Warren Buffett's Recent Stock Purchases

Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B) and one of the top four richest people in the world, is considered one of the top investors of all time. In January of 1990, Berkshire Hathaway was trading for 7455 a share. It is now, 152,750, an average annual return of almost 14%.

One technique that investors use is following in the footsteps of Buffett; in other words, check to see what companies Warren Buffett is acquiring and buying the same stocks. Let's look at Buffett's latest acquisitions.

Last quarter, Berkshire Hathaway bought Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the farm products company that markets protein meal, vegetable oil, corn sweeteners, flour, biodiesel, ethanol, and other food items. The stock trades at 15 times earnings and pays a decent yield of 2.4%. Quarterly dividends were increased last month by 8.6%. Earnings for the latest quarter skyrocketed 537.5% year-over-year, on a 6.9% rise in revenues.

Verisign (VRSN), the Internet infrastructure company, is another recent Buffett purchase. The stock trades at 24 times earnings. Earnings were up 96.3% for the latest quarter, n a 13% increase in sales. The company does not pay a dividend.

Buffett also owns Kraft Foods Group (KRFT), which owns such brands as Kraft, Maxwell House, Oscar Mayer, Planters, and JELL-O. The stock has a price to earnings ratio of 18 and yields 4.1%. Earnings were down 77.8% for the latest quarter, on a 10.7% drop in revenues.

If you want a free list of Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway stocks, most of which pay dividends, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which shows the stock ticker symbols, price to earnings ratios, and yields.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Top Vietnam Stocks

Emerging markets, especially those in south Asia and southeast Asia, are now the hot item on Wall Street. Did you see the article on Thailand stocks last week, up over 30% in three months? Many investors think that Viet Nam may be the next China. The economy has grown significantly in Viet Nam over the last few years.

For example, the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange have a partnership which involves sharing of investment and technology information. Nike (NKE) has been manufacturing in Vietnam for over 12 years. Intel (INTC) also has operations in Vietnam.

So how do you buy Vietnam stocks? You would need to have access to the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, if you are interested in buying individual Vietnam stocks directly, such as:
Tienphong Plastic Joint Stock Company (HST:NTP) plastic pipe manufacturer
Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment (HCM:CII) infrastructure development
Phuong Nam Culture Joint Stock Corp. (HCM:PNC) media company
Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Co (HCM:TAC) food products
Do Thanh Technology Corp. (HCM:DTT) plastic products

However, there are a couple other ways of investing in Vietnam stocks. The Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VTOPF.PK) (VOF.L) is one of the largest Vietnam closed end funds, and it trades on the London Stock Exchange and occasionally on the Pink Sheets in the United States. The fund is up about 4.9% over the last three months.

Vietnam Holding Ltd. (VNMHF.PK) (VNH.L) is another closed end investment fund managed by Vietnam Holding Asset Management Ltd., with offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It also trades on both the Pink and the London Stock Exchange. They invest primarily in privatized State Owned Enterprises. The fund is up 14.3% over the last three months.

There is also a bank in the United States that specializes in providing banking services to the Vietnamese business community in Southern California, called Saigon National Bank (SAGN.OB). Latest reported earnings were negative.

Dot VN, Inc. (DTVI.OB), the domain registrar for the Vietnam [.VN] country domain, is a San Diego company, which also has offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and has a deal with the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center to register and sell the Vietnam country code Top Level Domain, and works with numerous domain resellers, such as VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) and Melbourne IT Ltd. (MLBEF.PK). The company has been in business since 2001. Latest reported earnings were negative.

An easier way to invest would be through the Market Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM) which invests in various Vietnamese companies. During the last three months, the fund was down.

To see articles on other stocks from countries around the world, check out WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above. Many of the Vietnamese stocks described above are very low cap and should be considered very speculative.

By Stockerblog.com

The 7 Worst Stocks

There are several stocks in the S&P 500 that may be worth avoiding due to the fact that they are generating negative earnings, have negative operating cash flow, and a high debt to capital ratio.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ( AMD) Negative earnings of $5.10 per share. Negative operating cash flow. Debt to Capital Ratio: 98%

SLM Corporation ( SLM) Negative earnings of $0.69 per share. Operating cash flow of negative $5.7 billion. Debt to Capital Ratio: 97%

MBIA Inc. ( MBI) Negative earnings of $12.29 per share. Negative operating cash flow. Debt to Capital Ratio: 94%

Verisign, Inc. ( VRSN) Negative earnings of $1.87 per share. Negative profit margin. Debt to Capital Ratio: 93%

Frontier Communications Corp ( FTR) $4.7 billion in debt, only $173 million in cash. Quarterly earnings drop of 41.9%.
Debt to Capital Ratio: 90%

CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. ( CBG) Negative earnings of $4.81 per share. Negative operating cash flow. Debt to Capital Ratio: 89%

CIT Group Inc. ( CIT) Negative earnings of $11.06 per share. Negative profit margin of 169%. Debt to Capital Ratio: 89%

If you want to see some stocks at the other end of the spectrum, check out the downloadable Excel databases of Below Book High Yield Stocks, Debt Free Stocks Selling At Or Near Cash, and No Debt Low Price To Cash Flow Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

By Stockerblog.com