Doug,
I definitely see a big difference between SI and other message boards on the web. Thanks for your recommendations on other pay web sites. Might be worth it.
As I am a trial member, I will try to say something witty, insightful, and cool so that I can win one of those free memberships. Actually, I picked up a recommendation on one of the other SI threads to consider WCOM calls, so I bought some Dec55s. Those are now in the money, and I am pretty close to doubling my money in a week. And I plan on letting those run into the Fall, as I expect US final approval of the merger, good earnings next Thus, and valid Internet hype to push this stock's price up quickly. I am playing with the target price of about 70 by around Nov 1. Anyone have any thoughts.
I have been buying stocks in a systematic investment plan this year from the Money 30 list (www.money.com/money30) and, since June, from the Wired 40 list (stocks.wired.com). I feel that this gives me a good mix of large cap blue chips (HD, MSFT, CSCO are three big winners from the Money list, all up over 50% so far this year for me), and fast growth stocks (QWST, DELL, LU, AOL, YHOO are ones I have bought in the last few months from the Wired list, and they are shooting up nicely). Having invested for a few years, I am a bit more settled now, and I realize that I will make bigger gains by buying good stocks and holding them for years. So that is what I am looking at - a 15 year horizon in growth stocks. But I am still a young investor, and I would appreciate any advice about this overall strategy from anyone on this board.
My favorite stocks right now (take note, SI Webmistress!), then are:
WCOM
QWST
CSCO
as Internet plays. WCOM's price has gone up, but not proportionally as much, as other Summer time 'net plays. And the company is under regulatory restriction on the forward looking statements that it can issue while the merger is pending (I'm pretty sure about this; someone else could probably add something here). So, with the final US approval, we should see a combination of more ambitious news, and exploitation of the tremendous opportunities in the Internet. QWST is just a great bandwidth solution right now, and there have been acquisition rumors aplenty. Check out
wired.com
for a good backgrounder on QWST. It has a second, empty, tube right next to the first tube of fiber, so it can DOUBLE, its already huge bandwidth at a minimal cost. Big tube, in a big way. And then there is CSCO, which will expand profits exponentially as long as nodes on the net are expanding exponentially; it dwarfs DELL's web site sales.
Outside of those above, I really like
HD
GE
Home Depot is expanding stores like no tomorrow, and they are raking the dough in. My position in HD is up over 65% for the year, and is my best performing equity, even alongside MSFT and CSCO (but I did get into these later). The thing is: HD isn't slowing down for the foreseeable future either. Moreover, it is probably a more steadily growing equity, which can complement or dampen the volatility in a tech stock portfolio. Moreover, HD is 'merican (hot dogs, baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet...); seriously, it is pretty well insulated from the Asian troubles. General Electric is pushing up through the mid 90s, and it is thus headed for historic split territory if it can get into the low 100s. Jack Welch continues to kick butt, though he is going in a few years. GE Capital is expanding. It is just a huge, solid, well run company. Moreover, it is buying up tons of businesses cheap in Asia, which, if you have a 2-3 year horizon at least, is a very good investment. GE's squared away management approach, local business networks; Asia will turn up.
Anyway, those are my Sunday morning ramblings. Good luck to us all, and GO WCOM! |
