Investment "Logic"

It's that time again.  Time to circle the wagons.  As I sit here looking at how the market has acted as of the last 2 weeks and recognizing I'm just starting a new slew of earnings reports, I recognize the second quarter isn't likely to be as friendly as the first was to us and it's time I stake my position, make my predictions, and try to establish some semblance of a plan.  Once again, I'm nothing more than a rookie, doing this more as a hobby with desires to improve upon my abilities day after day.  Had I a teacher, I'd be informed "I have much to learn." as I hang my head in shame. So where do we begin?  Well, no better place than with what I have now, I guess.  I still have the same 7 stocks and I have successfully managed to make sure I have cash on hand to buy things that strike my fancy.  The one thing I can say is that I don't really want to hold more than 7 stocks.  Considering BWEN as a stock I still hold is a tough pill to take. ...

So much for hammering a bunch of details out quick.  It's amazing how life can get in the way of things sometimes (and how I lack discipline others).  So the good news is that I have listened to the conference calls I haven't talked about.  The bad news is I just haven't talked about them.  At this point, I'm not going to go in-depth any more because it's not worth it.  I do want to clearly state my thoughts and position, though. We'll start with Encana Corporation (ECA).  As an oil and gas exploration company that's primarily focused on natural gas, it's safe to say the quarter wasn't anything to write home about.  They missed expectations, primarily due to the awful Nat gas prices (and they only get worse for Q1).  On the good side, they managed to keep costs below guidance and they've also produced some divestitures that should help keep their balance sheet stable until Nat gas prices recover.  In addition to the divestitures, they're al...