Overlords Investment Conclave [OIC] Recruitment Thread

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:55 am

Shamelessly stolen from a post on the Motley Fool boards:

"It's useful as a tool to help identify potentially undervalued older companies. It also happens to be very useful to help determine where the market is compared to it's historical averages.

The gist of all of this is that according to those charts, the S&P is sitting pretty much right on it's historical average return. If anything, it might be slightly undervalued. By contrast, you can clearly see the market bubble of the late 90's and why it had to come back down.

I'm pretty convinced that all the talk about 'time for a correction' right now is mostly gibberish by people who don't think it's possible for the market to continue to perform near it's long term averages. History has shown that the market tends to revert to mean at some point in time..."

Just for some perspective. When there is so much "noise" out there about the market, it's nice to listen to someone that seems to have a cool head, with really long term perspectives.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:09 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote:Shamelessly stolen from a post on the Motley Fool boards:

"It's useful as a tool to help identify potentially undervalued older companies. It also happens to be very useful to help determine where the market is compared to it's historical averages.

The gist of all of this is that according to those charts, the S&P is sitting pretty much right on it's historical average return. If anything, it might be slightly undervalued. By contrast, you can clearly see the market bubble of the late 90's and why it had to come back down.

I'm pretty convinced that all the talk about 'time for a correction' right now is mostly gibberish by people who don't think it's possible for the market to continue to perform near it's long term averages. History has shown that the market tends to revert to mean at some point in time..."

Just for some perspective. When there is so much "noise" out there about the market, it's nice to listen to someone that seems to have a cool head, with really long term perspectives.

People were calling for a correction at 14,000 (and all the way up of course). If that quote is talking about today, a correction and fair value aren't mutually exclusive.

Heading back to the critical +200.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 4:22 pm

Yesterday I bought my first stocks. I finished Up 1.31% today. Not bad at all. Of course I realize I could well give it back any time.

My leaders today were:

TEX 4.15%
FCX 3.44%
AAPL 3.23%
And out of no where came CTXS 3.17%

My biggest losers were:

PMI -1.08%
MU -0.9%
BLL -0.86%

I look forward to seeing where this all goes and seeing more green.

nasai · Post by **nasai** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:07 pm

I'm not bragging, and I certainly realize it's a potential fluke, but I'm up over 900% on my option trades since August 10th. I took a bath today on a "surefire" of mine, (BW) but overall, I've done very well.

I've traded:

AAPL (what a no brainer)
BW (this has been my big winner)
CAM (saved my ass today)
HANS (not much happened here)
DIOD (stalled out)
CLB (nice buy)

I started trading 6 weeks ago, and have worked a ton at learning everything there is to know about the technical side of things.

Without being too gauche (like I've not been already?), I've found that an understanding of Candlesticks, Fibonacci charts, and trading with the trends are the bare minimum of what you should bring to the table when throwing real money around, and not paper trading.

An investor pal of mine told me to be "right" 70% of the time while paper trading (it took me about 7 weeks), and it was hard to jump into the pool, but I did, and it's been a fun, albeit learning, experience.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:29 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:Update for the week [June 21]:
Bought IMOS $7 even
Bought more POT ~$79

POT touched $109 today. I'm torn, I like it long term but that's 36% in 4 months, plus a small divy. I guess it's mirroring IMOS perfectly. IMOS was stupid.

Flipped EMC and RNWK already. Missed the highs and will probably miss runs but did around 10%.

Oh, and the DOW is back above to 13,900. Can it hit 14,000 next week?

SpaceLord · Post by **SpaceLord** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:45 pm

My stock performance hasn't been pretty lately.

Note to self: don't but a airline stock just because it's cheap. (XJT)

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:28 am

WAG getting killed on earnings report. I'm watching that one carefully for a few days, might buy back in.

