The rejection of the offer by Covington to purchase all outstanding shares of Advocat (AVCA) represents a missed opportunity for capital gains in this position for the RSY portfolio. Covington, luckily, has kept the offer open and has written a letter to shareholders expressing their position in support of the buyout (reprinted below.). If the offer was dead, then we might expect a drop to pre-offer levels at around the mid $4 range as stated in the letter. Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): Buy CNAF, CMO, Optional Options, Updates

Friday we learned that Covington Investments, LLC proposed an acquisition Advocat Inc. (AVCA) at a price of $8.50 per share which represents a 96% premium over last Thursday's close. Before the opening on Friday, the merger was announced, which resulted in a day's gain of over 57% for AVCA but far short of the bid and ending the day at $6.82. Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): Someone Wants to Buy out AVCA for a 96% Premium!

A new year creates new possibilities, and RSY is suggesting a few covered calls to enhance returns. The RSY portfolio is still suggesting to hold onto the current positions as none have been lowered in the Sabrient ratings to Sell or Strong Sell. Currently, the portfolio has 4 Strong Buys and 4 Buys including KRO, which was recently picked for Sabrient’s 2012 Baker’s Dozen. Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): Optional Options

Sabrient rates Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (KRO) a Strong Buy for its superior scores for growth, value, and momentum, three important metrics that indicate future market out-performance with scores of 93.2, 85.7 and 83.9 respectively (100 being highest). Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): Buy KRO on Tuesday

Sabrient Systems recently downgraded TOTAL SA (TOT) to Strong Sell from Hold based on its overall inferior scores on important metrics that point to weak future market performance. While TOT maintains an above average Value Score of 74.5 (out of 100) and exceptional Fundamental Score of 82.9, its Earnings Score measures a measly 3.6 based on its earnings performance and projected outlook. Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): Unload TOT

Although I just recently put my eye on Pulaski Financial Corp. (PULB), I like what I see. Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): 1/2 Total Sell, Buy PULB

Last month, I was Questioning the QE Monetary Transmission Mechanism, and used the MyStockFinder tool to find GARP regional bank stocks. Today, I want to look at one in particular, First Bancorp, Inc. (FNLC). Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): Buy FNLC

Despite a respectable showing for Sabrient's key value measure, IVR is rated a Sell. It appeared among Sabrient's shorting filters as a stock with characteristics that are being avoided by the current market.

RSY recommends selling off the remaining half of the initial position of 400 shares (based on a portfolio of $100,000). Sell 200 shares of IVR at a limit price of $20.81 (GTC). Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): Sell IVR, Update

Sabrient Systems has downgraded EGAS to Sell this week and so RSY recommends selling  the remainder of our EGAS  holdings.   Sabrient's quantitative analysis reports that "EGAS's weak showing for Sabrient's key growth and momentum measures earns it a Sell rating." EGAS's Earnings Score and Balance Sheet Score are played a role in the downgrade. Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): No More Gas (EGAS)

The table below is a summary of the RSY trades and dividend payouts since inception. Since the last update, we added 100 shares of TOT at $61.07 on March 31st, and today we added 600 shares of STM at $11.82 which was below our bid price of $11.99, along with 400 shares of TESS at $11.62. Hopefully, if you had an order in the morning, it executed at the bid of $11.51, but if you went with a market order you got it for $11.62. Read more about Rock Solid Yields (RSY): Update, More Alpha from Changes in Dividend Policy?