[ Thoughts ]
Scott, I'm very much in lurk mode. I'm just posting comments here and there as I come up with them on various threads. In the meantime, I've been busy picking up job leads at American Express Financial Advisors, Prudential, and Wells Fargo.
I recently had a very enjoyable conversation with a portfolio manager over at Wells Fargo. What was intended to be only a brief conversation over lunch ended up extending to over three hours! I was thrilled to be able to sit and talk with someone who I felt was an intellectual peer. Over here on SI, I can do it all day long, but it was refreshing to be able to do it in "real life"...lol.
I was intending to become a broker or an analyst, but after my conversation with a VP at Ragen MacKenzie (a local firm) who was a broker, as well as some analysts and that recent portfolio manager, I have come to feel that perhaps a combination of the two would be best...which brings me to the portfolio manager direction. I am more interested though in analyzing a company and its fundamentals than in selling a certain stock to a client. I believe that if I know the fundamentals and have deemed them attractive, I have the ability to share that vision with my client and get them to see my viewpoint.
If it had to come to a choice between the two, I would opt to become an Analyst. Believe it or not, with the help of a special friend, I am actually going to write a letter to Warren Buffett to offer my services. It's a long shot, but I'll never know until I try.
Also, I've been watching SBEI, LARS, SOCR, and AXC, the stocks you pointed out previously...and it just seems that the downtrends are not yet shaken out of them. I'm trying to look for those healthy, low Price/Cash Flow and Price/Book Value stocks out there...but it seems that in one way or another, there is a Dark Cloud (not the candlestick variety) on the horizon in the short term for some of the issues. None of them have even approached the level of attractiveness that I found with EQNX. Until I find something that attactive again, I don't believe I'll be posting another recommendation again soon on The Rational Analyst.
I was thinking though that perhaps we can develop some sort of Analyst's Round Table Discussion Group, to discuss stocks based on their business strategy and the research we do on them. Critical to the analysis will be an understanding of various valuation methods (growth, value, etc.), an understanding of how to research a stock (read Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits), its business strategy (Business Strategy and Security Analysis, and some TA to balance it all out.
It's quite a tall order, and I still have plenty of the above mentioned books in line for my reading list. I'm thinking that it will take at least a few months for me to get them all in my head. I would be interested in talking to others about some few select picks we draw up. Of course, the real discussions probably can't take place until months from now, when I and others who are interested will be able to be caught up on the necessary reading. I'm wondering if you would be interested in taking part Scott (or any others who want to take on a more serious stance with regard to the market).
Regards,
Rainier |
