Climbing Back at Office Depot

Office supply distributors have been battered as job losses and spending cutbacks continue to mount. So the Street has kept away from Office Depot (ODP), one of the world's largest office-products suppliers, whose shares dropped from 39 in 2007 all the way to 1.57 in 2008 before perking up earlier this year.

The stock, trading at 6.28 on Nov. 24, "is a turnaround play in the rebounding retail sector, which has caught many analysts off guard," says Bernie Schaeffer, CEO of Schaeffer Investment Research, which acquired shares on their way down. According to Bloomberg, 3 analysts rate it a sell, 12 a hold, and only 2 a buy. Yet the stock has made good progress this year, says Schaeffer. Its steady rise in recent weeks is continuing the uptrend, he says. The third-quarter loss Office Depot posted was less than analysts had feared, indicating a turnaround, he adds.