Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is up about 20% in the last six weeks, closing Wednesday at $467.50, which is wonderful for the faithful believers who seem to be in the majority. It has gone beyond any projection I could support having passed my top side 12-month value target of $440.00 after only four months. Seems it has gotten ahead of itself again by my reckoning, so I will have to let this one go.
All the excitement created by Google's very positive earnings report followed by numerous upgrades including James Cramer projecting a 12-month target of $560.00 per share still seems too volatile. This is not the next big thing, it is THE CURRENT THING.
While this GOOG euphoria has captured the imaginations and headlines, it is not the only success story. My last stock buy has also gone up just as much without all the fanfare over the same six week period.
Huaneng Power International, Inc. (NYSE/ADR:HNP) closed Wednesday at $32.68 (from $26.50), up about 23% in the same time frame. I had mentioned this company to another stockblogger and wanted to write about it earlier but I hesitated because it was too close to the time I purchased it and I thought perhaps this was too self serving. I am an investor, not a business writer, so I may sometimes be more conflicted than other bloggers.
I started watching HNP after my success with Petro-China Company Ltd. (NYSE/ADR:PTR) and so far so good. It is another stock paying a healthy dividend, currently 3.95%. It is a legal monopoly and the government owns a significant percentage. It has a P/E of 13.87, which is the high end of what might be expected for a utility but being the largest power company in China does qualify it as a growth stock to me. One that does not have the same volatility of Google, and has hard assets as well. HNP will have little foreseeable competition over the years while Google will fight every day to maintain its leadership in the marketplace.
My other recent stories:
The Amazon spending trap
Amazon is overpriced and overspending on growth
Time Warner Cable no longer stuck in the muddle
Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for Design and Research of an architecture & planning firm.
Ray of light: U.S. temp worker hiring increased by 34k in October
Closing Bell: Bulls gutting bears (ATVI, EWBC, GE, JASO, ENZN, MCD)
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein pulls a Jeff Skilling in an interview
