There are only seven weeks left in the year, so it is time to start thinking about 2010. If you have been keeping up with my 2009 picks (see: Chasing Value: 2009 blazing picks -- Q3 review ) than you would be aware that the group is up 40% through the third quarter.
This year I bought all of my picks so that I would be riding in the same ship as anyone that might have considered my suggestions.
I will be breaking up my potential picks into three categories; contender, on the fence, and out of the running, until I finalize the list in the last week of the year.
The market continues to befuddle the bears as the third quarter earnings and stock prices continued to move in a positive direction.
During this period Washington has taken charge of the auto industry and helped prop it up with the "cash-for-clunkers" program. They continue to subsidize the real estate market with first-time home buyers incentives, and very low interest rates. The banks are being refueled by the Federal Reserve with interest rates as low as zero, while all the time currency stability has been sacrificed. This has driven gold prices to new highs.
This is the third review of my 2009 stock picks through September 30 (see: Chasing Value: 9 picks for 2009 -- APC, GE, ISRG, WFC and more). This years picks have annihilated index comparisons, so much so that I must attribute some of my good fortune to luck. However, I do believe the original reasoning was sound and the outlier nature of the gains certainly a result of an oversold market living in fear.
In sharing my adventures and opinions in the investment world I try very hard to be candid without crossing the line into being a promoter. That said, I have been buying stock regularly over the last 12 months and buying on fear has paid off handsomely. As the market has catapulted upward since March the opportunities have diminished. However, I did add PSEC in the last month.
Yesterday it was announced very loudly that "my pal Warren" was going to acquire the 77.4% of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) railroad, that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) does not already own, for $100 per share, offering about a $24 premium to Mondays closing price.
Talk about putting your money where your mouth is -- yikes! Buffett has gone all in, betting the economy is healing, and silencing anyone that questioned his integrity or motives for cautious optimism saying it was all talk!
What a week it was and it is starting off with more of the same! The day before Halloween the market gets spooked. The Dow drops 200 one day, rises 200 the next, and falls 250 to close the week. Yes, financial pundits could point to meaningful stories about the dollars rise, consumer spending sagging, the recession ending and so forth to explain market reactions but there is more to it than that.
One of my wonderful friends, Ms. P, asked me for some guidance on how she might allocate $50,000 currently earning peanuts in a money market account. Though she is decades from becoming a grandmother, after a brief discussion about her financial parameters, it became clear to me that she was looking for a "granny fund."
In reality, my recommendations would be suitable, and perhaps desirable, for many passive investors as well.
The $50,000 is a portion of money Ms. P has set aside to purchase a home, which might happen in six months, but could also be pushed out further, depending on the economy and her situation. Basically, she wants to cover all her bases because she might need the money at any time and does not want to be caught short, while at the same time she would like to generate some revenue without taking any big risks.
We keep hearing that consumer spending propels 70% of our economy and that we will not see real growth without an increase in consumer confidence, meaning spend, spend, spend. This is very bad advice! Let other people spend -- you should be saving!
This is a theme I have been hammering on all year and I will continue to do so. I believe this is so important to our personal and national long term health that any true investment discussion, be it on the web, radio, television, newspapers or magazines, is just blowing smoke if it is not a primary focus.
They say you should not look a gift horse in the mouth. Sorry folks, sometimes you do. In the case of the recently catapulting Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE: NCT), which I bought at 60 cents a share, I am.
I have been following this company for a while and have both made and lost money. Although it started out as a penny stock for me it has jumped over 150% in a week and closed today at $3.61 up $0.39 (12.11%) -- for a total gain to date of 502%. So why am I complaining?
Last Friday the market reacted favorably (or less negatively) to the latest report from the Labor Department's unemployment figures of 9.7 percent in August, as employers cut 216,000 jobs last month. The percentage is up but the raw numbers are trending down allowing for a sigh of relief on Wall Street with the major indices all up over 1%.
Many would argue that when it comes to the truth, the government is prone to favor aesthetic figures instead of the straight data. I tend to agree with this view as the numbers appear sculpted to be the least offensive.
If you are not reading the commentary we receive then you are missing some gems. One of our regulars reminded me of something"my pal Warren" said: "... find companies which can be run by idiots because sooner or later an idiot will be running it."
In Buffett's case he can actually call them up and talk to them. In many cases, he could probably get them to resign. For most of us, all we know is basic things like how's the stock price or has the idiot been indicted?
Some of the venom spewed at General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) every time I write about it, is getting kind of old. I understand the criticism of Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO who takes the blame for everything that is wrong with the company and the economy.
