Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Tesla Motor Now a Publicly Traded Company

Tesla Motors (TSLA), the first company to make production electric cars, went public yesterday, with the shares increasing substantially during the day. Shares were offered at $17 per share and closed at 23.89 yesterday. At the time this is being written, the shares are up again today. Goldman, Sachs & Co. (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), J.P. Morgan (JPM) and Deutsche Bank Securities (DB) were the lead underwriters.

Oil Slick on Whales and Dolphins

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Top Monthly Dividend Stocks

There are plenty of benefits of stocks that pay their dividends monthly, whether you are a retiree looking for income or an active investor looking for places to put your profits. According to the report that was just updated by WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are almost 300 different securities that pay monthly, most with very high yields. Technically, these stocks are real estate investment trusts, oil income trusts, closed end bond funds, and closed end income stock funds, which pay dividends every month. The advantages to having monthly dividends versus quarterly or annual dividend stocks are that your invested capital is returned faster, compounding happens quicker, and there is usually less volatility. As an added feature, many of these pay tax free income.

Here is a random selection of the hundreds to chose from:

Baytex Energy (BTE) 6.3%
Blackrock Apex Municipal Fund Inc. (APX) 6.0%
Calamos Convertible & High Income (CHY) 8.5%
Evergreen International Balanced Income (EBI) 6.0%
Hugoton Royalty Trust (HGT) 8.1%
LMP Real Estate Income Fund Inc. (RIT) 8.2%
Permian Basin Royalty Trust (PBT) 8.6%
Reaves Utility Income Fund (UTG) 7.2%
Western Asset High Income Opportunity Fund (HIO) 9.5%

Some things to keep in mind when you are doing your due diligence and analysis on these investments. Be careful of the ones with high management fees, watch out for the ones with limited liquidity and which trade very few shares on a daily basis, and if you invest in the municipal bond closed end funds, make sure you know the consequences of the Alternative Minimum Tax. You also want to find the ones that trade at a discount to Net Asset Value, and avoid the ones using excessive leverage.

To see the latest updated list of over 280 monthly dividend stocks, including several that have yields of 10% or more, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. Remember, the very high yields may not be sustainable.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Largest Money Market Fund on NASDAQ

There is a huge money market fund that is traded on NASDAQ, with $23.155 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short term securities. The company's investments include U.S. Treasury securities (bills and notes), U.S. agency securities, money market funds, non-U.S. government securities, certificates of deposit and time deposits, commercial paper, corporate notes, and municipal notes. In addition, the fund owns about $18.5 billion of long term securities. Of course, being a money market fund, it is debt free and doesn't use leverage.

Unfortunately, the company doesn't pay out any of its interest in the form of dividends, it just reinvests. However, it does have a little business on the side; they make some kind of electronic equipment. I think maybe computers and those cellular phones that can connect to the Internet. I heard that they just came out with another new gadget, some sort of computer that looks like it's been squashed in a grape press. What is most unusual about this money market fund is its name, Apple Inc. (AAPL). Where they came up with that name, I'll never know.

Next time I'll tell you about another huge money market fund that trades on NASDAQ, that has an Internet business on the side, and has an even stranger name.

Author owns AAPL.

By Stockerblog.com

Monday, June 28, 2010

Highest Yielding China Stocks


I personally don't care for Chinese stocks; after all, it is a Communist country. But many investors are willing to take the risk. Features of China include:
* It is one of the BRIC countries
* It is the largest country in the world by population
* It has the second largest GDP by purchasing power parity
* It is the second largest exporter in the world
* It is the third largest importer in the world
* Approximately 91% of the population is literate.

If you are going to invest in China, you might as well get paid for it, so look for stocks that pay dividends. Stocks with yields return your capital faster and can help reduce volatility. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has just updated its list of China stocks that pay dividends. Unfortunately, many of them have very short track records (some as short as one year) and most pay their dividends annually. But you may be able to find a few gems.

Guangshen Railway (GSH) is a large railway in Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China. It pays a yield of 3.2% and pays dividends annually. The company has paid dividends since 1997.

PetroChina Co. Ltd. (PTR) has been paying dividends since the year 2000, and pays semi-annually (twice a year), most recently in May and September. This producer of oil and natural gas has a forward PE of 10 and pays a yield of 2.8%.

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. Ltd. (YZC) has paid dividends since 1999, but only pays annually. The had a 5 for 1 slit last year. This coal mining company has a yield of 1.8%.

Another China company with a long term track record of paying dividends is China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP), which has been paying since 2001. This oil, gas, and chemical company has a forward PE of 8 and yields 2.2%.

For a free Excel database of over a dozen high yielding China stocks, which can be sorted and changed, go to wsnn.com. Four of the stocks yield more than 3.5%. If you've been to the site before, you may need to clear out your cache if the High Yield China Stock database doesn't appear.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Consumers Boycotting Gas Stations Due to Oil Spills

The oil spill in the Gulf has sparked anger from consumers and has triggered a boycott of BP, Amoco, and ARCO gas stations.

Vive La France Stocks


France is doing what it can to help improve its economy, trying its best to cut its huge national debt. After all, the country doesn't want to end up like one of the PIIGS. The Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, increased retirement age by two years, much to the dismay of the unions, and is considering freezing salaries for three years for government employees.

In addition, France will be hosting the G8 Summit next year. G8 is a forum for the governments of eight major countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Russia.

So the question is, are there some investment opportunities with French stocks? WallStreetNewsNetwork.com just published a new downloadable list of the stocks based in France.

France Telecom (FTE) is the largest telecom company in France and the third largest in Europe. The stock has a PE of 12 and a forward PE of 8.5. The PEG ratio is a reasonable 1.18, and the yield is a CD beating 4.7%.

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) is the Paris based pharmaceutical company which has products that include Plavix, Ambien, Allegra, and Nasacort. The PE is 12 with a forward PE of 7.2. The PEG ratio is unfortunately very high at 5.38. The yield is decent 3.6%.

Veolia Environnement S.A. (VE) is a conglomerate involved in four businesses: water and wastewater services, environmental services, energy services, and bus, train, and ferry transportation services. The PE is 16.5 with a forward PE of 13.1. The PEG is 1.22 and the yield is 4.8%.

