government_death_robot
DARTH MENSES  Posts: 889 Registered: 4/23/2004 Offline
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6/28/2006 at 05:50 |
My friend and I are thinking about investing in some stocks. I understand the basic concept of the whole thing, and I assume that's good enough.
Do yuo guise know any companies that would be good to invest in?
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JohnLenin
DARTH MENSES  Posts: 991 Registered: 7/8/2005 Offline
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6/28/2006 at 06:23 |
Look for a company that is about to release a more-than-likely successful product. It doesn't have to be big either. I made a few bucks in video game companies(developers and publishers) a few years ago. Sniff around, look at trends, and research who you're putting your monies into. Good luck.
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vasudeva
Bad Taste in your Mouth   SSHOLEPosts: 4361 Registered: 3/8/2002 Online
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6/28/2006 at 11:57 |
I've been playing with this a fair bit lately. I can tell you a few things that I think I've figured out, though this is mostly untested with regard to personal dollars and time.
0) People who have hot stock tips for you generally really don't. (You could still get lucky though, especially if that person happens to really know what they're doing. This is probably very rare.)
1) You probably won't get lucky enough to avoid having to do your homework in an interesting-looking company if you want to be smart. This is called fundamental analysis: looking at the fundamentals of a company. What is management like? Do they buy their own stock? (A good sign.) How fast are they growing? What are earnings like per share? (That last is part of how you actually value a stock. If Coke is $50 a share, and Pepsi is $55, but Pepsi has better earnings per share, Pepsi is actually literally cheaper. The full formula is only slightly more complicated than this, and very worth knowing, as it lets you compare stocks on a one-to-one basis.)
2) Just using charts is called technical analysis, and seems to be voodoo.
3) It seems like the smart guys use both kinds to arrive at conclusions, and still fuck up from time to time.
4) It doesn't matter what you think about a company or product. It doesn't matter what I think about a company or product. What matters, from what I've been able to gather, is what John Q Public thinks everyone else thinks. Hence, irrationality of the markets through investor sentiment.
5) Watch institutional investors. Here's one tool to let you do that. These are large organizations that invest in much larger chunks than you or I can, and have people on the payroll whose sole purpose is to use expensive educations and contacts to make financial decisions for large organizations, so their movements are very worth watching. Depending on which philosophy you follow, you may want to use their movements to dictate your own, or you may want to find stocks that don't have much institutional investment, because by the time those guys get heavily into a stock, it's so well-known that your chance for a big increase in value is usually decreased, since demand will increase the share price.
6) Start reading. Here's one dude I've been following off and on, and occasionally I can make sense of what he's saying. The important bit is -- read. I have only recently come to appreciate blogs, because they're a really good source of personal thinking with public commentary attached, and good financial blogs tend to link to other good financial blogs.
I've just rolled over a 401k from an older job and stuck it into an IRA, so I've got some trades to make sometime soon.
This is boiling down the more significant points of my readings on investing and finance over the last couple months. Hereby welcoming any and all expansions on, tangents to, and corrections of the above.
GDR, I know you probably just wanted some stock tips. Sorry lil chap. I think if you just want to do some short-term trading to make dollars, you'll be far more likely to make a good call if you RTFM first. Let me know what you find. I also am Reading The Fuking Manual. (I think anybody with a shred of sense is, and never stops.)
I've been wanting to open up a thread on this for a while, so let me know if this is something you guys are interested in. We've got some smart dickheads around here; maybe we can harness the power of each others' brains to become fabulously wealthy.
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mundhra: And its crocobody is made of dile. |
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HOBO
* b0bo has quit IRC ('Exit')  SSHOLEPosts: 1107 Registered: 3/19/2002 Offline
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6/28/2006 at 13:31 |
one bit of advice: Diversify your portfolio.
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" I have never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question." ~Spock~
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Clavis_Apocalypticae
Beautiful Puppet of Chaos  SSHOLEPosts: 726 Registered: 5/16/2004 Offline
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6/28/2006 at 14:04 |
Don't ask me; the last stock tip I gave in IRC was to sell Google at $212.
