Investment Lessons You Will Not Learn in B-School

Corporate news regarding massive stock buybacks and higher dividends has gone largely unnoticed by the mainstream media, but I think part of the reason it's happening is a direct reaction to President Obama demanding they put money to work.

Of course, he meant for them to hire workers they don’t need yet. I do believe that could be changing, but before that money goes to hire people a lot will be used for capital investments on equipment to meet increased demand and remain competitive.

On that score, Cisco (NASDQ:CSCO) posted a better-than-expected number and hiked its dividend as well. Networking is an area that appears to be gaining traction and one name in the space that looks intriguing is JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ:JDSU).

The stock is bouncing off a perfect double bottom and volume is compelling. In fact, today it looks poised to trade 50% more than normal and that’s huge in these low-volume days. I think the last quarter earnings could have marked a bottom.

Revenues +10% q/q OM 13.3% from 11.4% q/q Americas revenue +23.5%

I once called this the 800-pound gorilla in the optical networking space after the company made a series of major acquisitions during the telecom/Internet boom.  Well, I learned two valuable lessons:

A) An 800-pound gorilla in a shrinking jungle has no kingdom; B) Never buy stock when the CEO shows up in a beret.

It’s not scientific but Jozef Strauss was appointed CEO in May 2000 and the stock was on fire. He came on television all the time with a cavalier attitude and wearing a beret. When you have a hot stock I guess you can do that but I found it odd. By January 2001 the stock was $63 a share, but that year the company posted a record loss of $56 billion and fell off a cliff.

The stock looks compelling now; it’s changing hands at just 1.5 sales and book value of 2.5 and only an 11 PE.

Plus, I don’t think the current CEO wears a beret -- at least not during earnings calls and television interviews.

The stock is on the cusp of breaking through its 200-day moving average and I see room to $13.50-$14 for a trade.

Charles Payne, a FOX Business contributor, is president of Wall Street Strategies. At the time this article was published he, his firm and/or his family did not own securities in Cisco or JDS.