$40.86 -$6.41 (-13.57%)

DEERFIELD, Ill., Oct 01, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Walgreen Co. (WAG)(WAG):
-- Fiscal year 2007 earnings increase 16.6 percent; sales grow 13.4 percent to record $53.8 billion

-- Fourth quarter earnings decrease 3.8 percent; diluted earnings per share decrease 2.4 percent to 40 cents

-- Lower reimbursements on some generic drugs and higher expenses impact fourth quarter profits

-- Record capital expenditures of more than $2 billion planned for fiscal 2008, primarily for new store openings that will reach 550 this year

-- Management expresses high confidence in business fundamentals and overall growth, and a strong commitment to improving profitability

Walgreens (WAG)(WAG) today announced its 33rd consecutive year of record earnings and sales. The company also reported a decline in fourth quarter earnings due in part to lower reimbursements on some popular generic drugs and higher expenses.

Fiscal year net earnings increased 16.6 percent to $2.04 billion versus last year's $1.75 billion. Net earnings per share for fiscal 2007 increased 18.0 percent to $2.03 per share (diluted) versus $1.72 per share (diluted) the previous year. Net earnings for the fourth quarter declined 3.8 percent to $397 million or 40 cents per share (diluted) versus last year's $412 million or 41 cents per share (diluted).

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:13 pm

14,050 DOW. Starting to seem ridiculous.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:06 am

Started my cheap account full bore. These are only quick, short term trades and a relatively small part of my portfolio but it keeps me interested. I missed a bit of upside on most but I stick to a target I set when I buy it. All FYI, not recommendations (I'm out of all but three of them), because I've gotten a few questions. First buy was EMC on 8/15, most recent sell was YUM yesterday.

Bought EMC @ $18.49, sold @ $19.98 (8%)
Bought APC @ $48.21, sold @ $53.14 (10.2%)
Bought NOOF @ $6.00, sold @ $6.59 (9.8%)
Bought RNWK @ $6.01, sold @ $6.57 (9.3%)
Bought PTSC @ $0.36, sold @ $0.47 (30.5%)
Bought SIMG @ $5.53, currently at $6.31 (13%)
Bought DEIX @ $4.12, currently at $3.53 (-14.3%)
Bought SMOD @ $7.97, curently at $8.86 (11%)
Bought YUM @ $35.42, sold @ $38.14 (7.6%) (1 day trade on earnings)
Looking at LLNW but there's a lawsuit I'm researching before I buy.

I also sold some BA in the $102s and got MSFT at $29.90 in my long term account. IMO, BA is going to be flat until the Dreamliner actually flies and any delay will drive it down. I still think they'll make delivery though, so I kept 2/3 of the position.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:37 am

I was wondering if you still had your Boeing. I keep an eye on it every once in a while, looking for a good (cheap) entry.

Just bought:
LXRX (both M* AND Zack's agree on this one...a very rare thing)
BAC for an anchor position in my IRA
KTEC - this one has already doubled since I started watching it, and I still think it's able to do it again.

Sold recently:

BAIDU (made a nice little 35% gain in a month, but LOST the ADDITIONAL 50% increase that it made AFTER I sold. GRRRR!)

TNE (halted today...hmmm)
Both those were held for less than 6 months, with a nice gain.

I am still holding my biggest disaster stock ever, NFLD, and it has been heading up lately, but I plan to sell half before end of year to offset some gains - just waiting to see how high it might go first (I HATE selling things for a loss!

)

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:07 am

Carpet_pissr wrote:
BAIDU (made a nice little 35% gain in a month, but LOST the ADDITIONAL 50% increase that it made AFTER I sold. GRRRR!)

I got NOK around $18 in 2006. After watching it bounce around between $20 and $24 for 6 months I finally sold for around $22 I think. It was at $37 last time I looked, most if that in less than 6 months. That's 100% on a rock solid, dividend paying company that I missed 80% of. GRRRR indeed. But I did learn from it.

Carpet_pissr wrote: I am still holding my biggest disaster stock ever, NFLD, and it has been heading up lately, but I plan to sell half before end of year to offset some gains - just waiting to see how high it might go first (I HATE selling things for a loss! )

I'm still holding TUES from $18. It's at $8.60 today. Learned a lot from that one too, though.

Still holding all my POT, I would put a trailing stop on but it moves up and down $5 like crazy.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:17 am

LawBeefaroni wrote:I'm still holding TUES from $18. It's at $8.60 today. Learned a lot from that one too, though.

Hey, TUES looks like it's at a good price! Morningstar gives it a 5 star rating right now, and Zack's says HOLD, should go to at least 12 in the next 6 months. I bet you will at least see mid teens again soon.

