Stocks
 

Wanting to talk market and picks.... anyone have anything they really like right now?

Ford is one of my rock solid picks right now. Down near the 52 week low and I think a strong buy at the moment. This stock doesn't move alot and really is a steady stock, but if played correctly you can make some money on the swings. I am also long on some shares that I am hoping I can stay long on for 8-10 years.

PBY is one I am playing daily now as well. That sector is bad however this stock seems to hold true. Insiders are buying right now, and that is always a sign of things to come.

Anything else people are liking?

P & G

Dividends

BBG -- Natural gas and oil play. Drills in the Rocky Mountain region. Has been hammered from $50+ 52 week high to the mid teens. Understand there is a huge over supply of natural gas that has crushed market prices, that being said I'm going to be long on this one hoping industries move to a cleaner burning fuel in the long run. You also have to be able to stomach some volatility. Picked up some shares just north of $17.

Brad - funny you should mention that sector.....was just thinking long term on Oil and was looking at natural gas as alternative. Always like the drillers, as they are the first of the first. Don't know much about the company, will research and get back to you. Very volatile just this week, which I love (since I day trade with a fair amount of my money) but being long on something with so much upside is a good thing too. Seeing the last years charts tells me alot and it may have bottomed out last month. Picking it up now may be a good play if you are planning on dumping at I would say around $30 ish

XOM, EROC, PAA, NUS, CTL. I am buying heavy into the pipelines. Most pay decent dividends and all of them are really beat up right now. I still think the auto industry is going to continue to struggle.

SAN formerly STD... so you can say you have STDs ... But seriously super diversified spanish bank. only like 20% of their holdings are spanish. 15% dividend right now give or take

I have never done stocks in my life. I have some money in a savings account earning 1%. I would like to put that to work/play around with. What websites are you guys using? This BBG company looks like something i would be interested in pursuing. A quick return would be nice but I can stick it out for the long run as well.

Thanks guys. good info so far.

if you are into a little risk, try UPIP

formally OPWV, Phone.com

they have over 200 patents and no overhead. They pretty much invented the mobile internet. They have a patent agreement with Microsoft and have court cases against Apple and RiM.
I'm not saying bet the farm. A ruling is expected this Fall. If it is favorable to UPIP, the stock price will increase dramatically. I wouldn't invest any retirement money, but if you have some play money, it could be a fun ride

Service-now is about to IPO. They're the 7th fastest growing company in North America.......if you're into tech stocks

if your into Oil gas...specifically NAt Gas...look at MLP's ( Master limited partnerships) huge tax advantages for MLP's great divdends, solid growth.

Dahmsy - Be very careful....we talk about this stuff like it is "easy" or you make money "every time" but it isn't. I don't want to say don't buy stock because it is a fun ride and you can make alot of money doing it but you have to know what you are doing. If I were jumping into the stock market for the first time I would say buy something you know about first. Look around at what you buy alot of and see if they are a public company. If they are do research on them. Find out all you can about their business and how they use their revenue. Once that is done and you think they are a solid company go ahead and buy some. Buy for the LONG TERM first. If you buy to trade (like many of us do) you need to know a bit more and understand when to buy and sell. Some of us do it daily, hourly even minute by minute. Just don't want you to jump in without your research. Someone once told me "of the poeple who jump into buying stocks 98% don't make money" that is very true because they see it drop then sell and get scared very easy. Know your risk tolerance and be patient. Have fun too! It is a great ride, but the UPS come with voilent downs too...just like a roller coaster.

I have been making money getting in/out of SalesForceDotCom. It seems to run up/down. I have made 5% 5 times over the last year.

Chipolte and Amazon have been good to me. I commonly pick them up on big down days.

I also like Ford long term but they will be flat while europe is hurting.

GD, are you buying and selling online? Sounds like you are buying low and selling high, why not short the stock when it is high? I have yet to short a stock but believe it would be easier to make money when the stock is tanking(and don't tell me that you could lose more money than you invest if the stock goes up to a million when you short it)

GD - The Ford play is actually my daily play. That is because it isn't too volitile, and you can tell where it is going most weeks. I am in Ford for the Long term as well, as I am buying more than I play with daily. But, if F gets down to $5 I am going to bet the farm. It will be $14-$16 in the next 18 months so if I can get a ton of it at $5 I am in. It may go lower but I can make small chunks daily on the lows.

PBY has done really well for me lately. Might want to check it out!

