Chairs

While I'm busying working out my analysis on Strayer (STRA, impressive quarterly report today by the way), I took up an entry position today on Herman Miller (MLHR) to start out my Q2 plays. This position is also part of my continued test of Joel Greenblatt's magic formula system. I scrummaged through a series of screens and decided to pick up Herman Miller purely on valuation and operating margin strength, as well as their strong brand and product offering. This may sound like a counterintuitive play given that current economic weakness will infect business capital spending, but I will explain my thoughts in more detail when I publish my formal analysis. Some other lessons learned this past month is the speed in which deep analysis can be done. The time it takes for an individual investor to analyze companies in detail took its toll as I missed the substantial gains DeVry (DV) and Strayer (STRA) have made over the past few weeks. I'd be curious to know if other individual investors out there have the same problem. I guess it all comes down to decision criteria when making a buy/sell. It's different for everyone.