I'm going to watch it, maybe add it to CAPS, to see what happens.

Edit: Hmm, just looked at your picks in CAPS, Lawbeef: your Suez pick has me intrigued. Will have to look into that one more. Can you give me some info on what drew you to that?

Also, got this message today from CAPS:

End of Contest
POSTED AT 10/9/2007 7:00:02 PM

Hello BruceInCola,

The Wall Street Survivor Blowout - Win a Wii! Contest has just ended. You have finished 111 out of 586 contestants with a final score of 129.62 and an accuracy of 70.00%.

CURSE!

I wanted that Wii!

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:49 am

Well, BA just announced delay of delivery until NOV/DEC 2008. I'm out at $100. You might see mid-low $90s. Watch it carefully. I'll keep it in CAPS though.

I actually did a screen and found VE. SZEZY/SZE came up as I was doing research in VE. I like both of them but haven't bought either yet.

With TUES I've pretty much admitted defeat but I'm stubborn and will sit on it as long as they keep the dividend and their leases keep it mildly attractive as a buyout. I think private money could turn it around.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:56 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:Well, BA just announced delay of delivery until NOV/DEC 2008. I'm out at $100. You might see mid-low $90s. Watch it carefully.

If it hits mid to low 90's I will buy some for long term in my IRA account. Valuation already looks pretty good here, to me, but I won't mind if Mr. Market offers me an even better price.

Eco-Logic · Post by **Eco-Logic** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:44 pm

Just found this thread.

My most recent personal trades are the following.
Today
Sold half of my position in FXI at $192.00 (cost $106)

Sold my position in ANAD at $19/share (cost $13.30)
Bought STV at open on Monday at $30.70 (close today at $50.63)
Sold ALY at $19.25 last week for a loss (cost was $20.00)

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:07 am

Hey, Eco. Good to see you back around.

Drinking right now and have 4 days off but I'll look at your ticks and comment later.

Wait, not much to comment on. Nice work.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:58 am

Definitely going to open a position in Boeing here...just waiting for a COUPLE of more dollars down... I'm cheap that way.

From Morningstar's latest update yesterday (just an excerpt):

Analyst Note 10-11-2007

Boeing BA announced Oct. 10 that it has pushed back the test-flight for the 787 Dreamliner four months while delaying initial deliveries six months to late 2008. Our fair value estimate for Boeing is unchanged at this time, as the shifting out of future cash flows related to our revised 787 delivery forecast and the payment of delay penalties have a negligible impact on the firm's valuation.

Although a six-month slip in the first delivery is somewhat disappointing (we were modeling a three-month push out), this is not a tragic development, and we expect no cancellations from 787 customers. For starters, Airbus won't have a competitive product in the small widebody jetliner segment until 2013 at the very earliest, and our view is that customers will continue to guard their 787 delivery slots closely. Further, we think investors should remain focused on the tremendous long-term promise of this revolutionary aircraft--which has garnered more than 700 orders to date from about 50 customers--instead of near-term development hiccups that are almost certain to arise with a new airplane program.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:09 am

Carpet_pissr wrote:Definitely going to open a position in Boeing here...just waiting for a COUPLE of more dollars down... I'm cheap that way.

From Morningstar's latest update yesterday (just an excerpt):

Analyst Note 10-11-2007

Boeing BA announced Oct. 10 that it has pushed back the test-flight for the 787 Dreamliner four months while delaying initial deliveries six months to late 2008. Our fair value estimate for Boeing is unchanged at this time, as the shifting out of future cash flows related to our revised 787 delivery forecast and the payment of delay penalties have a negligible impact on the firm's valuation.

Although a six-month slip in the first delivery is somewhat disappointing (we were modeling a three-month push out), this is not a tragic development, and we expect no cancellations from 787 customers. For starters, Airbus won't have a competitive product in the small widebody jetliner segment until 2013 at the very earliest, and our view is that customers will continue to guard their 787 delivery slots closely. Further, we think investors should remain focused on the tremendous long-term promise of this revolutionary aircraft--which has garnered more than 700 orders to date from about 50 customers--instead of near-term development hiccups that are almost certain to arise with a new airplane program.