To see a list of the rest of the French stocks that trade in the US, which you can download, sort, and add to, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the First Week of July 2010


Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, your have to be extremely careful.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable Excel list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 3%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date and the yield.

Campbell Soup Company (CPB) market cap: $12.3B ex div date: 7/1/10 yield: 3.05%

Erie Indemnity Company (ERIE) market cap: $2.4B ex div date: 7/1/10 yield: 4.14%

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) market cap: $59.8B ex div date: 7/1/10 yield: 3.41%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Friday, June 25, 2010

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Fifth Week of June


Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, your have to be extremely careful.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable Excel list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 3%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date and the yield.

Edison International (EIX) market cap: $11.2B ex div date: 6/28/2010 yield: 3.7%

Nicor Inc. (GAS) market cap: $1.9B ex div date: 6/28/2010 yield: 4.4%

Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) market cap: $52.3B ex div date: 6/28/2010 yield: 3.9%

Nucor Corporation (NUE) market cap: $13.1B ex div date: 6/28/2010 yield: 3.4%

Aircastle Limited (AYR) market cap: $765.2M ex div date: 6/28/2010 yield: 4.2%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Top Casino Support Stocks


One way to play the gambling industry is to buy casino stocks. Another way is to buy the casino support companies. These are the businesses that provide slot machines, equipment, supplies, software and services to casinos. By the way, the casino industry prefers to call it 'gaming' instead of 'gambling'. I don't like that word because when I read the words 'gaming industry', I don't know if they are talking about the 'gambling industry' or the 'video gaming industry'.

Several casino support companies are publicly traded. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has just updated their list of all the major casino companies and casino support stocks, along with their financials.

One example is Bally Technologies, Inc. (BYI) has a very reasonable price to earnings ratio of 17.3 and forward PE of 13.8. The company makes and markets gaming devices, and computerized monitoring, accounting, and player-tracking systems. The stock has a reasonable PEG ratio of 1.03..

Another casino supporter is International Game Technology (IGT), which designs, makes and sells electronic gaming equipment and systems. The company was recently the recipient of two awards, the 'Slot Provider of the Year' Award and the 'Employer Above and Beyond Award' for Exemplary Guard and Reserve Support. In addition, the company's CEO was named to the Board of Yahoo (YHOO). The stock has a PE of 39.6 and a forward PE of 15.9, with a PEG of 1.32. In addition, it pays a yield of 1.3%.

For a list of all the top casino and casino support stocks, including some that pay dividends of 1.2% and greater, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author owns YHOO.

By Stockerblog.com

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Mount St. Helens in 360

This link has nothing to do with investments or business but I thought you would find it interesting. It is a picture taken from the summit of Mount St. Helens. Hold down your mouse button on the picture and drag it to the left or the right to see the entire view. You can even drag the mouse up to see the sky or down to see the ground. Pretty incredible.

Top Anti-Terrorism Stocks

It is fortunate that the United States hasn't been affected by any major terrorism incidents in quite some time. This is due to the efforts of the Federal, state, and local governments. It is also due to the companies that are able to find ways to offset and prevent terrorism.

WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has just updated a list of 25 different anti terrorism stocks which develop products and services in various areas of domestic security. Most of these stocks have market caps over $250 million and eight of the stocks pay a dividend.

As an example, American Science and Engineering, Inc. (ASEI) makes and markets X-ray inspection equipment and other detection solutions for the homeland security industry. The stock, which has a forward PE of 16.6, has almost $20 per share in cash. The company recently increased its dividend from a dollar per share per year to $1.20 per share, generating a yield of 1.8%. Earnings for the latest quarter were up an incredible 49.5%.

L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (LLL) is a provider of communications, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. The stock has a very favorable forward PE ratio of 8.6 and is also a dividend increaser, raising the annual payout from $1.50 to $1.60, generating a yield of 2%. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 11.1%.

ManTech International Corporation (MANT) provides national security technologies and solutions, cyber security, secure information sharing, intelligence operations, and secrecy management. The stock has a forward PE of 11.4. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 12.5%.

To see over 25 of the counter terrorism stocks, check out the free Excel database at wsnn.com, which can be downloaded, sorted, and added to.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Earthquake in Ottawa Canada Today

Earthquake in Canada caught live on video. It measured 5.5.

Live Video of the Oil Spill

This video is pretty incredible. It may take several seconds to load.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Top Yielding Canadian Oil Royalty Trusts


The Canadian Oil Royalty Trusts have been popular due to their high income, their monthly distributions, and possible tax sheltering of their dividends. However, these trusts have become scarce, due to takeovers and termination of payouts for some trusts. In addition, some companies have converted to regular operating businesses.

These Canadian Income Trusts, also known as Canadian Oil Income Trusts or Canadian Royalty Trusts generally pay a very high income. The trusts pass through all their earnings and deductions from oil and gas wells to the trust holders, similar to real estate investment trusts. There is no taxation at the corporate level since they are structured as trusts. Also, a portion of the dividends may be non-taxable due to depletion and depreciation deductions.

You should be aware that the Canadian government came out with a plan to tax all Canadian trusts at the corporate level beginning in the year 2011. However, the average yield from some of the Canadian trusts is still higher than the U.S. royalty trusts. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com just updated its free database list of Canadian Oil Royalty Trusts, six of which yield more than 7%. Below are a couple of the Canadian Royalty Trusts that are traded on United States stock exchanges.

Baytex Energy (BTE), based in Calgary, has a P/E ratio of 25.7, and pays a yield of 7.3%. The company was founded in 1993.

Another Calgary company, Enerplus Resources Fund (ERF), has a P/E ratio of 34.5, and pays a yield of 8.7%. The company was founded in 1986.

To get a free Excel database list of all the US-traded Canadian Income Trusts, which you can download and sort, go to WSNN.com.

Author does not own any of the above. Please note: these high yields are subject to change, reduction, and elimination.

By Stockerblog.com

Tesla Motors Going Public


It looks like Tesla Motors may be going public soon. The company's S-1 and prospectus were submitted to the SEC back on January 29 of this year. Listed as underwriters are Goldman, Sachs & Co. (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), J.P. Morgan (JPM), and Deutsche Bank Securities (DB).

