Stock Tips

[DailyDi]

My Green Mountain (GMCR)is up almost $5, nice!

[DailyDi]

My Green Mountain (GMCR)is up almost $5, nice!

Up another $2 today

[willnotwill]

I actually have stock in Altria (Philip Morris). My broker bought it for me and I'd have never done it myself but it's done well. I did get some free pizza coupons out of the Kraft division one year.

I was going to buy some Teddy Bear stocks but Russ and Boyds both tanked so I'm glad I didn't.

[square_duck]

Up another $2 today

congrats on that making money for free is fun isn't it??

[square_duck]

I actually have stock in Altria (Philip Morris). My broker bought it for me and I'd have never done it myself but it's done well. I did get some free pizza coupons out of the Kraft division one year.

I was going to buy some Teddy Bear stocks but Russ and Boyds both tanked so I'm glad I didn't.

I admit that I too have both Altria and Phillip Morris international (spin off) and kraft. I know theres a lot of anti smoking and anti cigarette sentiment out there, but I look at it this way. I don't make people smoke, and smoking has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years. You can't beat the dividends they pay, and even with all the litigation and other suits, the companies still exist and are going strong....sooo my take is you can't fight city hall

It's a lot like the British petroleum fiasco...a GIGANTIC company (which I should have bought stock in when it tanked ) cut its dividend and has been /still in litigation blah blah blah...just reissued it's dividend because of all the other investors in Europe who hold the stock have been screaming because of the cut in their cash flow from the loss of the dividend. Now, is BP ever going to go out of business?? doubt it, nor will any of the other energy companies, they are H*U*G*E and have very deep pockets and lots of resources which they keep investing in (buying) so they will be around for a VERY long time...same with Tobacco....I I put my money to work where it will grow and prosper.

some sectors I'm still looking at:

Banking Some sre still cheap, but dividends are coming back

Railroads: expensive yes, but consistent pay outs and stable prices....railroads will NEVER die, unless the whole country dies

Food / restaurants : YUM corporation, global exposure, especially in emerging economies (China and India) and growing like a weed

Energy / natural gas: Clean and very plentiful energy that has been neglected for a long time. Several big companies are investing in drilling and developing many natural gas fields, and I (IMHO) believe this is the way for the future of energy. many stocks are still cheap, but climbing

I have Spectra energy and Kinder morgan for this and plan on buying a LOT more...

I have some PG (proctor and gamble) and want more plus some kimberly Clark (kmp) but I try to buy these on the dips, so I don't pay too much for them. Always look for a deal or new 52 week lows etc on strong companies...also buy into disasters (BP) because if it's a strong company, they will come out OK, and you get a heck of a bargain in the process. I saw this happen with Union Pacific (UNP) TWICE and I blew both opportunities to get a great company at a bargain.....the timing was wrong, and I didn't have the funds to buy at the time but you live and learn.

The trend is your friend ride the surf and make a few bucks having fun (investing is fun! shopping for the next bargain is like shopping for sales in stores....but they pay *YOU* instead of you paying them

[underwhere]

It's a lot like the British petroleum fiasco...a GIGANTIC company (which I should have bought stock in when it tanked ) cut its dividend and has been /still in litigation blah blah blah...just reissued it's dividend because of all the other investors in Europe who hold the stock have been screaming because of the cut in their cash flow from the loss of the dividend. Now, is BP ever going to go out of business?? doubt it, nor will any of the other energy companies, they are H*U*G*E and have very deep pockets and lots of resources which they keep investing in (buying) so they will be around for a VERY long time...same with Tobacco....I I put my money to work where it will grow and prosper.

and this is precisely why Xerox, Poloroid, Tyco, Bear Sterns, and JP Morgan were fantastic investments. hmmmm. I'm sorry, but just because a company is big does not mean it is unsinkable. The Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable, but it sank also.

The only thing we can know for sure about investing in is change.

We did also recently learn that "too big to fail" means the US government will do whatever it can to not let investment dollars dry up. Unfortunately, few companies are hiring, and many companies are still failing.

some sectors I'm still looking at:

Banking Some sre still cheap, but dividends are coming back

Many banks and investment houses, after being rescued by taxpayers through TARP payments, are now offering similar investment vehicles (under different names) that recently caused them to crash and burn. Be careful which banks you invest in. Ten to twenty years from now, they WILL crash again.

Railroads: expensive yes, but consistent pay outs and stable prices....railroads will NEVER die, unless the whole country dies

If the economy ever starts creating jobs which pay people reasonable wages for the work they perform, this will be true. Otherwise, the whole country will die, because few people can afford to buy products in cash and must resort to credit. Railroads, like all other industries, will fail if nobody can afford to purchase the products being shipped, or the tickets to go on a road trip.

Energy / natural gas: Clean and very plentiful energy that has been neglected for a long time. Several big companies are investing in drilling and developing many natural gas fields, and I (IMHO) believe this is the way for the future of energy. many stocks are still cheap, but climbing

Drilling has its own negative environmental impact. I'm not at all convinced this offers anything even remotely close to the "clean energy" currently being promulgated. It is a wonderful marketing tool, though. It also does not account for the fact that there is a finite quantity of oil and gas in the world. From an investment standpoint, this is a good thing, because lower supply leads to higher prices. Thats only a benefit as long as there is supply and people able to afford to buy the supply. As Activision recently discovered with Guitar Hero, people only need to buy some products once to make use of them across many applications. They were left with a glut of hardware supply, thus forcing them to reduce their prices and finally close an otherwise extremely popular and successful franchise.

Along the line of thought of "clean energy", an investment in ethanol, a corn byproduct inserted into gasoline as a "clean alternative" requires far more energy and environmental impact to produce than is saved in its usage. I suppose it is good money for an investor to plunk down though, since the US government (and possibly other governments) are more than willing to subsidize it even though the use of corn for ethonol also means that the supply of corn is reduced, so people are starving in many parts of the world where corn is a staple of the food people eat, and the rest of us are paying a much higher cost for the corn syrup which is found in our foods as a sugar replacement. Personally, I am not willing to support that, so just as I would not by Phillip Morris or Altrea because of the health impact of their products, I would be weary of buying any company that has negative economic or environmental impacts for fear of supporting a company doing more long term harm than good. It turns out that this makes it very difficult to be a socially conscious investor, so aside from the fund of shares of TGT which I own as part of my 401(k) package from being a former employee of theirs, I really don't own any stocks right now. I don't know if I will in the future.