You'll probably pick up a few bucks on the downside (currently around $96). I don't to TA but there's probably a strong support point in the low 90s.

I've was in BA for a while (and will get back in at some point, hell I have a 787 t-shirt). Watching Boeing means watching EADS/Airbus and they got killed on delays. Granted they have a ton of other problems, but most people view the Dreamliner (and Boeing) as a counterpart of the A350 XWB. They will look to what happened to Airbus. I don't think Nov/Dec 2008 is a substantial delay from May 2008. Boeing won't suffer but the stock will for a while. Timing it will be tricky but in the meantime I'll try something else.

I figured it would be flat on the testing delay and it has been and a few month were probably priced in for delivery delay. 6-7 months weren't and it has hurt the stock.

Everyone is also overlooking constant orders for the 737 and the defense side.

Still looking for a play on the fastener shortage.

Eco-Logic · Post by **Eco-Logic** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:29 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:Hey, Eco. Good to see you back around.

Drinking right now and have 4 days off but I'll look at your ticks and comment later.

Wait, not much to comment on. Nice work.

Thanks man.

I saw your comments on TA, and think you should accompany your TA discussions with charts. That way we can all learn from one another.

I also utilize Technicals primarily, fundamentals second.

Technically speaking, BA is an absolute mess. Obviously, with the Dreamline deliveries in the future, the technicals may not mean a lot.

Here is my breakdown of the chart, for what it is worth:

The purple line in the middle represents Time Segmented Volume. A bearish TSV, as in the BA chart above, represents serious selling pressure.

The dashed yellow line represents Money Stream (MS), which is basically the flows of money into and out of the stock. A Negative moneystream is obviously a bearish signal as well.

You can check out the details of a double top at investopedia here:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/doubletop.asp
Example

My only trade today was

Short 1,200 shares of PRXI at $14. This thing is going to single digits soon, at least it looks that way to me.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:53 am

Nice job on the chart. Like I said, I don't do TA but I had a feeling there was technical support in the low 90s. Looks like you have it at 94.83. It broke through that sometime yesterday ($94.00 right now) so we might see April/May levels.

EDIT: When I say "I don't do TA" I mean don't really know how well enough. I think it can be a good tool to use.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:48 pm

Eco:

What time frame (specifically) are you suggesting that the outlook for BA is bearish?

I am looking for an entry point for a long term hold (several years).

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:41 pm

Intel and Yahoo both reported at the close today. INTC had good numbers, YHOO looks like the market loves theirs. Or rather, the dive into earnings was wrong. It's up 8% in AH according to CNBC, though I'm only seeing 4.5% on the ticker.

I'm hoping Intel's numbers help some of my chip stocks tomorrow like TSM and IMOS.

Eco-Logic · Post by **Eco-Logic** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:54 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote:Eco:

What time frame (specifically) are you suggesting that the outlook for BA is bearish?

I am looking for an entry point for a long term hold (several years).

Short Term. The chart breakdown above was for the daily time frame. Obviously, as seen by today's action (up $1.1 on a down day), other fundamental factors will likely play a more significant role in the uptrend continuation (as see on the monthly chart).

PRXI Trade is doing well. Short at $14, and it fell 6.54% today to $12.87. I am not greedy and have set a stop to lock in a gain of 6%.
I went short yesterday at $14.

Here is the chart breakdown, in my opinion.

Why i think it may drop to $9-10.

No new trades today.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:51 am

LawBeefaroni wrote:
Bought SIMG @ $5.53, currently at $6.31 (13%)
Bought DEIX @ $4.12, currently at $3.53 (-14.3%)
Bought SMOD @ $7.97, curently at $8.86 (11%)

Bought some more SIMG Monday at $5.85, currently at $6.41. Weighted gain is 13% right now.

Sold SMOD Monday at $9.05 for about 13% gain.

DEIX is in the crapper, currently at $3.21 for 22% loss. Fortunately a smaller position but it still stings.

EDIT: Also opened SVLF @ $5.56 last week. Currently $5.66.

Long term portfolio is looking good except for UTX. Tech is on fire.

