Enter a stock symbol
Enter a stock symbol to view that company's Altman Z-Score if it is a manufacturing company, or its Altman Z"-Score, if it is a non-financial, non-manufacturing company, and to view message board posts for that stock (Scores are available for premium members).
Screener
Below is a list of today's twenty-five most distressed stocks (according to their Altman Z-Score or Z''-Score, respectively) with a share price of $5 or higher. For details on how this ranking list is compiled, please click here.
Stock Chart
Flash Player 9 or higher is required to view the chart
Click here to download Flash Player now
PTRY - Value Investors too eager to jump on the Kangaroo Express?
PTRY is a stock that's been coming up on ShortScreen for some time due to a poor Altman Score. It has a lot of debt and low operating margins, has steadily diluted, and yet it seems to have attracted a following of value investor fans. All of the recent articles on Seeking Alpha are bullish, and it has a 4 star rating on the Motley Fool. Investors seem to be cheered by the new management and acquisition-fueled growth. Too bad it's not making a lot of money. I really can't see much of a bull case for this, and given the recent spike, now could be an ideal time to short--it is fresh from overbought RSI levels.
I'm curious to hear what other ShortScreeners have to say about PTRY. I've been looking for a good bull case, but here's a representative sample of what I find, pulled verbatim from fool.com:
"NICE GAS STAYSIONS THAY WILL DO GOOD" (yeah, srsly)
"2.70 something EPS for 13 bucks? Sure they have some debt, but it's not like they wont just rake in even more cash as people start to relax during the recovery over the next couple years. " (recovery? no comment)
There also seems to be a largely unfounded hope that the company will get bought out. Seems unlikely to me, but who knows.
So what do members here think? Does this look like a decent short, or is it really a deep value play? I lean towards shorting this, but the cheery sentiment by a large number of investors gives me pause.
Submit a comment
In order to comment please sign in.
The fundamentals look pretty bad -- I don't see this as any sort of deep value play. What's your take on the technicals though? The stock looks like it has been strong technically recently. Where do you see support here? Are you thinking of waiting for it to break through that support before shorting it?
Well, looking at a 5 year chart and a 5 year chart, it could be a good time to short, technically. It looks due for a dip to at least 17 in the next week or so, IMO. My only concern is if it will H&S or not, and if so, then we could see 21/22 again. We are at support now. Ideally I'd like to predict whether it will break support or not before I short, because I think when it breaks, it will go down sharply.
Shorted at 19.85.
Fingers crossed.
I just put in a limit order to buy a few of the $20 strike, March 11 puts on PTRY.