Sonny,
re: INTC - They will meet their orders and the stock is up 5+? Doesn't make sense to me. I will gratefully take it, though.
re: DELL - One would think that they would jump about as far as INTC, being the only "all-Intel" OEM.
I was looking at the internet back a year or so ago, and I was thinking about what stocks to buy. AMZN, NSCP, AOL, YHOO, all of those tempting IPOs. I got to thinking about their business models and got a headache. I was thinking about how to pick the winners, because there was definitely going to be winners. Couldn't figure it out. One of the things you do traditionally when a sector is "overbought" or overpriced is to buy the suppliers to that sector. So I bought several internet "infrastructure" stocks, thinking that no matter who wins, the internet will still be big and require switches, routers, fiber, etc. etc. etc. But even there I was not able to pick the winners, so I got a bushel basket. This is often a bad idea, and the stocks I got turned out to be a mixed bag. However, the winners have done great and the others managed to do great for a while, so overall it was very good. I got LU, CSCO, QWST and GBLX. I also managed to buy some AOL, one of the reasons being that it was the only internet company that was making money.
CSCO is a great stock, and if the company can continue to deliver and leverage its leadership position then it will continue to be a great stock. So far, it looks pretty solid. LU is a mystery to me. It should be doing a lot better than it is, but it still isn't doing too badly. I don't see any real stumbles but it hasn't got the pizzazz that CSCO seems to have. Maybe it's the overall size of the company that's holding it back.
Notice that the pharmaceuticals are up some? At this rate they will have a respectable appreciation by the end of the year. I am looking for a stable 10-15% from them, with an occasional banner year. Last year was a good year, if I recall correctly. I think that the AHP debacle is mostly behind us and we will be looking at more interest in that sector going forward.
Well, this message was certainly long enough. I guess that being away for a time makes the heart grow fonder and the fingers more eager to type.
-musea |
