Value Stocks posts
FeedPosted Feb 9th 2010 2:30PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Wal-Mart (WMT), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), AFLAC Inc (AFL), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Campbell Soup (CPB), Chevron Corp (CVX), Chubb Corp (CB), ConocoPhillips (COP), CVS Corp (CVS), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Verizon Communications (VZ), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Hasbro Inc (HAS), Entrepreneurs, Serious Money, Stock Screen, Raytheon Company (RTN), Xcel Energy (XEL), EZCORP (EZPW), Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV)

While most investors are fretting the markets recent contraction, you can be quite confident that "my pal Warren" has a smile on his face, as does Peter Lynch, Ken Heebner, Bill Miller, Bruce Berkowitz, and any number of fellow value investors that know now may be a time of opportunity. That is because they have the experience and understanding to pounce when they have a chance to buy things cheap.
This is the fourth installment of my series to discover just that: cheap stocks. If you would like to get on board from the beginning then review the initial post which screened for stocks with lower than market average P/E ratios, see
Serious Money: Market Looks Cheap to Me -- 35 Stocks. In the second installment, I looked at yield and PEG ratios:
Serious Money: Still Cheap Market -- 35 Stocks + Yields & Growth. Then I moved on to the the P/S and P/CF metrics in
Serious Money: Cheapest Stocks Yet -- From 35 to 26, cutting nine stocks.
Continue reading Serious Money: Cheapest Stocks List Shrinks from 26 to 21
Posted Jan 3rd 2010 5:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Rants and Raves, Competitive Strategy, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Indices, Getting Started, Sunday Funnies
A new year is upon us and like the beginnings of any year, and even more so, a decade, the predictions are flying fast and furious.
The start of 2010 is bringing out every analyst, talking head, business journalist, periodical and newsletter propagator, sportscaster, palm reader, taro card interpreter, astrologist, medium and madam making predictions to garner attention, entertain and even profit. Apologies to anyone I left out.
Continue reading Sunday Funnies: Predicting Nothing
Posted Dec 31st 2009 4:30PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Competitive Strategy, General Electric (GE), Home Depot (HD), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Getting Started, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Options, Bargain Stocks, Chasing Value, Raytheon Company (RTN), E*TRADE (ETFC), EZCORP (EZPW), Williams Companies (WMB), Brasil Telecom (BTM) , Grubb and Ellis Co (GBE)
During my tenure at BloggingStocks I have expressed my opinion often about the contribution that dividends make to your overall return. Most shrewd investors, and especially "my pal Warren," know this and understand why I re-emphasize the point when I make my annual selections.
By now I hope you have had a chance to peruse my picks for 2010. If not the links below will give you another opportunity.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2010 Dividends for Ten Stock Picks
Posted Dec 31st 2009 2:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Competitive Strategy, Options, Chasing Value, E*TRADE (ETFC)
For the first time my annual picks will include a stock option. I have written numerous blogs this year about something called "naked puts" -- that is a sell to open put position -- committing me to buy a certain number of shares by a certain date if the closing price is less than the strike price.
In this case I have selected the E*TRADE (ETFC) January 2011, $2.50 puts last traded on December 28, 2009 at $0.97 for a 39% return. If it expires, as I am betting it will, by the third Friday of that month I have no further obligation.
This type of option transaction is not available to most investors. It is marginable, but you pay no interest.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2010 -- #10 E-Trade 'Naked Put'
Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Products and Services, Chasing Value, Technology, Raytheon Company (RTN)
If you are in the right place at the right time, then you have the most opportunity. That pretty much explains why I recently bought shares of the Raytheon Company (RTN) -- and why it is one of my picks for 2010.
Raytheon (whose name means "light of the gods") is a top 10 prime contractor to the Pentagon. The list of critical systems it makes include reconnaissance, targeting, and navigation systems. It is a leader in missile defense systems, which include the Patriot, Sidewinder, and Tomahawk systems. Raytheon also makes radios, air traffic control systems and radars, satellite communications systems and provides commercial electronics products and services as well.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2010 -- #8 Raytheon Company
Posted Dec 29th 2009 4:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Forecasts, Competitive Strategy, General Electric (GE), Home Depot (HD), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Options, Bargain Stocks, Chasing Value, Raytheon Company (RTN), E*TRADE (ETFC), EZCORP (EZPW), Williams Companies (WMB), Brasil Telecom (BTM) , Grubb and Ellis Co (GBE)

To arrive at this years ten picks I scoured business journals and editorials, online and off. I also ran through a series of stock screens repeatedly over the last few months filtering for five primary value metrics identifying stocks worthy of further consideration.
The 5 data points were price-to-sales (P/S), price-to-book (P/B), price-to-cash flow (P/CF), dividend yield and return-on-equity (ROE). I did look at other things but these were the subject of my initial focus.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 10 Stock Picks for 2010
Posted Dec 15th 2009 11:30AM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newsletters, Stocks to Buy
"The health care business is immune to an ill economy, as people still need vaccinations, sutures and blood screens regardless of business cycles," notes value investor Nathan Slaughter.
In his Half-Priced Stocks, he suggests, "When it comes to medical waste disposal, demand is constant and barriers to entry are high." To play this specialty sector, he looks to Stericycle (SRCL).
"Stericycle is the dominant player in this field. The firm safely empties all those bins, and also removes discarded waste from research facilities, laboratories, hospitals, surgical centers, pharmacies, veterinary clinics and even dentists' offices.
Continue reading Stericycle (SRCL): Clean up in medical waste
Posted Oct 12th 2009 1:30PM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Newsletters, Expedia Inc (EXPE), Stocks to Buy, Recession
"Vacationers and professionals finally appear to be hitting the road, and many are relying on Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) to handle the details," says Nathan Slaughter in Half-Priced Stocks.
The value investor explains, "Expedia's travel sites processed 15.3 million transactions during the second quarter, 18% above the same period last year. Howevver, the gross dollar amount of those bookings dipped slightly to $5.6 billion/
"Whenever you have more trips bringing in less money, it's a pretty good indication that prices are way down.
Continue reading Expedia (EXPE): Travel firm books gains
Posted Sep 18th 2009 1:30PM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newsletters, Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA), Stocks to Buy, Israel, Obama Picks
The Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter focuses on stocks that meet the strict value criteria of the legendary investor. Here, J. Royden Ward looks to Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA), noting, "Teva is based in Israel and develops, makes and sells generic and proprietary-branded (store brand) drugs."
The advisor explains, "The company is one of the largest generic drug-producing companies in the world and, in addition, sells active ingredients to other pharmaceutical companies.
"Teva's aggressive acquisition and product development programs are driving strong sales growth. The company recently purchased U.S.-based Barr Pharmaceuticals for $7.5 billion. Barr will increase Teva's generic drug sales significantly in the U.S. and parts of Europe.
Continue reading Teva: A 'Ben Graham' selection
Posted Aug 13th 2009 11:00AM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newsletters, Carnival Corp (CCL), Stocks to Buy
"Like a sailboat waiting for a gust of wind, Carnival (NYSE: CCL) hasn't had any means of propulsion lately; in fact, they've been anchored by swine flu and sluggish travel demand," notes value investor Nathan Slaughter.
Nevertheless, in his Half-Priced Stocks, he remains optimisticbullish, noting "Eventually these storm clouds will clear." Here's his bullish long-term outlook for the cruise ship opertor.
"Fortunately, these negatives are macro-level factors, not company-specific issues. All things considered, the world's largest cruise operator is performing admirably in this tepid environment.
Continue reading Carnival (CCL): Clear sailing ahead?
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