Owain · Post by **Owain** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:04 am

Anyone have advice on how to best start investing with small amounts. I don't have alot to spare but I would like to start trying to invest about $25 a month and that would be my starting funds as well. I already have a deferred compensation account through my job but want to play a bit on my own. Currently I am seriously considering doing a drip account with BAC since everything I have read and seen it seems to be a good pick for a long term buy and hold. And while they just took a hit in earnings I think the drop in price makes them even more attractive for a long term buy.

Eventually I would like to add some other drip stocks/companies or even try my had using one of the online brokerages if I can save enough to open an account.

So would this be the right way or should I consider another route?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:50 am

Owain wrote:Anyone have advice on how to best start investing with small amounts. I don't have alot to spare but I would like to start trying to invest about $25 a month and that would be my starting funds as well. I already have a deferred compensation account through my job but want to play a bit on my own. Currently I am seriously considering doing a drip account with BAC since everything I have read and seen it seems to be a good pick for a long term buy and hold. And while they just took a hit in earnings I think the drop in price makes them even more attractive for a long term buy.

Eventually I would like to add some other drip stocks/companies or even try my had using one of the online brokerages if I can save enough to open an account.

The problem with investing small amounts is that the commissions will kill you. $25/month would take you 2 months to get a share of BAC and if you're paying say $5/trade it would take you 3 months plus cost 10%.

Further, DRIPs don't always allow partial shares. Some require that your divys equal at least 1 share.

I've heard some good things about sharebuilder though, might want to look there. Never used it myself. I think they allow partial share buys and partial share DRIPs. They have an automatic investment program as well. But commissions would still eat up $25/month.

I've used Zecco.com for small bites but they've changed their policy starting Jan 1, 2008 (Oct 1, 2007 for new users). I'll keep that account since I'm over the new minimum for free trades but starting out you now need $2,500 to get 10 free trades/mo.

So would this be the right way or should I consider another route?

If you can find something that lets you buy with low commissions, it's a good way to go. Or you can try and save for a while to build a nice starting investment. When I started investing, every dinner out or new game became a missed chance to invest more. I've probably made more just saving than investing.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:15 am

Doesn't Bank of America offer free trades now? Not sure if it's available yet, but that news came out a while ago.

You could kill two birds with one stone there! Open an investment account with them, and buy their stock as well!

Agree with Lawbeef though, in one respect: unless you use a no commission fee site to trade, really small amounts can get eaten by commissions.

However, I don't think that should discourage you, as that is a very good way to learn and start out, imo - i.e. slowly and small. Get in the market, watch, learn, read some 10k's etc. before committing too much capital. I for one wish I had the money I lobbed into the market initially when I started investing...I can assure you I would do much better with it now than I would have when I first started.

Wrt BAC, please do be careful here (never thought I would say that about BAC!). I just bought some myself the other week, but you should know that they will likely be hit hard by bad subprime loans in the short term. I haven't had a chance to digest all the news today, but if it were me, I would wait a little while longer and let them air all their dirty laundry in that regard before hopping in.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:17 am

Owain wrote:Anyone have advice on how to best start investing with small amounts. I don't have alot to spare but I would like to start trying to invest about $25 a month and that would be my starting funds as well.

Eventually I would like to add some other drip stocks/companies or even try my had using one of the online brokerages if I can save enough to open an account.

So would this be the right way or should I consider another route?

Personally I think DRIPS are a great idea to start small in investing. It is true that some DRIPS do not allow partial share investments, but it is also true that some do.

From my personal example, I started investing in individual stocks with two DRIPs - one in Coca-Cola (KO) and one in Exxon, now Exxon-Mobil (XOM). Start your DRIP directly with the company, and not a middle-man broker to avoid large commissions fees.

I can quote you from my recent Coke statement that the fees are very minimal:

02 April 2007, dividend reinvestment $19.13, fees 0.01
02 July 2007, dividend reinvestment $19.27, fees 0.01
01 Aug 2007 optional cash purchase $100, fees 0.06

Your only hurdle is buying that first share to start your Drip. For Coke that would be about $59.44 and for Exxon that would be $94.85

I started my two Drips way back in 2000 and have made the occasional small optional cash purchase from time to time. They both have now grown into nice investments. In fact, the dividends from the Exxon-Mobil Drip are now such that each dividend payout buys me ~1.03 additional shares.

