Another weekend shot on the bathroom that my wife and I've been working on. Let's just say relaxation wasn’t on the agenda. And who writes the instructions on things? I was putting up a towel rack and made the mistake of looking at the instructions just to check one thing. May as well have been in Latin!

Asian markets were mixed. The Hang Seng closed up less than 1% while the Nikkei was off 1% and change. Meanwhile, European stocks were slightly lower this morning. Here in the US we're currently trading a bit lower.

Here’s what I’m seeing this morning:

Beazer Homes (BZH):
 I want to believe in you Beazer, I do - but gimme a reason to climb aboard, already!

The well-known homebuilder released its first-quarter numbers this morning. It posted a loss of $2.08 a share and its revs came in at about $232.4 million, which was a country mile south of the roughly $500.7 million it put up in the comparable period last year.

Of course, I was more focused on trying to determine what the future may hold. I'm not of the belief that things are about to take a major turn for the better anytime soon.

Some snippets from the release that may provide some clues as to how things are going:

“Backlog: 965 homes with a sales value of $227.2 million compared to 2,231 homes with a sales value of $605.2 million as of December 31, 2007.”

“New orders: 545 homes, a decrease of 56.5% from 1,252 in the first quarter of the prior year.”

“Home closings: 938 homes, a decrease of 53.2% from 2,006 homes in the first quarter of the prior year."

Based on this info, even at a buck I’m reluctant to step up to the plate. Sorry Beazer bulls, but I really need to see some tangible evidence that things have turned - or at least some feel-good optimism from management. I’m taking the bench on this one.

Hasbro (HAS):
 I have no interest in playing in this sandbox in the near-term, and that’s mainly due to the toy company’s lackluster fourth-quarter results.

In the period ended December 28th, the Rhode Island-based company posted a profit of $0.62  a share. That was more than a few Easy-Bake Oven's shy of the $0.75 that analysts had been looking for.

To boot, its revenue line came in at about $1.23 billion, which appeared a bit light as well.

All and all, I didn’t see this as a great quarter. However, there were a couple of bright spots that I think the investment community may be glossing over. Per the release:

“The Company repurchased a total of 11.7 million shares of common stock during 2008, at a total cost of $357.6 million, leaving $252.4 million remaining in the current share repurchase authorization.”

I’d also want to point out the $0.20 dividend that was declared, which is well north of the $0.16 in the comparable period last year.

With all that in mind, I’m reluctant to jump in now because that was such a big miss, but I do believe the company will mount a comeback. My gut tells me to wait another quarter or 2 - and that a better entry point may be had down the road.

By the way: Where are the insiders lately with the stock near its lows?