The prospectus lists 39 pages of risk factors. No specific date is specified nor is any share price listed.

More Domain Names for Sale

Since many readers have expressed an interest in what is happening in the domain name market, I thought I would let you know about the current auction by GreatDomains. The auction ends tomorrow. There are several business related names:

stockholders.net
businessbroadcasting.com
businesscourseonline.com
industrial.com
petroleum.net
raises.com
cashes.com
microcomputers.com
dreamtravel.com
oilandgas.net
personalincome.net
workandtravel.net
foreclosurefix.com

Beware of Robot for Man-In-The-Middle Chat Attacks

Everyone has heard about online financial predators that try to chat people up, get their personal information, try to get them to click on a malicious link, and then steal their money. Now a group of guys in France has developed an automated tool that will do that for them automatically without human intervention. The tool, called HoneyBot, reportedly has a 76% success rate. The tool crawls through info in social networks in order to get background stuff on the victim before making the instant messaging attack.

This is something we don't need. Why give the bad guys more ideas.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Guest Article: Obama Administration Knew About Deepwater Horizon 35,000 Feet Well Bore

President Obama and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were informed that BP would drill an unprecedented 35,000 feet well bore at the Macondo site off the coast of Louisiana . In September 2009, the Deepwater Horizon successfully sunk a well bore at a depth of 35,055 below sea level at the Tiber Prospect in the Keathley Canyon block 102 in the Gulf of Mexico, southeast of Houston .

During the September drilling operations, the Deepwater Horizon drill penetrated a massive undersea oil deposit but BP's priorities changed when the Macondo site in the Mississippi Canyon off the coast of Louisiana was found to contain some 3-4 billion barrels of oil in an underground cavern estimated to be about the size of Mount Everest . It was as a result of another 35,000 feet well bore sank by the Deepwater Horizon at the Macondo site that the catastrophic explosion occurred on April 20.

According to the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) sources within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Pentagon and Interior and Energy Departments told the Obama Administration that the newly-discovered estimated 3-4 billion barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico would cover America's oil needs for up to eight months if there was a military attack on Iran that resulted in the bottling up of the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic, resulting in a cut-off of oil to the United States from the Persian Gulf.

Obama, Salazar, Chu , and Gates green-lighted the risky Macondo drilling operation from the outset, according to WMR's government sources.

WMR learned that BP was able to have several safety checks waved because of the high-level interest by the White House and Pentagon in tapping the Gulf of Mexico bonanza find in order to plan a military attack on Iran without having to be concerned about an oil and natural gas shortage from the Persian Gulf after an outbreak of hostilities with Iran.

BP still has an ongoing operation to drill down to 40,000 feet below sea level at the Liberty field off the north coast of Alaska .

Source: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Obama-Administration-Knew-About-Deepwater-Horizon-35000-Feet-Well-Bore.html

By. Wayne Madsen for Oilprice.com who offer detailed analysis on Oil, alternative Energy, Commodities, Finance and Geopolitics. They also provide free Geopolitical intelligence to help investors gain a greater understanding of world events and the impact they have on certain regions and sectors. Visit: http://www.oilprice.com

Top Yielding American Stock Exchange Stocks

The American Stock Exchange, also known as the AMEX, was founded in 1842 as the New York Curb Exchange. It got that name since stock traders and brokers used to stand on the curb and trade stocks back in the early 1800's. On October 1, 2008, NYSE Euronext (NYX) took over the American Stock Exchange. The AMEX is now known as NYSE Amex Equities.

Although the AMEX is now a division of the NYSE, over 500 stocks are still traded on the exchange, and according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are over 25 AmEx stocks with yields above 2.5%. Many of these stocks are closed end funds, real estate investment trusts also known as REITs, and oil and natural gas income partnerships. But there are a few gems that are regular corporations.

British American Tobacco (BTI), which produces Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Viceroy, Kool, and Benson & Hedges cigarettes, generates a yield of 6.8%. The stock has forward price to earnings ratio of 12.

National Healthcare Corp. (NHC) operates health care centers, assisted living centers, and retirement centers. The yield is 3.2% and the forward PE is 13.9.

Park National Corp. (PRK), a bank holding company, has paid quarterly dividends since December 1996 and has raised their dividend every year. The stock yields 5.7%. The company which has a market cap of almost $1 billion, has a forward PE of 12.3.

For a free list of high yielding American Stock Exchange stocks, over ten of which yield more than 7%, go to wsnn.com. The list can be downloaded, sorted, changed, and added to.

Author owns NYX.

By Stockerblog.com

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Over 150 Stocks Pay Tax Free Dividends

With higher taxes on the horizon, investors are looking for any way they can to reduce their tax liability. There are many stocks, technically closed end funds or CEFs, which pay dividends that are tax free. This tax exempt income is generated from municipal bonds in the portfolio.

Municipal bonds are issued by states, counties, cities, and other governmental agencies. Income from these bonds is exempt from Federal income taxes, and if the bonds are issued in your state of residence, the income is exempt from state income taxes also. Municipal bonds issued by Puerto Rico and other U. S. dependencies are exempt from state income taxes for residents of most states. There are over 150 different tax free income stocks, according to the list which was recently updated at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, with more than 25 of them yielding 7% or more, and in excess of 100 generating yields greater than 6%.

Issues to watch out for before investing:

Leverage
Beware of extremely high yield municipal bond CEFs which may use high leverage to attain their high yields. The higher the leverage, the higher the risk.

Management Fees
Watch out for are high management fees that can eat in to your earnings.

AMT
More and more citizens are being hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax, and many munis are subject to AMT.

Premium or Discount
CEFs are similar to bond mutual funds, in that they own a large portfolio of bonds. However, unlike mutual funds which are priced at the Net Asset Value at the end of the day, CEFs may trade at a premium or discount to Net Asset Value. Check to see if the closed end fund is selling at a premium or discount to its Net Asset Value (the intrinsic value of the CEF if all the bonds were sold off and the proceeds were distributed pro-rata to all shareholders). Obviously, you want to look for the ones trading at a discount.

Blackrock Apex Municipal Fund Inc. (APX), which yields 6.0%, is an example of a CEF trading at a slight discount, at 3.7% below NAV. It also utilizes almost no leverage at 3.9%, and has a decent below average management fee of 0.67%. It has been paying dividends since 1987.