If your into Bio Tech check out ANIK. This one is flying under the radar. I'm long and got in at right around $9. They already have a proven revenue stream and are growing internationally. They also have a current product under review with the FDA. Again, if you can withstand some volatility you might want to check it out. They also have a great balance sheet with little debt.

Ford is definitely doing so great stuff these days. If they fall far below $10, I will also pull the trigger on a bunch.

I really like BAD days on the market -- buying good companies on bad days. Buy on weekness, buy more on more weakness and sell after the recovery.Rinse & repeat.

^^^^ Day trading 101....lol

Brad - will look at ANIK.... little debt and solid balance sheet makes for a good company usually....will do the research Thanks!

Sold CRM (SalesForce.Com) today at $142 today after buying one week ago for $130 for a 9% profit. Will buy it again on the next ugly day.

BRCM looks good. Has a nice trend, and is starting to break out. I have few shares.
Check out CLNE. This is a stock that N. Pelosi and her husband own. Usually a good trading stock.
F is really weak. Sitting on a strong support. If it falls there is no support so it could drop hard.
I just took my profits on IWM today. Not much buying today just some short covering.

Brad . That was a nice trade on BBG. Are you still in it? 25% return. You only need 1 or two trades a year like that.......

Jo the question should be "Why not short?" . If you don't you are missing the otherside of the trade. My last short was SCSS . Made a nice 20% return. THis is a crappy stock to trade though. I am long on it now, and no profit yet just breaking even ,but it went up 3% today .

Thanks Dennis, yeah I'm still in BBG. If it continues it's run I will probably take some profits off the table. I've learned from experience "pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered..." That being said I like the "long term" prospects of natty gas.

Got back into SalesForceDotCom at 127 this morning -- hope to dump it again for a 10% gain in a week or two.

Got out today at $140. Will get back in with the next major decline...

Back in at 128 this morning. Hope to sell within a week.

I would think this thread needs to keep going. Couldn't hurt to keep up with this type of stuff. I know a lot of energy sector but little knowledge about much else. Any reccomendations these days?

Picking stocks is risky no matter how you look at it. All of my risk money is in a professionally managed acct.

stocks
 

GD, whats up with salesforce.com(CRM) ? I looked it up and yahoo finance said it was never above 60? Whats up with that?

On another note, what companies are buying all the bottom priced houses? I gotta believe these companies are going to make some coin moving forward.

listen to the master himself... warren buffett. if you arent a pro. dont bother picking stocks or even bother paying a pro. Put it in an index fund the S&P 500 index fund to be exact. then forget about it and live you life worry free. VTSAX or VTI the exchange traded fund version both out performed 76% of all managed funds over the last 5 years. worth the risk and the higher fees i think not.

^ That depends on the age of the investor as well

I have played around with TDCP for a little and have been following it for about 7 years. Its a sub penny stock. Mind you its not a long term investment and makes up less than 1% of my portfolio but the $500 invested a couple months ago just got sold for about $2200. Its a nice little flip. I will buy back in when it goes back to sub penny. Not sure if I believe that they will come out with a viable product but fun to follow none the less.

Or pick the managed funds that make up the 24% that beat the indices. Not all managed funds are created equally.

Good luck actually picking the fund that beat the indicies in that top 24% . in each five year window those funds change.

why does this depend on the age of the investor. stock picking is akin to gambling unless you're a pro at it.

it wasnt long ago i thought like some of you guys on here. i've been picking stocks since i was 10 ... luckily .... only took me 17 years to see the light. you can try to beat the market all you want but for every good pick you have you will have 2 or 3 bad ones. unless you're lucky or a pro and really good at doing all that research. Then equate your time spent to what your gain was over the market avg. was it worth it ... probably not. Just by market avg. compound interest assuming 6% non inflation gains. i only have to save for 14 years total to be FI. why take the risk and try to beat it when more often than not you will lose.

Finally making enough money to get into the stock game. Mainly interested in biotech startups and new pharm drugs. I work in the medical field and like to think that I know how patient populations will respond to new innovations.

Currently investing in Mannkind's inhalable insulin that's slated to launch in April, the stock is extremely volatile but pending a FDA approval next week should see a decent spike. Got in today at 4.83, trials all looked good hopefully the FDA doesn't pull any surprises.

Another company I have my eyes in is ONVO, specializing in 3D organ printing which would be incredible not just for transplants but for pharmaceutical research, I think this company has huge potential as the've already printed liver cells.

