There’s more than one way to sort the data in Hedgefolios. The first step is to search the database using EVALUATE and MANAGE and the second method is to sort the search results.

After each One-Click or Custom search, Hedgefolios provides you with the search results in a sortable list. When you do a search in EVALUATE, the results default to the “Fundamental View” and for MANAGE searches, the results default to the “Technical View.” Fundamental View provides the Hedgefolios definitions for Size, Style, Income, Sector and Industry. Technical View shows the current signal, the signal entry price, the most recently updated price, percentage gain or loss, and the date and weeks since the signal was given. Often times, it is very helpful to toggle between the two views by changing the box located above the upper left corner of the search results.

The other way to sort the search results is to click on the column headings. By clicking on the headers, you can sort the data in alphabetical or numeric order and by clicking on the header again, it will sort in ascending or descending order. While there are many reasons to resort the data, I usually do this once a week to evaluate whether there are similar sectors or industries in the most recent signal changes. I will walk you through this example:
- go to MANAGE
- in the Custom Signal Changes section, select Signal Changes Since 4 Weeks Ago - then search
- then toggle to Fundamental View
- then click on the word “Industry” in the column header

Now the search results are grouped by industry so you can scroll down and see if there is any evidence of sector rotation within Hedgefolios signal changes. You can modify this sorting by changing any criteria in the Custom search section. For example, you might want to limit the search results to Down Signals. As soon as you hit search, the results will change but your most recent resorting preferences will be retained as long as you stay in the same section of Hedgefolios.

Hedgefolios presents up to 100 symbols on each page of search results in groups of 20. If your search generates more than 100 symbols, multiple pages will be generated. You can get to the other pages by selecting the page number (active pages in black and underlined), “Prev” or “Next” at the top and bottom of the search results. Once again, your most recent preferences for page number will be retained regardless of whether you toggle between Fundamental View or Technical View.

Whether you are looking for new investing ideas or trying to figure out what to do with your existing positions, the MANAGE section of Hedgefolios provides several ways to help you actively manage your portfolio.

“One-Click Signal Changes” are a fast way to review all the new signal changes for stocks and ETF’s that occured during the most recent week. If you want to evaluate new long positions, click on the link to “Up Signal Changes This Week” and to consider stocks that you might want to sell, click on the link to “Down Signal Changes This Week.”

For more detailed searches of signal changes, use the “Custom Signal Changes” section. Let’s walk through a few examples(I suggest hitting clear before doing any new search as all criteria are retained from the most recent search):

To find all signal changes for the Hedgefolios stock universe, hit clear - then search.

To find all signal changes for the Hedgefolios ETF universe, change the “Search Type” box to ETFs - then search.

To find signal changes for a type of ETF, change the “Search Type” box to a specific ETF listed in the drop down list - then search.

To find the most current signal for an individual stock, type in the exact symbol in the “Symbol” box - then search.

If you don’t know the symbol, then type in the company name in the “Name” box - then search. Note that you can type in a few letters of the name and the search results will give you all stocks that start with those letters.

To exclude signals of stocks with share prices less than $5 or $10, select the appropriate amount from the “Price” box - then search.

To exclude Down signals, select “Up” in the “Signal” box and vice versa.

If you would like to see signals from the any of the past four weeks, change the “Signal Changes Since” box accordingly. For example, if you want to see signal changes from the last two weeks, then select “Last Week” - then search.

Please practice with the Custom Signal Changes search and use several of the criteria in combination to drill down and create more relevant results. For example, try finding all Up signals for stocks that have occured in the last three weeks with prices above $10. You should get 105 stocks for the the weeks inclusive of 3/6/06, 2/27/06 and 2/21/06.

By coming back each week, I am confident you will find that the MANAGE section of Hedgefolios will be the fastest and easiest way to generate new investing ideas and improve the timing of your active portfolio management.

Some weekends - analyzing the 2,750+ stocks and ETFs in the Hedgefolios universe is rather easy. Not this week. To put it mildly, I got bleary-eyed studying and restudying charts and that was before I looked over the fundamentals and other market data I review before updating the signals. I am not complaining - just contemplating - because I find a message in the difficulties and how irritated I get. Since the end of October, the market has been in a happy trend higher with not much other than normal turnover. That has clearly changed and if you look at the MANAGE section, you’ll see quite a few (217) new Down signals this week and the ratio of new Down signals to new Up signals was abnormally bad - 14:1. Furthermore, the Hedgefolios Timing Indicator shown in the ANALYZE - Market Statistics section is suggesting that the market is getting tired. I am seeing strong stocks that are weakening and weak stocks that are weakening. Translation - selling pressure is increasing and buying power is tepid at best. Hedgefolios still has a positive bias on the market, but it’s starting to head in the other direction.