Nuveen California Dividend Advantage Municipal Fund (NAC) yields 6.6%, which is exempt from Federal and California state income taxes. It is trading at 3.5% discount to NAV. The leverage is 29.43%, which is below the average for all muni CEFs of 35%. Unfortunately, the management fee of 0.94% is higher than the average of 0.71%. The CEF has paid dividends since 1998.

Nuveen New York Performance Plus Municipal Fund (NNP) sports a yield of 6.0%, exempt from Federal and New York State taxes, and trades at a 5.7% discount to NAV. The leverage is 27.82% and the management fee is 0.69%. Dividends have been paid since 1989.

Morgan Stanley Insured Municipal Income Trust (IIM) also pays a 6.0% yield and trades at a 3.0% discount to NAV. Leverage of 35.41% is close to average, and the management fee of 0.53% is below average. The CEF has made payments since 1992.

The Putnam Managed Municipal Income Trust (PMM) pays a fairly high yield of 7.2% and is selling at only 0.4% above NAV. The leverage is a low 26.65%, and the management fee is 0.75%. Dividends have been paid since 1989.

You can download an Excel database spreadsheet list of over 150 tax free stocks at WSNN.com. The database contains extensive information including the company, the symbol, the yield, the net asset value, recent price, premium or discount, the leverage, the management fee, when the CEF was founded, the fund's focus (state or national), percent subject to Alternative Minimum Tax, and other information. Keep in mind that both yields and share prices fluctuate, and there is always the possibility of bonds in the portfolios defaulting.

Author does not own any of the above.


By Stockerblog.com

Saturday, June 19, 2010

What is Warren Buffett Buying and Selling?

Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B), is one of the three richest people in the world and a top trader and investor. The latest SEC report came out on Berkshire and shows his latest moves as of the end of March. What is most significant about this list is not what he is buying (not much) but what he is selling.

Here are the positions he has added to:

Republic Services (RSG)
Iron Mountain (IRM)
Becton Dickinson (BDX)

Here are the positions for which he reduced his holdings:

Proctor & Gamble (PG)
Kraft (KFT)
ConocoPhillips (COP)
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Moody's (MCO)
M&T Bank (MTB)
Costco (COST)
Carmax (KMX)
Gannett (GCI)

Here are the positions he eliminated completely:
Suntrust Banks (STI)
UnitedHealth Group (UNH)
Travelers (TRV)
WellPoint (WLP)

For other interesting stock lists such as this, that you can download, change and sort, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

By Stockerblog.com

Friday, June 18, 2010

Stockerblog Portfolios Outperform Benchmarks by 30%

There is a new website out called LikeAssets.com, which tracks the performance of the portfolios that have been published in blogs and compares them to a benchmark based on the type of portfolio. The investor can look up the various portfolios of different publishers to see how the performance has been for the publishers' portfolio.

According to the site, all of the portfolios of Stockerblog.com have had a gain of 63% since January of 2009, versus the benchmarks gain of 33%. This site also lists the top five portfolios along with their returns. The top one is the Below Book High Yield Stocks portfolio up 179%, and the second highest was Stem Cell Stocks which was up 102%.

Book Review: Wrong

Think you know everything? Think you know a lot? After reading the book, Wrong: Why experts* keep failing us--and how to know when not to trust them *Scientists, finance wizards, doctors, relationship gurus, celebrity CEOs, ... consultants, health officials and more by David Freedman, you will realize that you don't know anything. If you think the experts, including stock analysts, economists, and scientists, know what they are talking about, you will discover that they are wrong, which is where the book gets its name.

Should you stay out of the sun? If you say Yes, you are wrong; if you say No, you are wrong. Does the type of college you choose affect your earning power? No matter what you think, you are wrong. Freedman discusses how the 'Hitchcock effect' can explain how mutual top performing mutual funds become top mutual funds. The same with hedge funds. And the great performance turns out to be a lucky streak.

Probably the most important chapter is the last one, which explains how to aviod being mislead by experts. Get a great reality check by reading Wrong.

Potshots at BP Keep on Coming

The jokes and parodies about BP (BP) continue. Here is a YouTube video called 'Hitler rants about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill'.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Fourth Week of June 2010


Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, your have to be extremely careful.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable Excel list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 3%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date and the yield.

Getty Realty Corp. (GTY) market cap: $577.3M ex div date: 6/22/2010 yield: 8.3%

H.J. Heinz Company (HNZ) market cap: $14.7B ex div date: 6/22/2010 yield: 3.9%

Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (PNY) market cap: $1.9B ex div date: 6/22/2010 yield: 4.2%

Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL) market cap: $9.9B ex div date: 6/22/2010 yield: 4.8%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Chocolate iPad


A blogger, Stefan Magdalinski, decided to give his wife an Apple (AAPL) iPad for her birthday, but decided to disguise it as chocolate, both to surprise her and to smuggle it into South Africa. He had Paul A Young Fine Chocolates freeze the iPad in chocolate carbonite. Needless to say, his wife was surprised.

Photo courtesy of Stefan Magdalinski.

Highest Yielding Water Utilities

Water utilities provide decent yields ranging from 2% to 5%. Water stocks provide good income diversification along with a portfolio of electric utilities and natural gas utilities. There are about a dozen water utility stocks with dividends that were turned up by WallStreetNewsNetwork.com on their water list that was just updated. Here are a few examples.

Artesian Resources Corporation (ARTNA) pays a yield of 4.3% and sports a forward price to earnings ratio of 15.5.

Aqua America, Inc. (WTR) has a dividend yield of 3.4% with a forward PE of 18.4.

Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. (CWCO) provides investors with a yield of 2.4% and has a forward PE of 15.3.

To see a list of the rest of the top yielding water stocks, including four that yield more than 4%, which you can download, add to, change, and sort, check out WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Top Yielding Natural Gas Stocks


Income investors like natural gas stocks for several reasons. First, they pay a decent dividend with over 15 paying more than 4%. Second, they provide diversification from electric utilities. The average price to earnings ratio for all these stocks is less than 15. And in terms of gas stocks, in addition to natural gas companies, investors can also choose propane distributors.