I may have to consider transferring these to a Roth IRA somehow, cause the dividends are pushing up my gross income during tax time.

PS. Go to dripcentral.com for more info on starting the DRIP directly w/ the companies of your choice.

KingB · Post by **KingB** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:22 am

I completely forgot about this thread. I was pushing for a thread like this a while back and we finally get it and I am not even participating.

Anywho, the only thing I am holding right now is AMD which I bought at $12.85 and is up to $14.20. I am on the fence with AMD. Their financials suck right now and they are looking at posting yet another loss this quarter. I think they are a good company with tons of potential. So I am gonna hold onto this one for the long term.

Crux · Post by **Crux** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:32 am

Well I bit the bullet today and sold my MNI shares for a loss. I think the company is majorly undervalued right now, but with the low price on BAC and FED I just feel like there is a better place to be holding it for right now. I think MNI might be something I'll dip back into in a few months depending on the price and if the situation has stabilized a bit.

Still the last week and a half hasn't been kind to my portfolio, between MNI, BAC and FED

Crux · Post by **Crux** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:36 am

KingB wrote:I completely forgot about this thread. I was pushing for a thread like this a while back and we finally get it and I am not even participating.

Anywho, the only thing I am holding right now is AMD which I bought at $12.85 and is up to $14.20. I am on the fence with AMD. Their financials suck right now and they are looking at posting yet another loss this quarter. I think they are a good company with tons of potential. So I am gonna hold onto this one for the long term.

Honestly I would say take your small profit and run. AMD is a great company for a cpu manufacturer. But they aren't a great investment. Why? Because they have to pour such a huge portion of their profits into research and development just to keep up and stay afloat.

Remember you're buying an actual company, and the company's job is to make money. In Theory, being a partial owner of the company you share in those profits. If we're being honest, AMD might make money from year to year, but they don't honestly make a lot of it because they *have* to develop the next big chip. Constantly. There is never a chance for them to sit back and reap the rewards of their research and development because any money they make from it has to be poured into the next cycle.

Compare that to a company like Coca Cola, who are making bucketloads from the same coca cola they've been making for like a hundred years. Lots, lots more money has been made on coke stock than AMD stock for a good reason.

KingB · Post by **KingB** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:46 am

I've heard some good things about sharebuilder though, might want to look there.

Never used it myself. I think they allow partial share buys and partial share DRIPs. They have an automatic investment program as well. But commissions would still eat up $25/month.

I've used Zecco.com for small bites but they've changed their policy starting Jan 1, 2008 (Oct 1, 2007 for new users). I'll keep that account since I'm over the new minimum for free trades but starting out you now need $2,500 to get 10 free trades/mo.

So would this be the right way or should I consider another route?
If you can find something that lets you buy with low commissions, it's a good way to go. Or you can try and save for a while to build a nice starting investment. When I started investing, every dinner out or new game became a missed chance to invest more. I've probably made more just saving than investing.

I use Sharebuilder and like it. There is no minimum to start investing and while you are deciding on what to invest in your money stays in a money market account earning around 4.5% interest. If you go with the Basic account there are no monthly fees and it is only $14.95 to trade stocks. If you use their automatic investing program then its only $4 per trade.

KingB · Post by **KingB** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:49 am

Crux wrote:
KingB wrote:I completely forgot about this thread. I was pushing for a thread like this a while back and we finally get it and I am not even participating.

Anywho, the only thing I am holding right now is AMD which I bought at $12.85 and is up to $14.20. I am on the fence with AMD. Their financials suck right now and they are looking at posting yet another loss this quarter. I think they are a good company with tons of potential. So I am gonna hold onto this one for the long term.
Honestly I would say take your small profit and run. AMD is a great company for a cpu manufacturer. But they aren't a great investment. Why? Because they have to pour such a huge portion of their profits into research and development just to keep up and stay afloat.

Remember you're buying an actual company, and the company's job is to make money. In Theory, being a partial owner of the company you share in those profits. If we're being honest, AMD might make money from year to year, but they don't honestly make a lot of it because they *have* to develop the next big chip. Constantly. There is never a chance for them to sit back and reap the rewards of their research and development because any money they make from it has to be poured into the next cycle.

