Casino Capitalism

Eliminate Bubble Fear

As this latest market sell off drags on, the worst the market has seen in quite awhile (especially if you are deeply in oil as I am), I find it best to remind myself daily that stock prices are merely abstractions for underlying businesses. So despite the heavy price declines, it is important to reflect on the business which an individual stock represents, rather than focus on prices per se. Since many people only focus on prices and not the business, price movements, including heavy declines and huge rises, become completely exaggerated.

Investing is a Boring Business

We have not posted in a view days, but in the interim we have received several emails asking us for some new picks. Well, we´re sure looking, but we have not find any stocks yet that meet our criteria of low downside risk and high upside appreciation potential. For now we´re just sticking with our  current holdings, which are doing quite nicely. We are of course tracking a couple of potential interesting investment gambles, but they have not gone down enough in price so that downside risk is limited. Which brings us to the topic of this post: Successful Investing is a Boring Business.

Broadband and another Interesting Investment Blog

We´ve come across another interesting investing blog. Check it out at http://rationalinvesting.blogspot.com/. We liked the blog,  particularly since the guy writing it has a long-term, non-trader, outlook and we never thought we would find someone who was more bullish than we were on broadband over the coming years.

When to Sell a Stock?

I´ve received several emails regarding price and sell targets since several of the picks on this site have appreciated significantly (particularly IIP since the company´s recent earnings report just last week). This post summarizes our sell discipline.

Investment Advice from James Tisch

This past Friday I had the opportunity to attend Columbia University's School of Business Annual Value Investors Conference. The speaker that most impressed me, at least at it relates to his off-the-record comments, was James Tisch of Loews Corporation.

Russian - Ukraine Gas Dispute

It´s fascinating to follow the current Russian-Ukraine Gas Dispute. If you still needed convincing to invest in Canadian Oil Companies and US Natural Gas Companies, this latest battle between Russia and the Ukraine should have you throwing in the towel.

Nutrisystem Misunderstood?

Here is one of my favorite analyst quotes of this week, read more for my take:

"Fundamental to our call this morning is our belief that in general terms, NutriSystem is not properly understood by the Street, which includes a wide underestimation of the company's advertising potential in 2006," Block wrote in a research note. "We are raising our numbers to account for our belief that NutriSystem will spend at least $100 million in advertising in fiscal 2006."

Tech Trader

I always keep a lookout for new investment blogs, particularly since there is such a dearth of non-biased stock research out there. One blog I found interesting, particularly, for some interesting insights on  Tech, is http://techtrader.blogspot.com/. Check it out.

Stock Picks Update

To help readers of this site, I have grouped Initial Stock Picks into one category and Stock Updates into another category. You can find the posts in each category by clicking on the appropriate link on the middle right side of the site. For the record, to get my recent recommendations, just read more of this post.

Korean Stock Market Casino?

There was an interesting article in Barrons this past weekend, about the Korean stock market.