There are plenty of natural gas and propane gas utilities available to invest in. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has just updated their list of about 25 gas utilities with yields ranging from 2% to above 8%, such as Nicor Inc (GAS) yielding 4.5%, Amerigas Partners (APU) yielding 7%, and Sempra Energy (SRE) yielding 3.2%.

You might also consider investing in electric utilities, which also pay fairly high yields, many in excess of 5%.

To see a list of 25 gas utilities in the form of a free downloadable Excel database of natural gas and propane stocks, eight of which yield more than 5%, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

When is a Railroad Not a Railroad? When it is a REIT


When reviewing some of the top yielding REIT's listed at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, I came across an interesting stock, actually an interesting Real Estate Investment Trust. It is a railroad, Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad (PW), a debt free company founded in 1916 that pays a yield of 4.7%. The company owns and leases a 112 mile railroad which runs from eastern Ohio to western Pennsylvania.

Earnings for the quarter ending year end were up 1%. However, quarterly earnings dropped at year end from 13 cents a share to 12 cents a share.

Because the company distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders, it qualifies as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code, thereby avoiding double taxation, once at the corporate level and once at the individual level.

This is a very illiquid stock which is lucky to trade 500 shares a day.

For other high yield REITs, go to WSNN.com.

Author does not own the above stock.

By Stockerblog.com

Monday, June 14, 2010

Book Review: That Thing Rich People Do

If you are a new investor, or maybe you have a son or daughter or friend who knows little or nothing about investing, there is a new book that may solve the problem, That Thing Rich People Do: Required Reading for Investors by Kaye A. Thomas. The book is an introduction to investing, written with lots of humor to keep the reader interested. Thomas has covered everything from stocks to mutual funds to real estate to diversification.

The chapter on bonds makes it easy to understand, whether treasury bonds, corporate bonds, or municipal bonds. He recommends his four rules for investment success, which anyone can follow. That Thing Rich People Do would make a great gift.

Top Yielding Real Estate Investment Trusts

I personally believe that the real estate market has bottomed out, but it may a couple years before prices start to move up. It doesn't necessarily mean that you should go out an buy a rental house, but there are other ways you can invest in real estate.

One of the best ways of speculating on real estate is through the use of Real Estate Investment Trusts, more commonly known as REITs. These investments pass through almost all their income to avoid double taxation, which is what most regular corporations are subject to. The REITs have several advantages over owning real estate directly.

First, REITs are liquid. If you need to get your money out, you can sell it and get your money in two days. Second, you can receive a decent income through dividends. Third, dividends can be received quarterly or even monthly for some REITs, just like rental income checks. Fourth, you don't have to worry about making sure the insurance, property tax, and other expenses are paid. Fifth, you won't get a call at two o'clock in the morning about a leaking toilet. And last but not least, you don't have to deal with evictions.

Although there are hundreds of REITs to choose from, you need to be cautious about which one you choose, especially the debt level. In terms of specialties, you can choose REITs that invest in apartment, commercial, industrial, government building, medical buildings, mortgages, and many other sub-categories.

WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has just come up with a list of 15 of the highest yielding Real Estate Investment Trusts, none of which have debt to capital ratios more than 25%. As a matter of fact, three of them are debt free. Yields range from 3.3% to over 20%, but I would recommend avoiding any REITS yielding above 7% as I don't believe those high yields are sustainable.

One example, is National Health Investors Inc. (NHI) which pays a decent yield of 5.7% and has a debt to capital ratio of only 7.21%. The REIT invests in health care properties, mainly those involved in the long-term care industry. The company has been paid quarterly dividends since 1992, The total dividend payout is $63.64 million on an operating income of $72.96 million. The company showed an earnings growth for the latest quarter of 5.9%.

Another high yield REIT is LTC Properties, Inc. (LTC) which sports a yield of 6.25% and carries a low debt to capital ratio of 7.94%. This is another long-term care real estate investment trust. This is a REIT that pays monthly dividends, and the dividend track record dates back to 1992 also.

Public Storage (PSA) offers a yield of 3.51%, and has a debt to equity ratio of 5.53%. This REIT has a different approach to the REITs described above, as it owns and operates self-storage facilities in the United States and Europe. The company has a long track record, with monthly dividends paid since 1988.

To see the entire list of high yield REITs, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Steaming Hot Geothermal Stocks


One of the alternative energy industries that hasn't received much press coverage is the geothermal group of stocks. Geothermal generation utilizes natural underground heat sources that powers a turbine which turns a generator. The word 'geothermal' comes from the Greek words 'geo', which means 'earth', and 'therme', which means 'heat'.

One big advantage of geothermal over the solar and wind industries, is that geothermal energy doesn't rely much on government subsidies or tax credits. In addition, geothermal plants run 24/7, all day and all night, whether the sun is shining or not and whether the wind is blowing or not.

Ormat Technologies Inc. (ORA) a Nevada based company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, was founded in 1965. It owns and operates geothermal power plants, selling electricity in the United States, Guatemala, Kenya, Nicaragua, and the Philippines. They also provide products and services to other geothermal power generators. The forward P/E is 23, the PEG is 2.15, and the yield is 0.7%.

Calpine Corporation (CPN) was originally founded in 1984. This Houston, Texas based company provides electricity in the United States and Canada through the ownership and operation of its own power generation plants, through geothermal and natural gas. The company went through bankruptcy and came out of it, now traded back on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has a forward PE of 33.5 with a PEG ratio of 4.13.

Nevada Geothermal Power, Inc. (NGLPF.OB) is a company that explores for and develops geothermal projects in the United States to provide electrical power. They own a 100% leasehold interest in the Blue Mountain, Pumpernickel, Black Warrior projects in Nevada and the Crump Geyser Project in southern Oregon.

Raser Technologies (RZ) which is a Utah based company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange, and founded in 2003, is an environmental energy technology company, which develops geothermal power. The company has a portfolio of geothermal interests in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Indonesia which generates seven megawatts of power. The company recently generated negative earnings.

Sierra Geothermal Power Corp (SRAGF.PK) is a developer of renewable power from geothermal sources. They have investments in 15 geothermal projects located in Nevada and California. This is a very low cap stock and should be considered very speculative.