Compare that to a company like Coca Cola, who are making bucketloads from the same coca cola they've been making for like a hundred years. Lots, lots more money has been made on coke stock than AMD stock for a good reason.

Thats a good point. I may hold on to it a bit longer and then sell. With the recent news about INTL profits rising so much I think you may be right.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:15 am

Carpet_pissr wrote:Doesn't Bank of America offer free trades now? Not sure if it's available yet, but that news came out a while ago.

Last I saw BAC required $25,000 in a non interest bearing checking account to qualify for the free trade account. Not really free.

EDIT: It's 30 free per month with a combined $25,000 balance in BAC checking, savings, and CDs.

Offer available with an individual or joint Banc of America Investment Services, Inc. (BAI) Self-Directed Brokerage account. If you have a combined total of $25,000 or more in your deposit accounts at Bank of America N.A., BAI waives its commission fee for as many as 30 online equity trades each month. When you make an online equity trade, BAI determines whether you meet the balance requirement to qualify that trade for the commission fee waiver. BAI adds the average collected balances in your checking and savings accounts as of the prior month to the balances in your CD and FDIC-insured IRA accounts as of the prior business day. If this calculation reflects a combined total of less than $25,000, BAI then makes a second calculation to see if the trade qualifies by adding the balances in your checking, savings, CD and FDIC-insured IRA accounts as of the prior business day. Offer applies only to online equity trades, including stock and exchange traded fund (ETF) trades. Standard commission fees for online equity trades range from $5 to $14 depending on your relationship with Bank of America and apply when the balance requirement is not met, or when you exceed 30 qualifying trades.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:29 am

Okay, so according to
dripadvisor.com

Bank of America has a pretty nice DRIP. If one scrolls to the bottom of that page one finds that:

Shares to Qualify = 1
Auto-reinvestment = Yes
Accept Foreign Accounts: Yes
Temper Enrollment Serv: Yes

Min/Max Investment = $50 to $120,000/year

Reinvestment Fees -

Dividend investment fees: none
Cash investment fees: none
Auto reinvestment fees: none

Those "NONE" fees are looking pretty good to me!

Scroll to the bottom for the number and address to start your DRIP account. Good luck!

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:56 am

raydude wrote:Okay, so according to
dripadvisor.com

Bank of America has a pretty nice DRIP. If one scrolls to the bottom of that page one finds that:

Shares to Qualify = 1
Auto-reinvestment = Yes
Accept Foreign Accounts: Yes
Temper Enrollment Serv: Yes

Min/Max Investment = $50 to $120,000/year

Reinvestment Fees -

Dividend investment fees: none
Cash investment fees: none
Auto reinvestment fees: none

Those "NONE" fees are looking pretty good to me!

Scroll to the bottom for the number and address to start your DRIP account. Good luck!

That dripadvisor info looks like it's from June 2003. Current TA is Compushare. From BoA site.

Dividend Reinvestment & Stock Purchase Plan

The Computershare Investment Plan, a Direct Stock Purchase and Dividend Reinvestment Plan is available. This Plan is a bank sponsored direct stock purchase and dividend reinvestment plan. For information and a brochure on this plan, please call our plan administrator, Computershare Trust Company, N.A. The brochure is also available online at Investor Centre.

Eco-Logic · Post by **Eco-Logic** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:56 pm

I had 1 trade Friday, and 1 today.

Friday I bought QTM at $4. Today I bought more QTM at $3.90.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:48 pm

I had to buy some more MMM today. Yes it's boring, but has been getting it done, and it pays a dividend. I use it in my IRA account as kind of an anchor.

Dropped on silly news the other day about price cuts on their film for LCD's, so I took advantage.

Well, I have to say, it if weren't for the extreme myopism (is that even a word?) of most Wall St. analysts, it would be a lot harder for me to make money!

pengo · Post by **pengo** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:15 am

Can someone explain to me, when its reported that the Central banks release money to the markets who gets this money? How does one increase the supply of money? Surely they aren't just printing off bills and giving them to various banks?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:22 pm

POT

Open: 105.26
Low: 97.36
High: 113.53
Last: 113.24

What a ride today with this monster.