I too have felt that he might have done more. In particular, while I argued Monday that most of the companies divisions were well integrated, or at least related, I am not sure that entertainment has to be a part of the mix, and the company is on the record to jettison the appliance division already.
In considering the plight of the GE shareholder, myself included, what exactly is it that investors would like Immelt to do?
The United States Postal Service has been heavily promoting it's flat rate deliveries based on the the size of the box instead of the weight in an attempt to retrieve some of the business that it has lost to Federal Express Corp (NYSE: FDX) and United Parcel Service.(NYSE: UPS) over the years.
The increasing use of the internet has reduced snail-mail traffic, hurting USPS revenue, while the internet has increased the traffic of package delivery services as sites like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) continue to expand their businesses and new enterprises and existing traditional companies expand their web presence.
It was May 11 that I last followed-up on my series of posts, and since then, for about half that period WMB indeed outperformed all four stocks. Since then, however, it has fallen back to second place, behind AAPL.
While I'm chasing value, General Electric (NYSE: GE) is chasing revenue from water projects. It may not amount to much now, but GE is betting it will be huge some day and it has been working towards this goal for many years.
Although GE had estimated 2009 revenue of $2.5 billion from the water business, that is only a meager 1.6% of the $156 billion in worldwide sales generated by its major business divisions that the world's largest maker of jet engines and electricity-producing turbines is expected to generate this year.
There are plenty of nations that allow secretive banking but Switzerland has always been the king-pin of the group and no nation has been a bigger accomplice to decades of criminal activity.
They do this with a sense of pride in a clinical fashion while all the time really having the dirtiest hands in town. The reluctance of the Swiss government and Swiss banks to prevent tyrants, criminals, politicians, aristocrats, and your run-of-the-mill tax evading businessperson from hiding their money is solely for the purpose of financial gain absent any scruples at all.
Yesterday the Internal Revenue Service came to an agreement with the Swiss government to turn over the names of 4,450 U.S. clients with UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) accounts suspected of tax evasion.
There are only seven weeks left in the year, so it is time to start thinking about 2010. If you have been keeping up with my 2009 picks (see: Chasing Value: 2009 blazing picks -- Q3 review ) than you would be aware that the group is up 40% through the third quarter.
The market continues to befuddle the bears as the third quarter earnings and stock prices continued to move in a positive direction. 
When you run across a stock with a 16% yield you at least have to check out the story. 
Yesterday it was announced very loudly that "my pal Warren" was 
What a week it was and it is starting off with more of the same! The day before Halloween the market gets spooked. The Dow drops 200 one day, rises 200 the next, and falls 250 to close the week. Yes, financial pundits could point to meaningful stories about the dollars rise, consumer spending sagging, the recession ending and so forth to explain market reactions but there is more to it than that.
One of my wonderful friends, Ms. P, asked me for some guidance on how she might allocate $50,000 currently earning peanuts in a money market account. Though she is decades from becoming a grandmother, after a brief discussion about her financial parameters, it became clear to me that she was looking for a "granny fund."
We keep hearing that consumer spending propels 70% of our economy and that we will not see real growth without an increase in consumer confidence, meaning spend, spend, spend. This is very bad advice! Let other people spend -- you should be saving!
They say you should not look a gift horse in the mouth. Sorry folks, sometimes you do. In the case of the recently catapulting 
Last Friday the market reacted favorably (or less negatively) to the latest report from the Labor Department's unemployment figures of 9.7 percent in August, as employers cut 216,000 jobs last month. The percentage is up but the raw numbers are trending down allowing for a sigh of relief on Wall Street with the major indices all up over 1%.
If you are not reading the commentary we receive then you are missing some gems. One of our regulars reminded me of something "my pal Warren" said: "... find companies which can be run by idiots because sooner or later an idiot will be running it."
Some of the venom spewed at 
The United States Postal Service has been heavily promoting it's flat rate deliveries based on the the size of the box instead of the weight in an attempt to retrieve some of the business that it has lost to 
In early May, I wrote about why I thought 
While I'm chasing value, 
There are plenty of nations that allow secretive banking but Switzerland has always been the king-pin of the group and no nation has been a bigger accomplice to decades of criminal activity. 
They do this with a sense of pride in a clinical fashion while all the time really having the dirtiest hands in town. The reluctance of the Swiss government and Swiss banks to prevent tyrants, criminals, politicians, aristocrats, and your run-of-the-mill tax evading businessperson from hiding their money is solely for the purpose of financial gain absent any scruples at all.
HP's deal for 3Com: A missile launch at Cisco?
Before the bell: Stocks to open lower despite Wal-Mart's beat
Why is gold making a new high, trading at $1,118.00 per ounce?