US Geothermal Inc. (HTM) which is a Boise based company, founded in 2002, is involved in the development of geothermal energy power plants in the Raft River area of Idaho, the Neal Hot Springs area located in eastern Oregon, and interests in an operating geothermal power plant and geothermal energy leases in Nevada. Earnings for the latest reported quarter were negative.

Constellation Energy Group (CEG) is an electrical generating company that owns and operates generating plants and fuel processing facilities utilizing various types of fuel including nuclear, coal, natural gas, oil, solar, geothermal, hydro and biomass. The forward P/E is 10.3 and the PEG is 1.1. The company pays a yield of 2.7%. Geothermal is a very small part of the company's business.

IdaCorp, Inc. (IDA) is a holding company which owns Idaho Power Company, which is involved in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric energy primarily in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. Their electrical generation comes from hydroelectric, natural gas, diesel, coal, and geothermal plants. The forward P/E is 11.4 and the PEG is 2.68. The stock yields 3.7%. Geothermal is a very small part of the company's business.

PG&E Corp. (PCG) is a California-based electric and gas utility that serves 5 million customers. Their electrical generation comes from natural gas, nuclear, hydro, coal, geothermal, wind, and several other types of renewable sources. The P/E is 11 and the PEG is 1.76. The stock yields 4.4%. Geothermal is a very small part of the company's business.

For a list of electric utilities, natural gas utilities, or water utilities, go to WallSteetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com.

What's In Your Pocket? How About the Largest Gold Coin in the World


Actually this coin probably wouldn't even fit in the pocket of the Jolly Green Giant, as it weighs 3,528 ounces and is over one and a half feet in diameter. Although the face value of the coin is $1,000,000, if you look at the value of the gold, the coin is worth $4,330,620 at a $1,227.50 price per ounce of gold. However, it is probably worth much more as a collectible.

You still have a chance to put this coin in your investment portfolio as the auction will be held on June 25, 2010 at Dorotheum auction house in Vienna.

Wendy's Stops Giving Out Kid Meals CD Due to Racy Song

The fast food chain, Wendy's (WEN), has immediately stopped giving out a Kids Meal disco CD because one of the songs by Donna Summer has the lyrics 'so horny'. The CD would normally be given out to kids age three and up. Wendy's has replaced the disco CD with three other CDs.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

World Cup Soccer Stock Portfolio


The 2010 FIFA World Cup, the top international association soccer (called football outside the US) tournament started yesterday. It is being held in South Africa, and will continue until July 11, 2010. The World Cup is an extremely popular event, and the last game is expected to be the most watched sports game ever. With lots of viewers, there will be lots of money involved.

Several publicly traded companies are either official partners or sponsors, and could be used to build a World Cup Soccer portfolio.

One of the partners is Adidas (ADDYY.PK), the athletic shoe manufacturer, sportswear, and other sports equipment. The stock has a market cap of $10.9 billion.

Coca Cola (KO) is another partner. The stock has a PE of 17 and a yield of 3.4%.

Hyundai Motor (HYMTF.PK), the automobile manufacturer is also on the partner list.

Sony (SNE), the electronic equipment manufacturer, has a forward PE ratio of 12 and a PEG of 1.92.

The credit card company Visa (V) has a PE of 23.5 and pays a yield of 0.7%.

Budweiser, which is made by Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) is one of the official sponsors. The stock has a PE of 17.7 and a yield of 0.8%.

McDonalds (MCD) is another sponsor. It has a PE of 16.4 and a yield of 3.3%.

The sponsor Yingli Solar, is a brand of Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (YGE). The stock has a PE of 11.5 and a PEG of 0.65.

Mahindra Satyam (SAY) is a sponsor that was formerly known as Satyam Computer Services Ltd. The stock has a market cap of $3.4 billion.

MTN Group Ltd. (MTNOY.PK), a South Africa-based telecommunications company, is a sponsor with a market cap of $25.5 billion.

If you like interesting portfolios, you should check out the free stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which can be downloaded, sorted, and added to.

Author owns MCD.

By Stockerblog.com

Warren Buffett Lunch Auction Hammered at $2.6 Billion

Last week, an auction for a lunch with Warren Buffett (and seven other people of your choice) began with a starting bid on $25,000. The auction finally ended yesterday with a final bid of over $2.6 million. Proceeds will go to the San Francisco Glide Foundation.

Friday, June 11, 2010

$1000 for a Bottle of Oil Spill Disaster Oil

A website called HorizontalRelief.org, is raising money to help out the fishing community in the Gulf of Mexico since they have so adversely affected by the BP (BP) oil spill disaster. They are selling a limited edition of 1000 Bottles of Hope, each containing oil from the spill, for $1,000 per bottle. If you can't afford it, then maybe you can purchase a Vial of Opportunity for $25 which contains a quarter ounce of oil and marsh water that was actually recovered from the Gulf of Mexico.

BP Spills Coffee

Check out this funny video on what would happen if BP (BP) spilled coffee. Thanks to James Altucher's Daily Blogwatch for finding this.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Third Week of June


Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, your have to be extremely careful.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable Excel list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 3%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date and the yield.

Brinker International, Inc. (EAT) market cap: $1.7B ex div date: 6/15/2010 yield: 3.2%

Federal Signal Corporation (FSS) market cap: $310.1M ex div date: 6/15/2010 yield: 3.8%

UIL Holdings Corporation (UIL) market cap: $719.9M ex div date: 6/15/2010 yield: 6.5%

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPW) market cap: $1.0B ex div date: 6/15/2010 yield: 8.8%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

BP Buying Search Engine Words Relating to Oil Spill

BP (BP) is spending millions of dollars with Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO), and Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing to purchase search engine phrases such as ‘oil disaster’ and 'oil spill', according to a report. Estimated cost to BP would be about $10,000 to promote BP sponsored stories.

BP Looking at Dividend Cut

BP (BP) reported that it may reduce or eliminate its second-quarter dividend, due to political flack relating to the oil spill. They are even considering issuing all or part of the dividend in scrip. Now that hasn't been done by a company in a long time.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

British Leader Calls Obama 'crude, bigoted, xenophobic'

The British leaders are furious about what Americans in general and President Obama in particular are saying about BP (BP). Mayor of London Boris Johnson said that Obama is 'anti-British' and Lord Tebbit said 'The whole might of American wealth and technology is displayed as utterly unable to deal with the disastrous spill - so what more natural than a crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan political Presidential petulance against a multinational company.'

