Thirty-three of the 34 companies that presented at this year’s Burkenroad Reports Investment Conference posted negative returns since last year’s conference, but that didn’t stop a record crowd from turning out for this year’s event.
“After the last year in the stock market, I didn’t think we’d see that turnout,” says Peter Ricchiuti, research director of Burkenroad Reports and organizer of the conference. “I don’t know if people were there for cheap stocks or the free cookies.”
Bill Nasgovitz, founder and president of Heartland Advisors Inc., delivered the luncheon address at this year's Burkenroad Reports Conference. Ricchiuti says Nasgovitz, one of the nation's leading value investors, was impressed by the small-cap companies followed by Burkenroad
More than 600 investors attended this year’s conference, an annual event that showcases the regional small- and mid-cap companies followed by the Freeman School’s Burkenroad Reports equities research program. The conference took place at the Chateau Bourbon Hotel on April 24.
According to Ricchiuti, many of those in attendance came in search of bargains. “Companies are selling at a fraction of what they’re worth,” Ricchiuti says. “Gulf Island Fabrication, one of our presenters, was selling at $9 a share; the assets alone are worth $18. This is a company that’s been profitable every quarter they’ve been public, they have basically no debt, and yet people are just running for the exits.”
Not everyone is running for the exits. Ricchiuti says the market’s recent run—its best six-week performance since 1938—gave investors confidence that the economy is finally on the verge of a rebound.
“The stock market is usually about six to nine months ahead of the economy,” Ricchiuti says. “The general prognosis seems to be that the economy will begin to gain traction some time before the end of ’09. And as one guy said, the thing to remember is we don’t need the economy to get better, we just need it to stop getting worse.”
