Gildan Activewear (GIL)

[KaeJS]

Check the 5 year chart.

Everyone needs clothes.

What do you guys think for a small position? Buy at ~$26, sell at ~$30?

http://www.google.com/finance?q=TSE%3AGIL

Only downside is that if the market continues to fall into the crapper... GIL went below $10 in the 08/09 crash, and there's no dividend to wait.

[Abha]

I still favour Lulu as it's got a lot of momentum behind it.

If you want to take a small position, your original pick of MT might be a little better.

Retail in a down market is absolutely brutal.

[drvrage]

Everyone needs clothes.

But how many clothes and at what price and from whom?

- Negative real incomes.
- Greater income disparity
- Globally competitive marketplace, very low cost of entry.
- Increased prices for cotton squeeze margins.

This is not something you can ride a trend. A bet on Gildan is a bet on managements ability to deliver, not any general macro trend. Are they developing a broad array of high end/low end products (Think Toyota with the Echo to the Lexus SUV) Are they breaking into new markets? Ask yourself where is the growth story. I'm more of a macro guy, so this is not my thing, I'm just throwing a few ideas at you. Their previous profits were from setting up shop in Haiti and working well to oppress the people via political interference ensuring minimum wage stays a slave wage. They've succeeded so far. However you never know how long that is going to last.

These days, with so much government interference in the markets and fraud by the big banks, I'm not willing to go back into the markets. How can you place bets when the bankrupt are rewarded and smart and cautious are punished? It wouldn't take much for a Chinese investor to wipe Gilden off the map, as the Canadian company doesn't have any protection whatsoever. (Doesn't grow cotton or make the shirt, or make the machinery that makes the shirt.) It would not be a buy and hold, just a trade based on your beleif in mgmt.