On the flipside, when Worldcom was in the toilet to the tune of $.06/share, I bought $1000 worth and dumped it when it hiccuped back to $1.17.
Vas and Hobo have provided you with excellent counsel. Read extensively on the subject, and use the plethora of online tools at your disposal (Yahoo Finance, Hoover's Online, etc.)
Despite the happy ending of my little Worldcom story, stay the fuk away from "penny stocks". They are evil, and have more than once nearly ruined me.
I hope you make a million.
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mundhra
dread pirate neckbeard  SSHOLEPosts: 1600 Registered: 3/25/2002 Offline
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6/28/2006 at 14:46 |
take this all with a grain of salt, because i haven't actually done any non-401k, non-fund investing yet.
don't invest anything that you can't afford to lose. when it really comes down to it, you're essentially just gambling.
research until you're sick of it and then research some more.
short-term investing is infinitely more risky than long-term investing.
no regrets. make a decision and stick to it. set realistic goals for what you'd like from something and don't waver:
if you buy at $10 and sell at $13 and it keeps going up, don't expect to buy at $15 and sell for $17. you'll more likely buy for $15 and sell for $11.
don't be afraid, either. if you've done research and want to buy at $10 and sell at $14, don't panic and sell if it drops to $8. your prior research is still most likely correct and sound. unless the company is doing super shitty, it will bounce back. in time.
consider funds.
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But the whole of modern so-called civilized existence is an attempt to deny reality insofar as it exists. When did Don last look at the stars, when did Norman last get soaked in a rainstorm? |
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swankedster
Tender vittles  Posts: 15 Registered: 5/17/2006 Offline
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6/28/2006 at 21:35 |
Haliburton
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ghostrider
liberal exit  SSHOLEPosts: 2382 Registered: 7/29/2004 Offline
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6/28/2006 at 22:08 |
biotech
if i ever said anything good here this is it
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Uart
DARTH MENSES  Posts: 1228 Registered: 3/5/2005 Offline
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6/28/2006 at 22:15 |
Here's the thing... You need to know the following:
1) How much risk do you want to take?
2) Long term or short term?
If you don't want to risk too much, invest in larger blue-chip companies... You know the ones, they're in the Dow Jones, S&P, etc. If you spread your money over a few industries and pick from Dow Jones companies, you have a VERY GOOD chance of not losing all of your money. You will probably also be investing for the long term, since on average the market tends to go up over time.
Now, if you want to take a risk, you'll want to look at smaller companies -- ones who are growing quicker and have some hype about them. Sometimes these stocks are powered solely on their hype.
If you're investing short term, look at the trend charts... Short term investors rarely stick around long enough to be paid a dividend (but then again, some non-NYSE companies don't even pay a dividend). You want to buy what you know -- if you know tech, buy tech, if you're a farmer, buy agriculture. You won't be holding onto the stock for a long time, so you want to find companies likely to shoot up soon, someone undervalued, or about to do something big.
If you have a full-time job and aren't a stock-market genius, you do not want to invest short-term as your primary strategy.
Do your research, and invest in what you know -- OR, invest long term, and diversify in blue-chips...
If all of this is scary to you and you don't want to take any risk at all, then just buy Treasury Bonds. The US Government always pays those off, and at a higher interest rate than the banks will give you. |
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shitbox
my balls your chin, get used to that idea  SSHOLEPosts: 893 Registered: 1/9/2005 Offline
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6/29/2006 at 00:03 |
I remember when google was fucking went public. I knew they were going to take over the world, as they will. I told my dad to mortgage the house and buy some...he now wears a sadclownface when I bring that up.
Look at companies that are building things for the government. Northrop/boeing/hallibutron etc.
Drug companies are a good bet too. Do your reasearch and look for a smaller pharmacutical company that might be carring the rights to some fantastic drug the FDA has yet to approve. I know one of them holds the rights to the 'bird flu' vaccine.
The European market has been outperforming the US on regularly for a few years. You might wanna look into oversea investing too.
