Hi Woodchuck, it's always a pleasure exchanging ideas with you. I'm currently in CRNR for only a very short period(I will be out by the end of this week). It appears to have tremendous resistance at 9, so that will be my selling point should it reach that level. More realistically, this can go to around 7 1/2. I'm still concerned by the lack of volume, but as I said, I am partly encouraged by the chart's developments. I have placed a very tight stop on this just in case the breakout fails(there's always a first time). If you plan on speculating with this, I suggest you do the same.
That is from a trading perspective. For a longer term approach, this would be somewhat suitable, but like what we've experienced in Ault, investing in a stock with a long term downtrend can be quite trying at times. I suggest taking a position in a company with a similarly strong set of balance sheets, but has a trend that is moving up rather than down. I would not put any people into this unless I saw some support begin to firm beneath me, which is still something that has yet to form(we are still below the 50 and 150 day moving averages). Look into investing in companies from a trend-following perspective; only in certain cases would I suggest otherwise.
As for mutual funds, I myself like the Robertson Stephens group of funds. I admire their managers, and I often see their names appear in top rated funds by Morningstar. One of the funds I used to invest in from the Putnam group, the Emerging Growth Fund, had its manager move over to Robertson Stephens, raising my view of the company even more. As a brief but effective suggestion, take a look at a Friday edition of the Wall Street Journal, and pick from the groups of funds with "A" ratings for performance.
Two caveats, however: (1) academic research has shown that top performing managers don't continue their winning streak into the future(except for the Peter Lynches and Warren Buffetts) (2) mutual funds underperform broad market indexes while incurring management fees. Acceptance of these academic findings have fueled(along with other factors) the rush into index investing. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, but the consequences can be devastating if a change in sentiment takes place.
Like so many other financial advisors that you hear from, I also recommend partly diversifying into an international fund, and the one I like the best is a global fund called Janus Worldwide, which is managed by a very respected manager by the name of Helen Young Hayes. As John Templeton says, always diversify the countries you invest in. Doing so will reduce the chances that your portfolio will be adversely affected by negative developments in one country(like Thailand), while at the same time allowing you to take advantage of other booming opportunities (like Russia and Hong Kong).
Best of luck,
Rainier Trinidad |
