InvestorGeeks

Identifying a Special Situation

Posted on Tuesday, Jul. 25, 2006 by Peter

Amidst the turmoil and uncertainty that attends the markets these days, I often find it relaxing to sequester myself for a while and do some analysis. Part of my job as an analyst is to discover things that others may have missed. These may be opportunities to identify “Special Situations.” Some very successful opportunities of mine in the recent past have been companies such as Nucor, Landstar System, C.R. Bard, Laboratory Corp., PACCAR, Asta Funding and Student Loan Corp (STU). I have had some excellent runs with these companies because I was able to isolate their uniqueness early – before Wall Street discovered them.

Invasions from the China Sea

Posted on Monday, Jul. 24, 2006 by Kevin

I got an email from a reader at my other site asking about Geely Automotive Holdings Ltd. The author had already purchased over 19000 shares which might seem like a lot until you realize this is very much a penny stock. Still, the outlay for a young college student is significant and it probably brings up a topic for a good future article “Where the small investor should put his money?” We are not talking about that today because we need to answer the questions on Geely first.

Variable Annuities: Friend or Foe?

Posted on Friday, Jul. 21, 2006 by Thomas

Arguably, no investing product receives more bad press than variable annuities. Many individuals have horror stories to share about unscrupulous brokers who pushed them into complex annuity plans without adequately explaining fee structures and provisions. Some individuals may have thought they were getting an IRA and instead ended up in an annuity. In this article, I will explain the facts related variable annuities and give you some information to help you decide if variable annuities are right for you.

Retirement Planning: Do you still rely on your Pension plan?

Posted on Thursday, Jul. 20, 2006 by Frank

Pension plans have long been offered as part of employee benefit packages. Long thought to be an integral part of any retirement plan. But in todays environment, with large corporate bankruptcies and massively underfunded pension programs, do you still rely on your Pension plan?

8 Rules to Successful Partnerships

Posted on Wednesday, Jul. 19, 2006 by Chris

There is a chronic personality flaw that I see in so many entrepreneurs, that unnecessarily impedes their true success — resistance to having partners. I’ve had partners in the past, and I know the difficulties that can be faced by having a partner that is not picking up their fair share. But the secret to success in business is not to exclude people! Having partners is essential when you want to elevate your wealth.

Cendant: Breaking up is hard to do

Posted on Tuesday, Jul. 18, 2006 by Dan

In his book You Can Be a Stock Market Genius (review at ThinkingAboutMoney.com), Joel Greenblatt discusses the investment opportunities that come from investing in special situations – such as corporate breakups and mergers.

Over the next few weeks, Cendant is breaking itself up into four companies. You may not have heard of Cendant, but you’ve certainly heard about the companies it owns.

Basics of Precious and Base Metals Investing

Posted on Monday, Jul. 17, 2006 by Nathan

There are two types of metals for investment: precious metals as opposed to base metals. Precious metals include gold, silver, platinum, and some other less known materials such as ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, and iridium. Base and/or industrial metals include copper, nickel, aluminum, zinc, lead, and iron/steel. The reasons for investing in precious metals and base metals can be very different. But their prices are correlated nevertheless because of inflation.

Here are some ways to invest in metals:

Time to Panic?

Posted on Saturday, Jul. 15, 2006 by Kevin

Today, and the past few days have been hectic for the market. The price of oil keeps rising and I need to sell my gas-guzzling van. So do we panic yet and where is the market going? Over at HipEgg we did a review of the Dow. I don’t know if a TA is the (more…)

Stepping it up with CDs

Posted on Friday, Jul. 14, 2006 by Kevin

Certificates of Deposit are not for everyone but if you live long enough you will probably be considering them at some point. If you are going to invest with what banks currently call CDs then you should be smart about it. Using a technique called "laddering" or "stepping" you can improve your liquidity and maximize your returns over the long run by protecting yourself from downturns in market interest rates.

Finding The ‘Boring’ In Attractive Stocks

Posted on Thursday, Jul. 13, 2006 by Vince

The market has come a long way since its last major crash — an event that transferred much wealth from the ignorant to the informed. It almost feels like deja vu when you see VCs lining up again to fund startups, or companies commanding unreasonable stock price multiples based on little more than hope for the future. Don’t you wonder what we’re not knowing this time around? I don’t wish to convince everyone to be value investors, but what if there’s a way to play a popular trend, but also err on the safer side of risk to avoid the extreme volatilities?