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Why I Won't Review Your Book

Every week, I get three or four emails from authors, publicists, and publishers, asking if I would like to review their book on my blog. On some days, I get as many as two or three requests. Back in 2006, when I first started the blog, and received a review request, I thought "Great, I get a free book." Now, I'm just overwhelmed and I turn down a huge percentage of the requests.

I have books stacked up all over the place. On my nightstand, I have two piles of books, each stacked up over a foot high. I have books on the floor next to my bed, the coffee table in the family room has three piles of books stacked up, and all the bookshelves are two rows of books deep with books stacked on top of the rows.

So besides lack of space, there are a lot of reasons why I might not review your book.

1. The book has nothing to do with business or investments

I've been asked to review all kinds of books, everything from cookbooks to children's books. They may be great books but not a fit for the stockerblog.com blog.

2. The book is outside my area of expertise

Occasionally, I get a request to review an investment book that I have little knowledge of, for example commodities trading, which I feel I couldn't give a fair evaluation due to my lack of familiarity.

3. The book is a blatant sales pitch

Many authors have a business or website that they are involved in, and they mention it in the book. I see no problem with this as I mention my web sites in my books. However, when a book puts at the end of each and every chapter, "Please call us at our 800 number to set up an appointment to discuss your financial situation," then that is going way overboard. I actually received a book that did just that. It's too bad because the content of the book was pretty good.

4. The book is just too basic

I sometimes receive a book about finances and investing that is really simplistic. In other words, they include such recommendations as "Pay off your credit cards at the end of each month," "Set aside some of your paycheck into an investing program," etc., etc. There is nothing wrong with this information, but the market for this type of advice is not the same audience that reads my blog.

5. The book is not my cup of tea

Every once in a while, I will read a book that I just don't like. The book may not necessarily be bad, it's just not for me, and it could be for one of many reasons. Others may really enjoy it. I just don't want to write a bad review. As an author of a few books, I know the incredible time and energy that goes into writing a book. So instead of criticizing the book, I just won't write anything, since I don't want to deter another reader who may find the book to be just what they are looking for.

6. The book's trading technique is too simplistic and not backed up with long term research
I received a stock trading book a few years ago, a few months after the market crash. The book must have been published right around the time the market was starting to drop. The technique could be boiled down to one sentence. Buy a good stock and sell it as soon as you have a slight profit. The rest of the book was filled with extraneous information about the stock market in general, which although somewhat interesting, did not relate to the trading technique. That wasn't a major issue as many other books do that.
However, although a claim was made that the technique could be used in any market, the author used the results of a personal portfolio going back just two and a half years and ending just before the market crash. Looking at the current 'holds' in the portfolio at the end of the 'study' and comparing them to current stock prices at the time I finally read the book, it looked like the author would be holding most of those stocks for a long, long time. At least one of the stocks went out of business, wiping out most of the trading profits that the author had made for the last couple of years. Even today, most of the stocks in the author's portfolio still would not have reached a point of a 'slight profit' to be able to sell.
I think that if an author claims that a trading technique can be used in any type of stock market, the research must be done over periods that include bear markets, and definitely longer than two and a half years ending at a market top.
7. I just don't have the time
At my last count, I have somewhere between 49 and 52 books that I agreed to review, that I still need to get around to. Who knows when I will get through the pile. In addition, I read a lot of fiction; I've recently been reading one novel and listening to a second novel on CD in my car. So if I respond that I just don't have the time to review it at this time, I mean it.

Anyway, I've written many book reviews during the last few months, and hopefully you will find one of them interesting. And if you've written a book, maybe it will meet all my criteria and hopefully I will have time to read it.

With the Market Tanking, Why are These Three Stocks Up?

Since the beginning of the year, the S&P 500 dropped 6.8%. Just the last couple months, and even the last several day, the stock market has been performing miserably. But amazingly, there are over 60 stocks that have outperformed the S&P 500 by over 50%. How do these companies do it?

Three of those stocks have either no debt or very low debt, have price to earnings ratios below 15, and have market caps over $1 billion. SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) has performed admirably, up 40.7% year to date. The manufacturer of NAND-based flash storage memory card products has a PE ratio of 11.7, and a price earnings growth ratio of a very favorable 0.69. (Remember, below 1 means that the stock is underpriced, over 2 means the stock is over-priced.) Revenues for the latest reported quarter were up about 65%. Although the stock was down 28 cents today, it jumped 1.81 in the aftermarket.

Impax Laboratories Inc. (IPXL), a pharmaceutical company that produces bio-equivalent and brand-name drugs, is up 40.7% for the year. The stock sports a great PE ratio of 6.85, and a very nice PEG ratio of 0.78. The company has no debt. Revenue growth for the latest quarter was up an amazing 448.8% and earnings grew year-over-year, by an outrageous 5,825.4%.

The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (PLCE) is up 40.3% since the beginning of January. This debt-free children's specialty apparel retailer carries a PE of 14.7 and a reasonable PEG of 1.19. The company just reported earnings a few days ago; earnings up 18.7% on a 5% revenue increase.

If you are looking for other stocks that might perform as well as these, you should check out High Cash, No Debt, High Yield Stocks, and No Debt High Yield Stocks.

By Stockerblog.com

Book Ideas for Fathers Day Gifts

If your father likes to read and likes to invest, here are some popular books you might want to consider giving to him as a gift. Fathers Day is June 20.

Liar's Poker

The Great Reflation: How Investors Can Profit From the New World of Money

The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It

Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even

Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit From the Economic Collapse

The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History

No One Would Listen

The End of Wall Street

The Forever Portfolio: How to Pick Stocks That You Can Hold for the Long Run

And finally, if your father is near or at retirement:
Retirementology: Rethinking the American Dream in a New Economy

If you are still not sure what book your father would like, you can always get him an Amazon (AMZN) gift card.

Toss Your Cookies on your iPhone

With all the millions of new iPhone purchasers out there, I thought it would be useful for them to know how to toss your cookies on your Apple (AAPL) iPhone; in other words, empty your Safari cookies and cache. If you use Safari a lot on your iPhone, maybe it is time to clear out your history, cache, and cookies.