CRM (salesforce.com) had a 4:1 split last April (see the S on the graph).

I think they may be a good short term play now since they have taken a beating of late.

still have no clue why you can trade stock legally but not bet on sports ... its the same damn thing ... a gamble. you can have an evaluation or a system... but at the end of the day you're gambling. only one person has famously beaten the market ... and even he recommends trading market index funds.

last post on this topic but why gamble against the market. odds are against you. just my 2c

Not even close to the same thing.. gambling on sports is only an educated gamble because of how the team is doing, injuries, etc. The spread exists to give the bookies the edge they need - the edge that makes sure on average, the house always wins.

There's no 'house' with stocks. You are not gambling against the market. It's a network worldwide of buyers and sellers and their perception of the stock and what they are willing to trade it for. Sure your perception is that your investment is a gamble but that's only because there are many factors that cause a price to rise or fall - but there is no 'odds' against you. A properly balanced portfolio should always gain over the long term, and buying 'safe' products in the market is almost a guarantee of a return (albeit a small one).

There's no guarantee with chips on the table or a sports betting slip.

The stock market is simply an extension of allowing companies to raise money through investment. Capitalism desires investment and investors would not be interested in investing if they had no means for selling their investment. So, the stock market is a natural extension of capitalism. So, yes, investment is a "gamble" so it is a form of gambling but very different from sports gambling.

I wouldn't totally disagree with you Stuey accept for the statement that there isn't a "house that always wins". Don't forget about brokerage fees and, to a MUCH larger extent, slippage. The price between what you ask for and what you get all goes to the house unless you use limit orders. I'd still bet on stock before sports any day of the week though.

I knew someone would say the fees.. haha... but it's the cost of doing business. It costs you to do normal banking too only your checking account is not ever going to give you a 8% return.

You can always consider investments a 'gamble' but it is not 'gambling' in the sense of casinos or sports betting. Spreads, slots, table games, everything has a edge to the house no matter what happens - law of averages means the casino makes money.

The closest comparison is probably stocks to poker - you are playing your opponent directly and the house 'rake' is like your brokerage fees. A little luck but much more skill involved.

technically sports betting is you vs others too... the bookies set lines and the lines move based on bets placed by others the house just takes a cut out of the middle its a socialized form of group betting.

Oh wait and that's exactly what the stock market is. If you want an equivalent to the stock market look at sports betting. Picking stocks is similar to picking teams to win games. The only issue is no one has developed a fund of good teams to invest in or good lines to bet. Wait those exist too people sell you picks for a fee. hmm trying to differentiate the 2 on a pure monetary basis. And I can't. Maybe you can.

Bottom line when you put money into 1stock. You're betting you know more than the people that put that stock at that price.

And to put this in a bit more perspective on why picking stocks is the same as picking teams. I'm not saying its the same thing and you all should pick the royals to win the world series. What I'm saying is in picking your own stocks you're losing money to low fee index funds on the chance to make more. And the best investor ever says you won't. Maybe 5 of every thousand will. And that's insanely generous.

Just trying to impart knowledge that took me years of investing to understand.

Trading stocks is fun and I'm a gambler with the rest of em but it should be treated the same way.

House = broker
Picking team = picking stock
Winnings = profit over market avg

Last is key. If you can beat the market picking stocks consistently. Give me a call I'd like a pull on your G.

"If you want an equivalent to the stock market look at sports betting."
You cannot put a stop loss order in on a sporting event, when you "invested" in the stock market didn't you put a stop loss order in??????

Stop loss would be betting a half time line the other way.

If you invest 20K on a stock pick and you set your stop so that you lose no more than 2% then you lose $400 and live to invest again. If you bet 20K that the Niners are going to cover the spread and they don't you lose 20K. I'd say that's a pretty huge difference. If you're investing with margin or buying Puts and Calls then you're gambling but only losers invest in the market that way. The equivalent to sports betting would be if you could cancel your bet part way through the game when the other team started to pull ahead and only take a small loss. I've never heard of a bookie that would let you do that.

All but two of my stop limits tripped last week... Solar energy sector got slammed. Really the whole tech sector experienced losses..I'm looking for opportunities today.

Even the pros aren't good at fast money, trust me. Buffet is right, buy proven value stocks\funds with div; set it and forget it. Save yourself the ulcer of trying to time the market. Even if you are extremely lucky and succeed a few times, in the end, you failures will have offset you to about the same percentage as the long term conservative play.