One Guy's Investments: Annual Checkup -- FARO

FARO Technologies (FARO -- click to register for free RT streaming quote) has had a tough year. I wrote about how I put them in the dog house about a month ago, and then a couple weeks later did some more research, reconsidered, and decided to hold on. My shares of FARO were purchased at an average cost of $27 so I did have the opportunity to take a tax loss on them if I wanted to, but it didn't make sense to do so at the time. I have become convinced that management is focused on the important things for fixing their business, and that their problems over the past year have been related to their sales force rollout, management of the product mix, and rampup and their inventory management and Street guidance -- the actual business environment, demand for their products, and their prospects for success seem to still be quite good. I will be watching management, and I hope they were wise and returned to their former policy of being extremely conservative in their guidance for next year, which is very low, but I like their business niche and I think they've set themselves up to have some great long term growth due to their investments in inventory management, sales force training and distribution, and executive humility this year. I will not be pouncing on any bad news to look for a reason to sell, but neither am I interested in adding any more at this point -- I'm comfortable with my full position in FARO and look forward to seeing how they do in the next few years.

Labels: FARO