premise: After reviewing the 19 stocks with single letter symbols ( 7 are currently unused ) , Putnam offers six that he says , have been " beaten down pretty badly and now look particularly appealing . " ' " Agilent Technologies ( NYSE : A ) , which makes electronic and bio - analytic measuring devices , was spun out of Hewlett - Packard in 1999 . Revenues surged in 2000 as did the stock price , reaching a lofty 162 . Why were the stocks beaten down pretty badly ?
hypothesis: Because 19 stocks have single letter symbols .