If you’re anything like me then you think that once you click on the appropriate button, or get off the phone with your stock broker, your order speeds off to be filled at whatever price the stock is currently trading at. How wrong I was.
Chapter 8 on “Spotting Bottoms in Stocks” is one of the best sections of Jim Cramer’s Real Money. The chapter is filled with the type of insights you would expect to get from someone with 25 years of experience in the market.
The chapter does discuss spotting bottoms in individual stocks, but Jim spends most of his time on indicators he uses to spot market bottoms. These indicators (collected into three categories) have been shared by all four of the last big market bottoms (1987, 1990, 1998, and the “double bottom” in 2002-2003).
It’s hot here in San Jose. With a record streak of record temperatures (many over 100 degrees), newspapers are reporting that every local store selling air conditioners has been cleaned out. Similar stories are being heard around the country.
Naturally, that led me to think again about companies selling air conditioners. I already wrote about Lennox which, while down from when I originally looked at it, still looks like a good medium term play. Their plan on building up an extra large inventory this season looks like it will pay off big time, though it may not be until their next quarter report that we’ll really know the results.
But Lennox mostly sells larger units. Today I went looking for companies that sell the portable and window units that have been selling like crazy, and I found Fedders Corporation (FJC).
Amidst the turmoil and uncertainty that attends the markets these days, I often find it relaxing to sequester myself for a while and do some analysis. Part of my job as an analyst is to discover things that others may have missed. These may be opportunities to identify “Special Situations.” Some very successful opportunities of mine in the recent past have been companies such as Nucor, Landstar System, C.R. Bard, Laboratory Corp., PACCAR, Asta Funding and Student Loan Corp (STU). I have had some excellent runs with these companies because I was able to isolate their uniqueness early - before Wall Street discovered them.
I got an email from a reader at my other site asking about Geely Automotive Holdings Ltd. The author had already purchased over 19000 shares which might seem like a lot until you realize this is very much a penny stock. Still, the outlay for a young college student is significant and it probably brings up a topic for a good future article “Where the small investor should put his money?” We are not talking about that today because we need to answer the questions on Geely first.
Arguably, no investing product receives more bad press than variable annuities. Many individuals have horror stories to share about unscrupulous brokers who pushed them into complex annuity plans without adequately explaining fee structures and provisions. Some individuals may have thought they were getting an IRA and instead ended up in an annuity. In this article, I will explain the facts related variable annuities and give you some information to help you decide if variable annuities are right for you.
Pension plans have long been offered as part of employee benefit packages. Long thought to be an integral part of any retirement plan. But in todays environment, with large corporate bankruptcies and massively underfunded pension programs, do you still rely on your Pension plan?
There is a chronic personality flaw that I see in so many entrepreneurs, that unnecessarily impedes their true success — resistance to having partners. I’ve had partners in the past, and I know the difficulties that can be faced by having a partner that is not picking up their fair share. But the secret to success in business is not to exclude people! Having partners is essential when you want to elevate your wealth.
In his book You Can Be a Stock Market Genius (review at ThinkingAboutMoney.com), Joel Greenblatt discusses the investment opportunities that come from investing in special situations - such as corporate breakups and mergers.
Over the next few weeks, Cendant is breaking itself up into four companies. You may not have heard of Cendant, but you’ve certainly heard about the companies it owns.
There are two types of metals for investment: precious metals as opposed to base metals. Precious metals include gold, silver, platinum, and some other less known materials such as ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, and iridium. Base and/or industrial metals include copper, nickel, aluminum, zinc, lead, and iron/steel. The reasons for investing in precious metals and base metals can be very different. But their prices are correlated nevertheless because of inflation.
Here are some ways to invest in metals:
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