I was also a bit disappointed with their Q1 results, but I have seen this coming for a couple of years now, as I have posted many times, and why I have pared my position all the way back from my initial 24,000 shares to my present 2,000 share position. I did start selling a bit too early, but only because I saw what few were willing to acknowledge, especially the company.
The problem lay in their initial acquisitions with the IPO. The profit at that time was just phenomenal, and there was no way they could find new acquisitions that would provide those kinds of numbers. It seems that every subsequent acquisition has been less and less accretive on a per/share basis.
While I think Westower is a pretty good company, their margins are razor thin and add only marginally to the company's coffers.
But the biggest issue has been with maintenance capital, and that is what red-flagged it for me two years ago. They had an abnormally high maint cap cost one quarter, and they "explained" it away by saying that it was a "lumpy" cost, high some quarters because they never know how many engines they have to overhaul in any given quarter. More overhauls, more maint cap.
But, they said that the costs would average a lot less than what turned out to be the case, so they over-promised and under-delivered. I gave them lots of time to live up to the promises, but it never happened. Just one more example of why one should never fall in love with a stock, as so many still do. Financial results are a living, breathing dragon that can either lead you to riches, or burn you to a crisp.
I wouldn't worry too much about the high Q1 POR, but would watch it closely. They did have some big growth expeditures in the quarter. I still regard them as a pretty well-run company, but I can't say that I would recommend buying it at these levels. Of course, I wouldn't be buying much of anything these days. In fact, I just sold my KEY, as it was the weak link in my "pipeline" stocks, and I am still over-weight the sector. And I sold my PKI and LIQ as they were at 52-week highs, and my PSN because of the ugly way it trades. And if the chit hits the fan in the next few weeks, all of these lightly-traded and lesser-known stocks will get hammered once again. The yields are meaningless when everyone is selling.
And it is never a bad plan to take profits, especially when the market collapses on fear, then rallies hard on nothing but 'hope'.
Who thinks the politicians in the EU will actually do something meaningful? Not me, as I hold them in contempt even more so than the ridiculous american clowns. They are all far too cowardly to even attempt to solve some of the problems, and the problems are rapidly escalating out of control. They have all dithered far too long, and there is no solution now. We have locked in years of zero net growth and deflation as all we have to look forward to. The central banks will pour trillions upon trillions of fake money into the system, but the only purpose of that is to bail out their rich buddies.
Picking investments will become a fine art. We will be lucky to find investments that will protect our capital, let alone give us income. Their are no "super-safe places", only 'better-than-most' places. I do agree that IPL.un and PPL are about as good as it gets, as their growth is all but guaranteed with the rampup in oilsands production. You can add ALA to that list, as they also have growth locked in.
My list of 'keepers' is getting pretty short, but there remain enough to keep the income flowing.
It is going to be a volatile and dangerous 6 months coming up. Probably the best course would be to sell everything, but that is just not practical for some of us. Kindof sucks, really. How did I get into this mess?
