***Official*** 2008 Stock Market Thread

[Slew Foot]

I like GE as well, theyre one of my bellweathers for retirement.

PFE, meh. IM not big into drugs, I think if you want to invest in the medical field, a better place to go is medical equipment manufacturers. Drug companies tend to be heavily volatile to the negative side moreso than the positive, especially if a Democrat wins the election, watch for healthcare stocks to stagnate.

 

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: Slew Foot
I like GE as well, theyre one of my bellweathers for retirement.

PFE, meh. IM not big into drugs, I think if you want to invest in the medical field, a better place to go is medical equipment manufacturers. Drug companies tend to be heavily volatile to the negative side moreso than the positive, especially if a Democrat wins the election, watch for healthcare stocks to stagnate.

I bought PFE at almost the 52-week low. Maybe i can sell it at 20.5-21 dollars... They do pay dividends pretty well though.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1
Hmm, i bought some PFE and GE... Do y'all think they're good buys?

PFE is just about the worst pharmaceutical anyone can pick.
GE is excellent.

 

[ponyo]

I will go against everyone here and say PFE at its current price is not bad. Yes, business is bad, outlook bad, drug pipeline bad, and loads of drugs off patents or coming off patents real soon. You don't think most of this is reflected in the stock price? I know it's hip to bash Pfizer and everyone likes to give high-five saying how the company sucks. But nobody really made money following the crowd. Groupthink is dangerous.

If I had spare cash, I would put it work in KFT. Company is suffering from rising commodities and raw material costs but when and if that change, its margin should expand rapidly. I own no shares atm but soon it will become my largest holding as I plan to make large purchase.

 

[alphatarget1]

Y'all think the financial stocks are in the clear yet? My next buys are probably WB and WFC. I almost bought C when it was at 18 dollars a share... was a few cents short (DOH!), would've made a lot of money.

 

[hiromizu]

I really have a bad feeling about this rally. Anyone else share the same contentions?

 

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: Naustica
I will go against everyone here and say PFE at its current price is not bad. Yes, business is bad, outlook bad, drug pipeline bad, and loads of drugs off patents or coming off patents real soon. You don't think most of this is reflected in the stock price? I know it's hip to bash Pfizer and everyone likes to give high-five saying how the company sucks. But nobody really made money following the crowd. Groupthink is dangerous.

If I had spare cash, I would put it work in KFT. Company is suffering from rising commodities and raw material costs but when and if that change, its margin should expand rapidly. I own no shares atm but soon it will become my largest holding as I plan to make large purchase.

I'll be keeping PFE for sweet dividends, I think

 

[ponyo]

Darn Buffett effect :|
I'm trying to buy into Kraft and he's not helping any. I am not just buying it for myself. I'm buying for myself, 5yr old daughter, and 3 and 1 yr old nephews. Kids are getting 100 shrs each to hold until they're 18.

I'm telling you folks with money to invest to buy Kraft. You're going to see major margin expansion once the commodities prices return to normal. Kraft and other food processors are getting killed by rising commodities prices and can't raise prices faster than its going up. But if "experts" are right and commodities bubble burst and prices come back down, Kraft and other food processors aren't going to lower the prices now that they raised it. That increase is going to show up on the bottom line and margins are going to go crazy and stock price will lead before that happens. I can already picture it happening and Wall St analcysts eating it up and raising the earnings and price targets. Buy this stock while it's still cheap and before analcysts start pumping. 8 years of flatline stock price while the company continued to make gobs of money and sales have made this stock cheap. It's actually pretty crazy that this stock is this cheap considering the risk of major recession is fairly high IMO.

I'm enjoying the Buffett effect on CarMax. He again increased the stake in the name.

 

[thirtythree]

I hate investing. I really do.

 

[Azurik]

Originally posted by: Naustica
Darn Buffett effect :|
I'm trying to buy into Kraft and he's not helping any. I am not just buying it for myself. I'm buying for myself, 5yr old daughter, and 3 and 1 yr old nephews. Kids are getting 100 shrs each to hold until they're 18.

I'm telling you folks with money to invest to buy Kraft. You're going to see major margin expansion once the commodities prices return to normal. Kraft and other food processors are getting killed by rising commodities prices and can't raise prices faster than its going up. But if "experts" are right and commodities bubble burst and prices come back down, Kraft and other food processors aren't going to lower the prices now that they raised it. That increase is going to show up on the bottom line and margins are going to go crazy and stock price will lead before that happens. I can already picture it happening and Wall St analcysts eating it up and raising the earnings and price targets. Buy this stock while it's still cheap and before analcysts start pumping. 8 years of flatline stock price while the company continued to make gobs of money and sales have made this stock cheap. It's actually pretty crazy that this stock is this cheap considering the risk of major recession is fairly high IMO.

I'm enjoying the Buffett effect on CarMax. He again increased the stake in the name.

I want Kraft to go under $30 before buying... but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I actually plan on doubling my position in GE if it goes back to my original buy level.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: Azurik

I want Kraft to go under $30 before buying... but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I actually plan on doubling my position in GE if it goes back to my original buy level.

