if he’s exsperiencing some degree of burnout. Maybe Recruiting just isn’t what he thought it might be.
LSU could have been very good again this season, with a solid QB. It seems as if they didn’t have much to play for after the “Bama game.
This is supposed to be a down year in the SEC, which it probably is, compared to what were used to, but Georgia and LSU just didn’t quite pan out.
I work with a lot of Sooner fans, who think OU’s offense can’t be stopped. Man, this is gonna be fun!
I agree that Ark. and Bama is about to become the game in the West. Auburn is about to switch places with us. That job is untouchable because of Saben. LSU is still recruiting well but I think the post Saben decline has begun. They’ll be good but they can’t stay where they’ve been. Rivals has our class at #14 this morning. When was the last time we recruited that well? We just need to get some defense in place. Meyer fields high octane offense with a dominating offense. You’ve got to match them on both sides of the ball. Go Hogs!
I have to agree that OU’s offense can’t be stopped, at least not consistently (I’m an OU fan also but perhaps a bit more objective than the fans you work with ;^). Florida will not have seen an O-line this good (that includes Bama) and if the UF defense tries to get to Bradford aggressively, watch for the Sooners to take advantage of that speed and aggression to burn the Gators once or twice.
OTOH, OU’s defense will be very vulnerable to Florida’s offense especially over/up the middle (exactly where the Gators like to attack). And I don’t see the situation getting better for them anytime soon.
This game could turn out to be a shoot-out of epic proportions (which sucks because I HATE the BCS! BRING ON THE PLAYOFFS!!!). Neither team should fold over the course of the contest. Should come down to mistakes and turnovers. If I were a bettin’ man, I’d flip a coin. But since I’m rootin’ for OU in this match-up: BOOMER SOONERS!!
It’s not like I really want to rub it in or anything Hawgfan.(not seriously any)
Most or almost all of of those guys are pretty good friends of mine.
There’s one more thing that seriously has to be figured in for this game though. It’s called Special Teams.
Oklahoma has had problems in this area all year, with the worst part of it being on the KO coverage unit. (remember UT’s Mr. shipley?)
Florida has more than one guy that fits in with that little area of disaster.
They also, on the flip side, have oustanding coverage units.
I’m not a big Gator or Sooners fan, but I kept up with both of these teams as the year progressed and i’m pretty impressed with both.
It is, for the most part, a down year in the SEC, but when I see OU jacking up 60+ points against decent and sometimes even good defenses, but not dominating ones, one has to think that Florida’s D doesn’t even come close to that catagory. (at least in the last 5 or 6 games anyway)
I only know one thing for sure. You won’t be able to pry me away from the tube when this one kicks off.
ESPN reporter writes something positive about Hog recruiting.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/columns/story?columnist=luginbill_tom&id=3764748