Stocks

[Razorguns]

Stocks..

I'll admit -- i've stayed out of this arena. Too much to concentrate on in business, therefore, some things need to be set aside .. for now.

Well that time is now. Where's a good place to begin? Who here makes good money out of it, and what services/sites do you use?

I was reading this months Black Enterprise and five good firms were listed that will yield good returns over the next 5 years: Aetna, Valero, Coach, Cognizant and Apple.

How risky is it to test the waters using these as an example, with say a thousand or two?

So many questions. Gotta love unchartered territories.

 

[gotmilk]

Apple is interesting because they are switching to Intel Pentium chips. This will make them more compatible with other hardware.

 

[Alright123]

Apple is interesting because they are switching to Intel Pentium chips. This will make them more compatible with other hardware.

When will this be taking place or is it already in process ?

Thank you.

 

[gotmilk]

Already announced. Set to start next year

 

[flex229]

here's how you can start learning: pick a few companies that interest you, and "paper trade" them...dont actually buy them, but buy them with "pretend money." pick a buying price and go from there...you can plug in all your information on free websites such as yahoo finance that will track the stock once you put in your buy price...from there, you can look at charts, keep up with company news, etc very easily...

if you have money that you just have to spend and given your level of investing experience, youre probably better off purchasing a mutual fund or even an index fund...you can learn a lot about mutual funds on websites such as morningstar.com...they also have limited fund information on sites such as msnbc.com and cnn.com and yahoo.com...

Stocks..

I'll admit -- i've stayed out of this arena. Too much to concentrate on in business, therefore, some things need to be set aside .. for now.

Well that time is now. Where's a good place to begin? Who here makes good money out of it, and what services/sites do you use?

I was reading this months Black Enterprise and five good firms were listed that will yield good returns over the next 5 years: Aetna, Valero, Coach, Cognizant and Apple.

How risky is it to test the waters using these as an example, with say a thousand or two?

So many questions. Gotta love unchartered territories.

 

[Creepusmaximus]

Right now I'm thinking about buying 20 Sept. call contracts at a $15 strike price on EYET. If you want to start big there you go. LOL. I have the money to gamble on things like that. Could be big payoff but risk is there for sure.
If you don't want to spend a lot of time researching, funds are the way to go. If you want to spend some time, pick a group that you like. If you like computer games, research the companies that make the programing, what products are coming out that will be big hits, etc. Then reasearch the hardware companies that run the games etc. That's just an example but you can make a living from focusing in on one group and knowing it well.

 

[Devastation]

it takes a lot of your own time researching and reading 10k and 10q, looking at income statements, cash flow statements, (not to mention understanding them), and making your best estimation what future value will be next year based on the current expected earnings. most small time players lose money on such ventures. they think they're in vegas and it's easy money. your safer undervalued bets often reward your portfolio the most over time

my best advice is if you don't know anything or where to start, start watching what the market is doing and read every article you can on macro economics. this will helpl you understand the current business climate. you want to choose business' that are doing well now and are expected to do well into the future. that does not include every stock out there right now. there are many sectors of the market that are dogs currently with no positive news in sight

and a bit of free advice, stay away from apple. they're going no where fast from here out for awhile imo

if you want to buy a stock and hold it for awhile, like a year or more, buy adp. read all of their financial statements available and see what a great company should look like. i believe that you will easily earn 12% in less than a year on this investment if you buy below $41

 

[Devastation]

as far as sites i use are yahoo finance, ameritrade for trading, morningstar occasionally - i have access to the paid area, validea.com for some different ideas, and ibd - investors.com - you can get a free month subscription to their site

and as for earning a nice return on investment, last year i had a 60.6% return, after trading fees, easily destroying the market. this year i am up only 5% however, but still handily outpacing the market averages

 

[sawastea]

Though I don't have the same thoughts as Devastation for Apple, definitely do your research. I've been dealing with Apple quite a bit and have a some shares in them. They have treated me well since I bought into them in late July. Luckily, working on the street has its perks

 

[bran987]

How risky is it to test the waters using these as an example, with say a thousand or two?

depends if that's all your savings or if you have a hundred grand laying around. start slow is all I can tell you. there's no way not to have some hard lessons your first time around stocks. the S&P is around multi-year highs right now though so guess what that means... it could either go up higher since it's been been going up... or it's high now and it's about to drop

point is, never know what it's going to do. the other advice I have is never buy a stock that a magazine says is a good idea to buy

 

[gotmilk]

Though I don't have the same thoughts as Devastation for Apple, definitely do your research. I've been dealing with Apple quite a bit and have a some shares in them. They have treated me well since I bought into them in late July. Luckily, working on the street has its perks

Did you see where Kevin Rollins stated Dell wants to start making Dell computers for Apple?

Throw in Dell's plans to start financing their own leases (versus solely using CIT Group) and they have some serious cash flow coming in for 2006

 

[Creepusmaximus]

I like when IBD starts a good pump. Their kind of know for that.

 

[JoNeS]

Just watch Jim Cramer's Mad money on CNBC and buy his book. Good stuff

 

[flex229]

some good books: Peter Lynch's "One Up on Wallstreet" and "Beating the Street" are good...so is Burton Malkiel's "A Random Walk Down Wallstreet"...