I bought a starter position in Kraft at $32 this morning. I don't like to chase and should've have bought at $31 two days ago but way I look at it is it's still cheap at this level and over time it's a wash. I got my foot in the door now and will add every $.50 down until I get my desired full position. I thought about just buying the full position today since over time, such a small difference in buy-in price won't matter much if the stock gets to the price I think it's capable of. But I decided to play conservative and build the position.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1
Y'all think the financial stocks are in the clear yet? My next buys are probably WB and WFC. I almost bought C when it was at 18 dollars a share... was a few cents short (DOH!), would've made a lot of money.

Wachovia?
You've got to be kidding me.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Naustica
I will go against everyone here and say PFE at its current price is not bad. Yes, business is bad, outlook bad, drug pipeline bad, and loads of drugs off patents or coming off patents real soon. You don't think most of this is reflected in the stock price? I know it's hip to bash Pfizer and everyone likes to give high-five saying how the company sucks. But nobody really made money following the crowd. Groupthink is dangerous.

If I had spare cash, I would put it work in KFT. Company is suffering from rising commodities and raw material costs but when and if that change, its margin should expand rapidly. I own no shares atm but soon it will become my largest holding as I plan to make large purchase.

Pffft...I can think of many companies in the health care sector I'd rather have my money in than PFE.
I like my health care picks...GILD, JNJ, ESRX, TEVA, COV, MR, and MHS (from largest to smallest).
If I'm that desperate for pharmaceuticals, I'll pick WYE, NVS, LLY, GSK, ABT, NVO, SNY, over PFE any day of the week.

KFT is currently my 5th largest holding.
LUK, GILD, JNJ, and UNP are all higher.
I'll increase it to 4th if the stock gets to $30 but it won't get much higher than that.

I'm looking at the insurance sector that's becoming weak. It's expected that they will become even weaker.
BRK-B, PGR, MKL and many others.
Perhaps it's almost time for me to open a stake in MKL.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: Azurik

I want Kraft to go under $30 before buying... but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I actually plan on doubling my position in GE if it goes back to my original buy level.

I bought a starter position in Kraft at $32 this morning. I don't like to chase and should've have bought at $31 two days ago but way I look at it is it's still cheap at this level and over time it's a wash. I got my foot in the door now and will add every $.50 down until I get my desired full position. I thought about just buying the full position today since over time, such a small difference in buy-in price won't matter much if the stock gets to the price I think it's capable of. But I decided to play conservative and build the position.

You should wait till it goes back down.
The Buffett effect usually hangs for a month, then the price returns back to earth.
That's what I did when I bought KFT earlier in this thread which I mentioned.

KFT is currently 5.6% of portfolio.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I reduced my equities today by quite a bit, kept all of GG, sold most of APA, all of MOS, reduced my holdings in MVL by ~30%

I'm thinking about some South American stocks...

 

[her209]

Market took a big dump today.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: her209
Market took a big dump today.

Better rally rest of this week =P

 

[Azurik]

I bought a small (100 shares) of KFT at $32.569 (NOT $32.57) yesterday before the close. Just an entry position. If it goes under $30 I'll double it.

I am about to double my position in GE.

It's about time the market took a breather. Way overdue and I want it to fall further - helps because I'm locking in a mortgage rate soon and don't need equity increases at the moment that's going to send the 30-year on a rollercoaster. S&P needs to retest the 1400 line.

If Goldman Sachs dips down below $150 again, I will be a big buyer. Won't miss that opportunity again.

 

[her209]

It took another beating today.

 

[ponyo]

Covered my short position in Merrill Lynch at $44 today for 11% profit. While I expect further downside in the name in the coming months, nothing moves in straight line down. I'll look to reopen the position after a bounce.

I'm beating myself up for missing the downward move in BIDU. Thought about buying June $350 puts for around $13 two days ago. Should've, could've, would've, but didn't.

Still cash heavy and waiting. Perfectly happy to just hit and run. Hitting and quitting has served me well this year so I'm sticking with it until it stops working.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Schfifty Five

Originally posted by: her209
Market took a big dump today.

Better rally rest of this week =P

Let's see how Friday goes.

 

[GML3G0]

IMB has been really beaten down. Nice rally today, and it closed near the high of the day. Got in at ~$2.

 

[imported_Lothar]

GE down to $30.43?
OK, this is fucking ridiculous.

If it goes to under $30, I'll increase the $1000 stake I opened earlier to almost $10,000 if possible.

 

[Azurik]

Originally posted by: Lothar
GE down to $30.43?
OK, this is fucking ridiculous.

If it goes to under $30, I'll increase the $1000 stake I opened earlier to almost $10,000 if possible.

I already doubled my position in GE last week at $31.05

The sad thing is I'm hoping the markets will tank even further. Still want to get in some stocks cheaply and I need bonds to rally so I can lock in a low mortgage rate. My closing is June 30th so I need it to come downnnnnnnnnn!

 

[ponyo]

Since I'm not expecting the market to run away anytime soon, I am going to start writing covered calls on my CarMax position to generate some income. With my 2k shares I should be able to generate ~$500 a month in income while waiting. Since CarMax doesn't pay any dividend, this will have to do.