Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFMI) was reinstated as outperform on 11-10-06. This stock is very attractive to me based on the things I've read about it. If the analyst's assertions are true, and WFMI's stock lost value based on a simple change in management focus from business operations to maintaining share price, then what should be happening in timely fashion will be a moderated climb back up to WFMI's fair market value. Salim Haji, an excellent writer over at The Motley Fool, offers the opinion that this stock has an intrinsic value in the $50 to $60 range.

With additional consideration of the fact that WFMI is undertaking a strategic stock buy back program, if I was looking for some fun places to play with some funds, this would be one of them. It is my opinion that this stock deserves some close attention right now. I think it is headed back up. One other thing I take into consideration about this situation is the possibility that Wal-Mart is going to fall flat on its corporate face with its "organic" food roll out. If that happens, (and I think it will), then Whole Foods Market will add even a bit more sparkle to my eye!

You can learn more about organic foods at About Organics.

I'd like to know what all those sellers are thinking. Really! I mean, look at this chart. There we have it, down down and more down. MSFT is now at its 52-week low -- in fact, the stock hasn't been this low since October 4, 2002. I know! Today, the stock closed at $23.17, down 3.5%. It's now trading 15% below its high last week. Ouch. Guess everyone does believe Gartner's report about Vista delays.

Those who are selling right now? In my opinion, it's irrational depression. Why sell at the low? Panic, I suppose, but it seems highly, um, foolish. Tim Beyers, he who is Motley Foolish but not, you know, foolish, agrees. He argues that, even if you buy the idea that Microsoft might be taking second fiddle to Google (the Evil-Empire-come-lately), it's still a good company to own. After all, they are rife with cash-ola and they absolutely, totally dominate the average laptop. Come on now, look around you at the coffee shop. How many laptops don't have Windows-based software?

Unless you're tapping away at my favorite worker-owned coffee collective (where everyone either has an iBook or a built-from-scratch Linux geek-machine), the answer is: few. If I owned Mr. Softee right now, I'd be holding. And if I owned a pile full of cash right now, I'd be buying. There may be more down. But I'd bet at least some of my children's future on the long-term up.

As a longtime user of both eBay and social software, they seem a logical pair to me. eBay is, after all, known for its vibrant community and the fact that people do trust each other with vital details like their home addresses! (Not to mention, their cash.) Alyce Lomax of the Motley Fool, though, is a bit shocked that eBay would pony up its own cash to invest in Meetup, where people (yikes!) decide to meet first online, and second in person.

Perhaps I'm a bit taken aback only because the vast majority of my current friends would only be imaginary if it weren't for social networking online through blogs, craigslist, and (yes, even) eBay. I'm personally offended by Lomax's opinion that a $2 million investment in Meetup might, somehow, connect eBay with the unsavory underbelly of the net.

Not so! eBay and Meetup are a logical match; both have staked their life on the fact that people, deep down, are worth trusting no matter where you met them. And what better place to find people who share your love of Barbie dolls (new in box) or Lensbabies or your stay-at-home mom lifestyle than eBay and Meetup?