Up until now, I've been posting one stock every day and telling you all to go buy it.  That's great, but why should you listen if I'm all talk?  Well, I'm going to walk the walk right now in front of everyone.  The principles I've applied to every pick I made on this blog are the same ones I applied to today's $1400 purchase of 7 stocks.

The stocks I selected were BRT, CLP, CPSI, CRFT, MVL, SURW, and TSP.  I put $200 into each one, minus a $4.00 commission for a total of $196.  I'm going to talk a little bit about each of these.

I bought BRT because of its killer dividend, but if the other numbers had been weak I wouldn't have touched it with a 10-foot pole.  Its profit margin is 53.7%, its average price ratio is 3.30, and it has a debt/equity ratio of 0.34.  On top of that, it's a small cap at $157.03M with a price range of $13.50 to $32.00, and it's currently trading right at the low.  With a 17.9% dividend, swing potential supported by a low P/E and P/S, and 3 times as much equity as debt, BRT is an excellent play by the numbers.

I bought CLP because while its dividend is about half that of BRT, it has a much higher probability of being sustainable.  BRT's dividend sustainability would be questionable in anything but a REIT, whereas with CLP it is clear they can do it.  On top of that, the price ratio is even better than BRT's at an average of 1.635, and their profit margin and swing potential are higher too.  CLP has a price range of $20.00 to $50.59, and its market cap is $985.42M.  The outlooks for CLP and BRT are slightly different, so by buying both in equal measure, I've sought to maximize the potential output from this sector.

When I looked at CPSI, at first glance it seemed like their dividend was not sustainable.  The fact that it's higher than the cash flow is a big red flag.  So why would I buy it anyway?  Well, the dividend is only higher than the cash flow by about 1%, and the payout ratio is 114%.  CPSI has a financial quick ratio of 3.8 and a current ratio of 4.1.  Their management effectiveness is stellar, with ROE and ROI at 37.5% and an ROA at 29.3%.  This is a small cap dividend stock with strong financials.  The average price ratio is a bit high for value growth at 9.535, but given its other strengths this stock seems poised to pay out.

I bought CRFT because its average price ratio is 4.61, its price range is $7.11 to $18.40 with a current price of $7.95, and its quick/current ratios are 2.4 and 4.9 respectively.  At $41.38M, it's a microcap with swing potential, and it has an ROE of 27.2%, a gross margin of 30.9%, and a dividend of 6%.  CRFT is a dividend-paying stock that seems ready to gain in price.

When I decided to buy MVL, it was partly based on a qualitative aspect.  MVL's price ratio is not competitive for price appreciation, and its financial strength ratios are, frankly, weak.  But it has a stellar gross margin and profit margin, 73.5% and 26.8% respectively, and its ROE is 24.8%.  What sold me on MVL is that any superhero movie in the Marvel universe has to pay royalties, and the superhero movies have been coming on for a long time with no sign of slowing down.  I'm waiting to see Spiderman 4 myself!

I bought SURW for the same reason I bought a lot of the others here: great profitability, low price ratio, good financial strength, small cap, sustainable and sizeable dividend, with at least 2X current price in the 52-week swing range.  With a 65% gross margin and 30.5% net profit margin, an average price ratio of 1.785, a 6.4% dividend, and quick/current ratios of 2.00 and 2.30, this stock is strong.  Its ROE and other management effectiveness numbers are weak, but positive, and the rest of the fundamentals sheet makes up for this.

TSP is also a telecommunications firm, but it's all right to have both TSP and SURW because TSP is in Brazil.  Also, TSP has a 10% dividend with better management effectiveness and a smaller price swing range.  TSP, when viewed as a dividend stock, has these attractive properties: dividend greater than or equal to 10%, fairly low swing range compared with the current price, and decent numbers for management effectiveness coupled with a strong gross margin.

So, these are the seven picks I put my own money into.  All of them exhibit the properties I've been talking about since last November.  These are my buys for 2008.  Check them all out: BRT, CLP, CPSI, CRFT, MVL, SURW, TSP.  Decide what you think about them for yourself; maybe some of them are worth putting your money into.