Here is how you do it:
1. Click on the Settings icon.
2. Scroll down and click on Safari.
3. At the bottom of the Safari page, you will see Clear History, Clear Cookies, and Clear Cache.
4. Click on each one of these. It will asked 'Are you sure?', then click Clear.

Here are more Top 18 Apple iPhone Tips.

And here are more iPhone Tips, especially for stock traders.

By Stockerblog.com

Woman Claimed She Was Fired from Citibank for Being Too Sexy

Debrahlee Lorenzana, who had worked at Citibank (C), claimed that she was a distraction for her bosses, and claimed she was terminated for being too sexy, even after dressing more conservatively.

Top Search Engine Stocks

comScore (SCOR), the organization that provides information relating to online marketing data, recently came out with its ranking of United States search engines. comScore happens to be a publicly traded company, traded on the NASDAQ, and has a price to earnings ratio of 128.

Google (GOOG), the largest search engine in the world, is still at the top of the list with over 64.4% of the share of total searches. This is a slight drop from the previous month. The stock has a P/E of 22.

In second place is Yahoo (YHOO), which has about 17.7% of the share of searches, an increase of 0.8% over the previous month. The stock has a P/E ratio of 26.5.

Although it's a very small portion of their business, Microsoft (MSFT) does have their own search engine through Bing and MSN.com, and has 11.8% share of the search engine market. Microsoft also owns msdewey.com. Microsoft has a P/E of 13, and pays a yield of 2%.

Ask.com, in fourth place, is owned by the Oakland, California based IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI). Ask has 3.7% of the share of searches. IAC has recently generated negative earnings.

AOL (AOL), which used to have a big share, but in terms of search engine searches, now has less than 2.5% of the market. AOL has a P/E of 10.

The Internet search engine Baidu.com, Inc. (BIDU), is the leading search engine in China. The company, which was founded in 2000, has a P/E of 94.

InfoSpace Inc. (INSP) has several search engines including Dogpile.com, InfoSpace.com, Webcrawler.com, and MetaCrawler.com. The stock has a P/E of 20.

Amazon.com (AMZN) owns the e-commerce search engine A9.com, which utilizes Live Search. Amazon has a P/E of 52.

If you like interesting lists of stock in unusual and different industries, check out the lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author owns AOL, AMZN, and MSFT.

By Stockerblog.com

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

The Crime Rate is Down: Check Out Anti Crime Stocks


The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently came out with the nationwide crime statistics, and the results are quite surprising. The overall crime rate is down for 2009, way down. Violent crime is down 5.5%, murder is down 7.2%, robbery down 8.1%, property crime down 4.9%, larceny theft down 4.2%, and motor vehicle theft down 17.2%. As a matter of fact, the crime rate has been dropping in all these areas since 2006. This is in spite of the fact that we have had a bad economy, a huge influx of illegal immigrants, high unemployment, a large number of job losses, a substantial number of foreclosures, numerous individual and corporate bankruptcies, and loss of wealth overall.

Why is this happening? Maybe everyone in law enforcement and crime fighting are doing their jobs better and more efficiently. Perhaps colleges and the best online criminal justice schools are preparing students better for law enforcement jobs and they are better able to keep the peace. Maybe the businesses involved in stopping crime are improving and putting a stop to felonies and misdemeanors. Maybe the bad economy has caused people to become more moral.

If the companies involved in helping law enforcement are a part of this, then maybe there is an investment opportunity in crime fighting stocks. Here are some companies that battle crime in various ways.

TASER International Inc. (TASR), which trades on NASDAQ, manufactures product lines for law enforcement and the prison corrections market, which includes the ADVANCED TASER M26 and the TASER X26. The stock recently generated zero earnings, and has a PEG ratio of 2.06.

iRobot Corp. (IRBT), another NASDAQ stock, makes robotic products for the law enforcement and the homeland security markets. The make a product called the PackBot EOD, which is a strong lightweight robot to conduct explosive disposal, hazardous materials, and search-and-surveillance for bomb squads and SWAT teams. The stock has a P/E of 47 and PEG of 2.46.

Brinks Co. (BCO) is in the business of transportation and cash logistics services, and also provides electronic security systems for single-family residences, commercial properties and multifamily housing. The stock has a P/E of 5.8, a PEG of 1.31, and pays a yield of 1.9%.

The largest private prison system by both market cap and revenues is Corrections Corp. of America (CXW), which is a Nashville, Tennessee based company with over 40 facilities. It has a P/E of 14.5 and a PEG of 1.38. The stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange.

The second largest prison company is Geo Group Inc. (GEO), based in Boca Raton, Florida. They have facilities in the United States, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and UK. It has a P/E of 14.5 and PEG is .98. The stock trades on the NYSE.

Cornell Companies Inc. (CRN) is a Houston, Texas prison company, which in addition to providing detention services, also provides educational services to detainees. It has a P/E of 16.5 and a PEG of 2.09. It trades on the NYSE.

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (SWHC) provides firearms to the law enforcement and security industry. The company also has the Universal Safety Response division, Inc., a full-service perimeter security provider. The stock has a PE of 6.5 and a PEG of 0.71.

Another firearm company is Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. (RGR). The stock has a PE of 9.6 and pays a yield of 2.5%.

If you like lists of stocks in interesting industries, check out the numerous lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author owns RGR.

By Stockerblog.com

Warren Buffett Related Fathers Day Gifts

Fathers Day will be here before you know it. Have you bought a gift for your father yet? If your dad is a fan of Warren Buffett, then here are a few gift ideas related to him:

1. A share of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) for only $107,500. If that is a bit too rich for your wallet, then how about a B share of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) for around $72 bucks.

2. A great DVD that he might enjoy watching is Warren Buffett: Woodstock for Capitalists.

3. We can't leave out books, especially the ones written by the investing master himself, such as The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition.

4. An interesting book about Buffett's life is The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life.

5. Finally, for the dad that wants to learn how to invest and trade like Warren, there is the book Trade Like Warren Buffett.

Although you might not be able to make your father a billionaire with your gift, you can always make him a trillionaire.

To all you fathers out there, Happy Fathers Day!