Back in December, my pal Bre-Xer was brandishing a copy of Business Edge with nine nest egg-laying chicks splashed on the front page in their jammies.

“So what do you think?” he asked.

“Cute pajamas,” I said, trying to be polite.

“No, what do you think of their prospects?” Bre-Xer quizzed me of the women’s-only investment club. “They got a chance?”

Karin Housley and plucky pals keeping investments up to scratch.

“Investing clubs don’t work,” I said. “Investing is not a team sport. It’s an individual sport, like bull fighting. Besides, how can you take a bunch of women seriously who can’t afford to dress for the team picture?”

Since that time, a bull market and tech meltdown has bludgeoned the reputations of many superstar analysts.

A year ago, Mary Meeker, managing director of Morgan Stanley, was the toast of Wall Street, championing stocks such as Amazon and Cisco, but no more.

Those stocks have since tanked by 60 to 80 per cent.

Merrill Lynch’s Henry Blodget was the “prince of Internet analysts” last year until he targeted stocks like Quokka Sports to reach $1,250 (split-adjusted). Quokka was recently suspended from trading.

So you figure that a flock of chicks in PJs would’ve been plucked bare by the bear market and flown the coop, right?

Wrong.

We tip the fedora (while wiping egg from our face) to chick Karin Housley, wife of Flames’ Phil Housley and author of Chicks Laying Nest Eggs, and her plucky pals.

While all around them investment club members have been losing their pajama tops, these chicks are survivors, which is saying something considering the market carnage. They’re not exactly rolling in the dough, but their portfolio of 11 New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq stocks has gained one per cent.

What’s particularly impressive about the chicks’ portfolio, which can be viewed at www.chickslayingnesteggs.com, is that it is essentially bear repellent. It uses a strategy of easing into the market and a style based on the proven principles of the popular Motley Fool investment gurus that emphasizes patience and discipline.

Since September 1998, the club has bought one stock every three months which must survive 12 criteria known as the Chick’s Dozen. Their first pick, AOL, has gained 150 per cent. Other big winners are Nokia, up 54 per cent, and Pfizer, up 35 per cent. There is one turkey in the coop — Yahoo, down 83 per cent.

These chicks have also shown some moxie. After taking a bath in buying EMC at $77 last December, they averaged down on EMC in March, in the midst of the bear market, at $31.53 and it’s up 32 per cent.

The chicks peck around for stocks that are primarily based on personal interests which may explain why they missed the boat on the high flyers of the past year — oil-and-gas stocks.

Prospective chicks should check out the Web site to learn more about laying nest eggs. You roosters might want to take a peek, too.

PRO'S THREE STARS

Gord Currie, oil and gas analyst with Canaccord Capital, is continuing to recommend two of the three winners from his November picks.

His top pick is PanCanadian Petroleum (PCP-TSE), which has gained 38 per cent since he recommended it in November.

“They have a terrific east-coast gas project and the stock will also benefit from a distribution of shares (from parent company Canadian Pacific’s spinoff of subsidiaries),” says Currie, recommending it as a strong buy.

His 12-month target is $65 for PanCanadian, which recently traded at $47.65 (year range, $25.55-$49.40).

Currie continues to champion Anderson Exploration (AXL-TSE), rating it a buy with a target of $47. It recently traded at $34.85 (year range, $25.55-$38.89). “Anderson is one of the five or six largest producers and has the largest land holding in the MacKenzie Delta.”

Currie also recommends Zargon Oil & Gas as a strong buy with an $8 target (recent price, $6.85, year range, $3.60-$6.90).

The junior producer boasted earnings of $5.28 million for the first quarter. Currie’s Record: +31 per cent (PanCanadian +38 per cent, Anderson +22 per cent, Talisman Energy +36 per cent).

* CHEERS: To Edmonton Oilers’ CEO Patrick LaForge for his bold gamble in encouraging season-ticket holders to support businesses that are ticket holders or sponsors of the NHL team by publishing a list of the team’s corporate supporters. The Flames could do with such aggressive marketing.

* JEERS: To all those so-called market geniuses who have been saying for months that gold is dead. It is alive and well and many are speculating that this may be the beginning of a long bull market in gold.

HOT ALBERTA STOCK

DYNETEK INDUSTRIES

DNK-TSE 4.75

Up $1.20 cents (+33.5%) on 67,271 shares (for week ending May 18)

Take a bow, Heinz Portmann. The CEO of Calgary-based Dynetek boasts the hot-stock-of-the-week for the second straight week. The stock surges on the company's first-quarter financials which showed a revenue increase of 200 per cent over the year-ago period and a decrease of 65 per cent in its net loss. Dynetek manufactures and markets fuel-storage systems for compressd natural gas vehicles and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

COLD ALBERTA STOCK

ZI CORPORATION

ZIC-TSE $10.46

Down $3.63 (-25.6%) on 65,883 shares (for week ending May 18)

There was good news and bad news from Zi's financials, but only bad news for the stock price. The Calgary-based company increased first-quarter revenue 97 per cent — to $1.3 million from $600,000 — but still lost $3 million. Zi's core product is eZiText, which connects people to short messaging, e-mail, e-commerce and other services in several languages.