Good luck.
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vasudeva
Bad Taste in your Mouth SSHOLEPosts: 4361 Registered: 3/8/2002 Online
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6/29/2006 at 00:23 |
shitbox: The European market has been outperforming the US on regularly for a few years. You might wanna look into oversea investing too.
There's a mnemonic for this I see going around: BRIC. Brazil, Russia, India, China. Apparently these economies are 'booming.' My current 401k at work has some 'emerging market' type funds that I've got some money in, and they're for the most part doing much better than anything domestic. This will probably change as more people jump onboard, and hopefully our own economy gets stronger again.
It might be cool to see the anatomy of a stock pick gone bad, if you can remember the details of what research you did or didn't do, who you listened to or ignored, the state of the market at the time, etc. Clavis, I think you're the only one who's posted yet who has admitted to this. How about it?
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mundhra: And its crocobody is made of dile. |
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Acidburn
I am El Chupacabra  SSHOLEPosts: 729 Registered: 8/1/2004 Offline
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6/29/2006 at 00:56 |
General Dynamics
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Perfection is not a destination, it's a path.
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This is Rabbit. and it kills everyday.
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government_death_robot
DARTH MENSES Posts: 889 Registered: 4/23/2004 Offline
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6/29/2006 at 02:38 |
:'( This is hard stuff.
Right now I haven't got much I'm willing to invest anyway; just trying to do adult things and make a little money.
I will RTFM and set a goal!
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bwned. |
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coknurmowth
Crisco Fux  SSHOLEPosts: 107 Registered: 10/20/2005 Offline
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6/29/2006 at 05:27 |
I haven't done any investing yet, but a friend of mine sold his business and just plays the market for about 2 years now. He found a simulator that let him use real time market results and invest fake money. After doing that for 4 months he started investing real money and has done pretty well...he's not a millionaire but he lives comfortable.
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fastlane
Zombie scream style  SSHOLEPosts: 643 Registered: 2/7/2004 Offline
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6/29/2006 at 17:09 |
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vasudeva
Bad Taste in your Mouth SSHOLEPosts: 4361 Registered: 3/8/2002 Online
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6/30/2006 at 18:54 |
A Morgan Stanley study ... judged the probability of success from using insider trading as a buy signal at 52 percent, meaning it would make you money only about half the time.
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mundhra: And its crocobody is made of dile. |
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Sheik_Yerbouti
SIR BABYHEAD  Posts: 58 Registered: 8/7/2005 Offline
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8/5/2006 at 00:56 |
I've read this statement a lot: "Look at a company" and many variations of it.
My questioin is, how do you "look at a company"?
lawl srry fer bein a nub.
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"It's better to die on your feet than to live life on your knees."- Some Mexican guy, lol. WHo CARES??? He's from MEXICO!!! |
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Uart
DARTH MENSES Posts: 1228 Registered: 3/5/2005 Offline
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8/5/2006 at 01:32 |
You research that company. Who they are, what they do, etc.... their financial statements... |
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Sheik_Yerbouti
SIR BABYHEAD Posts: 58 Registered: 8/7/2005 Offline
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8/5/2006 at 05:26 |
No shit, what I meant was; is there a site that compiles all of that info into one accessible place?
I realize there's Google, but I'm just wondering if there's some place everyone knows about (but me).
thx
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"It's better to die on your feet than to live life on your knees."- Some Mexican guy, lol. WHo CARES??? He's from MEXICO!!! |
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Uart
DARTH MENSES Posts: 1228 Registered: 3/5/2005 Offline
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8/5/2006 at 05:57 |
Sheik_Yerbouti: No shit, what I meant was; is there a site that compiles all of that info into one accessible place?
I realize there's Google, but I'm just wondering if there's some place everyone knows about (but me).
thx
WELL. There IS Hoovers.com
Subscription required for the meat and potatoes though (unless you have a benevolent university/employer) |
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Sheik_Yerbouti
SIR BABYHEAD Posts: 58 Registered: 8/7/2005 Offline
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8/5/2006 at 07:02 |
Thx greatly.
