haul it. They’re finding that the
majority of it is far too inadequate to
cover the demands of this hi-tech
world. The only way to solve the problem is to replace the old copper
lines, with new fiber optic lines. When they do, OCCF’s profits will soar and its stock will drive much
higher.       Buy Optical Cable Corporation
(OCCF:NASDAQ) under US$8.50.  Next… 9 For retailers who depend on the critical holiday season for about half
their annual profits, store executives
are accustomed to breaking into cold
sweat around this time of year.       Well, break out some dry towels
because this year isn’t likely to bring
much good cheer to the sector.
Things look decidedly bleak amid
sky-high oil and gasoline prices and
the recent devastation from the hur-
ricanes, which left hundreds of thou-
sands of people homeless, jobless
and severely strapped for cash.       The latest predictions are calling
for sales to climb around 5% from a
year ago, substantially less than last
year’s gain of 6.7%. But those fig-
ures might yet be revised down in
the wake of the recent hurricanes.
Not exactly the gift retailers want-
ed—a grim pr  ojection that has many
hankering for the good old days of
“Irrational Exuberance.”       However, the pall hanging over the
coming holidays is not without prece-
dent. It happened back in 2002 after
the tech bubble burst. Back then,
although sales did increase year-over-
year, the figures were less than
expected and profit margins were still
squeezed tight.       With such a dicey outlook this
time around, the retail landscape will
be filled with both winners and los-
ers. Nevertheless, good old
American consumers will still spend
more than US$435 billion this holi- day season, according to the
National Retail Federation. The key
is knowing where it will all be spent.       Retailers are already getting into
the holiday spirit and with tempera-
tures across the country still stifling,
sales of fall clothing have been so
disappointing that many are skip-
ping the season and heading
straight into winter.       The trend this year will be to go
after sales earlier. To facilitate that,
many stores will offer deep dis-
counts. Look for big sales as early as
mid- to late October to drive con-
sumers into the stores and online.
But there is a sense that shoppers
are downbeat, and with few “must-
have” holiday gift items around, that’s going to make the going pretty
tough this season and into 2006. So what do you do? Chewing over the
charts to unearth this
season’s retail gift       I sifted through reams of retail
performance to come up with a
company that I expect will have a
nice present waiting for savvy
investors.       What I looked for was strong
momentum going into the critical
fourth quarter and a history of
strong results in the past when
things were bleak. And what I found
was a company whose chart showed S T R A T E G I C   W E A L T H Rummaging through Santa’s sack for festive
retail winners: One that will beat the odds and
hand you a 68% gain by Tony Mullen www.taipanonline.com “Good” Holiday “Bad” Holiday od” Holida “Go Holiday $39.57 $40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 15 ⁵0
-5
-10 100
50
0
50 10 09/1 09/3 09/3 09/3 09/2 /00 Nordstrom Inc. (Monthly Chart) y 0/02 0/03 “Go 4/05 0/04 od” 8/01 1/30