these are at the bottom now big buy, page-4

Thanks for a great post cugel. Exactly what HC should be all about. I have been toying with these for a while , wondering what the underlying problem may be , and you make some good points. The first thing that strikes you about these though is the they sit with a pe ratio of approx 12 where is the sector average is about 24. This is no reason to be out shopping in itself as there could be many more factors not obvious to those not prepared to dig further. I see they were rated a buy by a fund manager in the latest "smart investor" (his name escapes me). Worth keeping an eye on though, as the drop has been dramatic, and recovery in sp could be just as dramatic.