A blog post today in Stock Market Beat, filed under their Mid Cap Watch List paints a prettier picture for Pool Corp. (POOL) than originally thought. Given the slowdown in the housing market, most investors felt the air was out of the tires for this long-time growth company. While the numbers weren’t spectacular given their track record for beating earnings, guidance for 2007 gives me hope that the company will turn the business around in the coming months.

A little background on my relationship with POOL. I’ve owned the pool supply wholesaler’s stock twice in the past (I don’t own it at this time), making money both times, selling only because I didn’t believe they could continue to grow sales at the pace they were (20 percent or more annually). As it turns out, I was right. However, this doesn’t mean they can’t achieve those types of numbers once again. Today, the company reaffirmed 2007 earnings guidance between $2.00 and $2.10 per share. Analysts (there are nine covering the stock) on the other hand see them coming in around $2.00 per share in 2007, the positive outlook made the stock price jump by more than 5 percent to $37.84.

The reason the subject line says, “…defies the skeptics – Again!” is the company has been defying gravity for more than ten years. If you look at the annual returns of the stock for the past 10, you’ll find that there are no blemishes. Up every year, a perfect 10 for 10. There are maybe five other companies out of 10,000 stocks that have done this. Year to date, after today’s big jump, the stock is down slightly more than 3 percent and within striking distance of making it 11 years in a row with positive returns.

This will be an interesting company to watch in the coming years. If you believe what they are saying about global warming, more people are going to be putting pools in their backyard despite the negative effect they have on home resale prices but that’s a discussion for another blog. Quite simply, POOL Corp. could be the perfect stock despite the past year’s slowdown. Why do I think this? If I came to you with an offer to buy a particular stock; one with a guarantee that every year for the next 10 you would average 36 percent on your investment with absolutely no downside, you’d ask where do I sign. In 1997, investors had just such an opportunity.