Taking Stock: Q1 Earnings Report

Your KC Royals are a hard stock to evaluate; they're not as bad as the 12 game losing streak would have led you to believe and yet they're definitely not as good as their marketing team had anticipated ("Our Time" joke #7,256). The first quarter earnings are just coming in for the KC Royals, and they're not great. A few buys, many holds and a lot of sells. Lets take a look at what the PBR analysts are saying:

Eric Hosmer: If there was ever a time to buy, it's now. We're not telling you any big secret, but after hitting an all time high right before the season started, he's seen a steady decline in investors. Lots of analysts, Ned Yost, and his teammate in little league will tell you he's going to snap out of it. And frankly we have no choice but to believe what the street is saying. If Getz continues to out slug Hosmer the Royals will never recover. Buy, no choice.

Alcides Escobar: The hardest stocks to evaluate are those in the International SS market. The range goes from Angel Berroa (year one) to Angel Berroa (currently in the Independent leagues). Is Alcides the .300 hitter with 40+ doubles gap power that we've seen so far? Or is that .600 OPS player from his first two years still waiting to take your investors' money? The PBR as an investment firm has simply made it a rule not to play these high fluctuation currency markets. The winners win big, but the losers don't get to play anymore. Hold if you own his shares, but we don't.  

Alex Gordon: The firm of PBR had always been cautious when issuing buys on Gordon stock. We felt we had to buy his stock because we didn't want to be the only ones left out when he turned into Ryan Braun big-boy stock. However, we bought small chunks of the stock in order to limit our exposure. We still don't quite know what Gordon is; last year could simply be the exception and not the true value of Gordon. For now, the Gold Glove Gordon Value Index stock is a Hold and nothing more.

Billy Butler: I'm glad I came around on this stock last year. It's got value and Billy seems to have been able to finally unlock that power asset which had been holding down full earnings potential. At 9 HRs, Billy is currently trading at an all time and there are rumors Butler Corp. is going to start issuing dividends as well. Keep it up Billy, you're making investors very happy. Hold, maybe a buy.

Jeff Francoeur: This is not a joke, I was actually issuing buy orders on the Frenchy Club Leader long term investment fund a few weeks ago. He was so bad at the plate, there was nowhere to go but up. The real kicker is that he is guaranteed to continue playing for Royals. Dayton would never just jump ship this investment so he'll get every opportunity to turn it around. After hitting a pair of HRs in NYC the believers are back, so he's no longer a quick buy. Hold because Dayton will.

Mitch Maier: The Mitchie Money Market account barely keeps up with inflation, but he also won't hurt you. Keep him hidden just like the KC Royals' managing partner Ned Yost does.

Jarrod Dyson: I love this stock for absolutely no good reason. One asset, but it's a good one. Honestly, he probably gave you all the earnings he had for the first part of quarter one and not many analysts see growth potential, but as a wild card stock you could do worse.

Chris Getz:  Look, there are people who love this stock and I'm willing to admit that he has played MUCH better this year. He might even make it onto Vin Diesel the day trader's list of buys, and Vin might make a quick buck, but I'll continue to stay away. The believers will try to jam him down your throat like a time-share in Colorado, but I prefer condos on St. Thomas. Sell, same as always.

Mike Moustakas:  If we have to admit we were wrong on Moose last year, then so be it. He looked like a guy who might be OK, but never quite the potential of Hosmer stock. Fast forward to this year and he's one of the best 3Bs in the league while Hosmer is tanking, we didn't see that coming. I didn't see the power living up to the minor league hype, I never thought he would hit lefties and I thought he'd be a below average to horrible defender. Turns out all of those things were wrong and he's been the best player on the Royals so far. Moose Stock isn't cheap these days, but if you think he keeps up this pace he's still a buy.

Pena & Quintero:  Everybody knows exactly what types of stocks these are. The Backup Catcher Savings Bonds are there for a reason, problem is that if you've got two, that's one too many.

Aaron Crow: I give up trying to get Aaron reclassified as a large cap fund. No, seriously, I'm not complaining (for once) about the Royals not wanting to try him as a starter. Every time he throws one good inning I think he has the potential to be a stock like Jeff Samardzja, Lance Lynn or Chris Sale. However, we still see way too many bad innings for us to actually believe he could string good innings  together 6-8 at a time. Sell, the stock's earnings look pretty flat.

Tim Collins: All good closer stock has something in common; that crazy eyed look that allows them to do a ridiculous dance and pump their fist in joy when they close out a game. I think Tim Collins' stock has that look. Here is the other thing, Tim decided to go with the proven reliever success theory: walks = bad and strike outs = good. Tim's stock is still cheap while being buried in the 7th inning, if you asked me to pick a replacement for the Soria Security fund that fell out of our portfolio, I'd go with the Timmy small cap fund. His earnings have gone from 48BB/60K last year to 7BB/32K this season. Buy.

Kelvin Herrera:  I see a big time sell on this guy. Look I like watching him pitch as much as anyone, but how often do you see guys that throw 100 MPH with great change-ups sustaining it for 5 years or more? Never. How often are there teams who think they've found the exception? There's always a sucker. We think he would look nice in a package deal to go get a starter. Holding on to bullpen arms is like holding on to a firecracker for that extra thrill. The Royals have already had their fingers burned once this year, and Holland almost made it twice, so let's start lets not fall in love with Kelvin's flashy numbers. Not a sell, but I'd be looking for buyers.

Broxton, Holland and Mijares: Sell, sell and sell! Not that they're bad, but we've seen Broxton when it doesn't go right. Holland shares plummeted in the first quarter and these types of stock tend not to bounce back quickly. As for Mijares: buy low, sell high, Investment 101.

Danny Duffy: See Hosmer. Maybe we bought a few too many shares of Duffman Corp., but we needed him in our large cap portfolio. I guess we have to start looking into Odorizzi stock as the next potential for a large cap growth fund in the organization. Not happy about this one, PBR investors got burned.

Felipe Paulino: We will probably never fully believe in this stock, but if there is one stock outperforming it's price-to-earnings, it's Felipe stock. There are still enough non-believers to issue a buy on the Felipe Emerging Markets fund, but let's be realistic, he's still risky. Buy, sell or hold, either way it takes stones to play in this uncharted market.

Bruce Chen: Our favorite stock by far. Just buy it and don't think too much about it. I can't explain it from an analysts perspective, but it just works.

Luis Mendoza: This is a boring stock. Also, if the Royals give up on you this easy, there is something wrong. Stay away.

Nate Adcock: Adcock Stock is a buy. It's still dirt cheap and has shown nothing but solid earnings. We're not going long, but in the short term we'll take it.

Luck Hochever: Luke's been burning investors for years now. It's the worst kind of stock; when it tanks it it really tanks. When it's right investors come running back only to watch their retirement go up in flames. These investors continually think it's a tweak away from paying big dividends, but they simply ignore Luke's 5yr performance chart. Luke has Toxic Asset tattooed on his right arm. DO NOT BE FOOLED!

As we all know, the Royals as a whole have taken a beating in the first quarter. Q2 can't start nearly as badly as Q1 did, so we're looking for some modest gains going forward this quarter, but nothing big. Stay tuned for more free investment advice from your friendly PBR stock brokers.