Any other suggestions are welcome.
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"It's better to die on your feet than to live life on your knees."- Some Mexican guy, lol. WHo CARES??? He's from MEXICO!!! |
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tantrum
I'm a big boy now!  SSHOLEPosts: 470 Registered: 11/23/2003 Offline
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10/4/2006 at 19:58 |
What do some of you think of YouTube's potential future as an investment? That is, if or when they go public.
The Battle Over YouTube
I recently picked up this book at the library:
This fundamental approach is attractive, although I'm finding it hard to find stocks that meet the strict criteria in the book. I haven't invested yet but I'm intrigued.
Also, where is your favorite site to do research? Can you find everything you need for free or is it worth it to go to a pay site?
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mundhra
dread pirate neckbeard SSHOLEPosts: 1600 Registered: 3/25/2002 Offline
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10/4/2006 at 20:32 |
mark cuban sez:
"anyone who buys that (YouTube) is a moron" because of potential lawsuits from copyright violations.
his opinion is that content owners are waiting for a big fish with big pockets to buy youtube so they can GET THEM SOEM MONAYS.
makes sense, but who knows? they could probably just say that if universal, etc provided them a list of infringing stuff they'll remove it.
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But the whole of modern so-called civilized existence is an attempt to deny reality insofar as it exists. When did Don last look at the stars, when did Norman last get soaked in a rainstorm? |
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vasudeva
Bad Taste in your Mouth SSHOLEPosts: 4361 Registered: 3/8/2002 Online
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10/4/2006 at 20:48 |
Lots of people probably won't touch Youtube for the exact reasons you both state. On the other hand, the insane explosion of Youtube popularity is probably going to make some lucky speculator a shitload of cash.
Not that I don't have some really scathing things to say about people who have a whole computer and the entire Internet in front of them but choose to use it to watch TV, but... where there's lemmings, there's gristle to be gnawed, as my non-existent Finnish grandmother used to didn't say.
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mundhra: And its crocobody is made of dile. |
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HOBO
* b0bo has quit IRC ('Exit') SSHOLEPosts: 1107 Registered: 3/19/2002 Offline
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10/4/2006 at 23:21  |
wow i think if i understood what you said i would kinda agree
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" I have never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question." ~Spock~
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mundhra
dread pirate neckbeard SSHOLEPosts: 1600 Registered: 3/25/2002 Offline
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10/10/2006 at 14:05 |
didn't see that coming.
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But the whole of modern so-called civilized existence is an attempt to deny reality insofar as it exists. When did Don last look at the stars, when did Norman last get soaked in a rainstorm? |
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LORDKAHUNA
Don't make me fuk your moustache  SSHOLEPosts: 1593 Registered: 8/5/2003 Online
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10/10/2006 at 15:13 |
Whoa, those fucks are going to run the planet in no time.
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Sexninja> I will not your farts |
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shitbox
my balls your chin, get used to that idea SSHOLEPosts: 893 Registered: 1/9/2005 Offline
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10/10/2006 at 17:09 |
LORDKAHUNA: Whoa, those fucks are going to run the planet in no time.
I've said that before too. How cute.
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"Kill him! Kill the fuckin' indian! What am I watching here two fuckin' fags!?"
Rodney Dangerfield as Ed Wilson
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mundhra
dread pirate neckbeard SSHOLEPosts: 1600 Registered: 3/25/2002 Offline
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11/1/2006 at 14:37 |
and the plot thickens
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But the whole of modern so-called civilized existence is an attempt to deny reality insofar as it exists. When did Don last look at the stars, when did Norman last get soaked in a rainstorm? |
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mundhra
dread pirate neckbeard SSHOLEPosts: 1600 Registered: 3/25/2002 Offline
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11/16/2006 at 17:50 |
wow someone's pissed he's late to the party/a failure in that arena.
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But the whole of modern so-called civilized existence is an attempt to deny reality insofar as it exists. When did Don last look at the stars, when did Norman last get soaked in a rainstorm? |
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