The first step in using the Hedgefolios database begins with a self-evaluation. Do you know what kind of investor you are? Large Cap? Value? Growth? Aggressive? Conservative? Before you do anything else with Hedgefolios or any other tool for stock research, please get your investment profile figured out by researching the web or talking to your financial planner or broker. Once you know who you are, portfolio management gets less hard (it’s never “easy.”) Each investing style has its benefits and limitations, but primarily, it’s just important to stay true to who you are as an investor. Just ask all the value investors who finally caved in and bought momentum tech stocks in 1999.

Now that your self-evaluation is complete, it’s time to identify stocks that match your investor profile. The EVALUATE section of Hedgefolios allows you to use the 9 most common portfolio styles or customize your search by drilling down with more detailed criteria. Hedgefolios is designed to rapidly exclude stocks that do not fit your investment criteria so that you can focus your decisionmaking on a shortlist that is worthy of your further analysis.

Let’s walk through an example where you want to find Large Cap Value stocks that have a High Yield in the Basic Materials sector. In the left box of EVALUATE, the first One-Click folio is called “Large Cap: Value.” If you click on the words “Large Cap”, the database will give you search results for approximately 405 Large Cap stocks that include both value and growth styles. To narrow the results to Large Cap Value stocks, click on the word “Value” in the first One-Click folio and your search results will be reduced to approximately 231 stocks.

In the right box of EVALUATE called “Custom Folio,” you can narrow your search with additional criteria. Based upon your selections of the One-Click folio, “Large Cap” should be showing in the Size box and “Value” should be showing in the Style box. From the Income box, select “High Yield,” hit search, and you now only have to look at 82 stocks. By selecting Basic Materials from the Sector box, your shortlist of Large Cap Value stocks with a High Yield in the Basic Materials sector should result in 6 stocks. In a few seconds, Hedgefolios found the stocks that met your criteria and now all you have to do is decide which, if any, you want to add to your portfolio. Note that long-only investors would restrict the search results to Up signals while hedgers might want to look at “Any” or “Down” signals.

While this was only one example, hopefully it will guide your use of EVALUATE. Please spend some time practicing the One-Clicks or Customer Folio box with as many permutations of the search criteria as you can. Sometimes its beneficial to retain the search criteria and at other times, it helps to clear all the criteria and start new searches from scratch. Note that your last search results will remain on the screen until you conduct a new search.

By now, most of you have heard that SBC - oops AT&T - is planning to acquire BellSouth and reconsolidate much of the old Ma Bell that hasn’t already been remarried. This story is certain to consume much of the financial media tomorrow and before the discussions begin, I am already tired of it. So rather than contributing to the debate over the merits of this transaction, I’d rather talk about what I plan to do with the stocks in question and more importantly, what my typical reaction is to mergers and acquisitions.

Given that I saw no indication in last week’s charts, there will not be any signal changes in BLS or T when I update the database this week. Currently, I have Up signals for both T and BLS. For that matter, of the 24 stocks covered by Hedgefolios in the Diversified Telecom Services industry, I have Up signals on 22 of them (to see this just go to PROFILE and type T or BLS in the symbol box).

Hopefully, the resulting market action will keep Hedgefolios signals in the right direction, but I am always humbled by M&A stocks. BLS and T are now in the hands of the arbs and this is a group that is worthy of respect, if not fear. Certainly, I don’t advocate trying to compete with them. They possess capital resources and trading strategies that outpace almost every other investor. So, if you are lucky enough to be long the right stock - good for you. For those of you on the opposite side of the arbs, I am sorry. If you are not in either of these stocks and are tempted to speculate by taking a new position, I will never understand the attraction, and in addition to not making buy or sell recommendations, I don’t advocate speculation.

Under similar circumstances, I usually look for the soonest possible exit that the market will allow, say “ring me up” and try to get out of the way. There are, after all, thousands of stocks in the Hedgefolios universe to consider where you don’t have to deal with the arbs, regulatory approval or competitive bids. Given the political history of telecommunications, I can only imagine that these stocks will be facing a regulatory process that may last many months, if not a year. I really don’t like analyzing the probabilities of regulatory approval, but if you do, I am certain you will have a long time to study it via the arb gap. Lastly, in this transaction, I don’t see BLS getting bid up by a competitor to AT&T so unless I am wrong, this deal will be pretty boring to watch. I’ll keep working on their signals, but for the most part, I have already moved on.