What are some good stocks to buy right now?

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
My uncle suggested I make a fake stock portfolio on Google Finance before deciding to invest with real money. Does anyone have suggestions for stocks to buy at this time? I'm looking for solid companies with an established history that pay regular dividends and they need to be companies I've heard of.

I'm also looking for a stocks/money forum. Typing that into google just comes up with a bunch of scam sites where they want money for tickets to some "forum" where 1 guy talks and everybody listens.
 

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
Let's say 20 years or indefinitely. I like the idea of buying stocks then forgetting that I own those stocks. They would just grow on their own, pay dividends, split every once in a while. When I want to buy more stocks, I'll look to see what is up, sell that, use that money to buy whatever is on sale at the time.

Does anyone know what the deal with HP is right now? Over the longest graph available, they've shown consistent growth and dividends. It's the same price it was 10 years ago, and the 5 year low point was about 6 months ago when they announced something like a 6 billion quarterly loss. Does HP look like a good price right now or is that one company to avoid like hell?

My uncle says it's usually nice to invest in utilities and things that everyone needs. Know any good utilities?
 
Oct 20, 2005
10,978
44
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Let's say 20 years or indefinitely. I like the idea of buying stocks then forgetting that I own those stocks. They would just grow on their own, pay dividends, split every once in a while. When I want to buy more stocks, I'll look to see what is up, sell that, use that money to buy whatever is on sale at the time.

Does anyone know what the deal with HP is right now? Over the longest graph available, they've shown consistent growth and dividends. It's the same price it was 10 years ago, and the 5 year low point was about 6 months ago when they announced something like a 6 billion quarterly loss. Does HP look like a good price right now or is that one company to avoid like hell?

My uncle says it's usually nice to invest in utilities and things that everyone needs. Know any good utilities?

Man, you make it sound so easy.
 

Arcadio

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2007
5,637
24
81
Let's say 20 years or indefinitely. I like the idea of buying stocks then forgetting that I own those stocks. They would just grow or shrink on their own, pay dividends, split every once in a while. When I want to buy more stocks, I'll look to see what is up, sell that, use that money to buy whatever is on sale at the time.

Fixed.



If you want to 'set and forget', go with mutual funds instead of individual stocks.
 

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
If you want to 'set and forget', go with mutual funds instead of individual stocks.
Fund managers are retards. They often do worse than random stock picking but they charge a management fee for their incompetence.

Man, you make it sound so easy.
Apparently it is that easy. My uncle has been doing this for more than 20 years and those are pretty close to his exact words. He says he doesn't like selling stocks. He just likes buying them. He'll see a really great deal come along and think "damn I don't have enough money to buy into this one" so he sells some of his other stocks. He described it as "like shoe shopping!" because he knows I like buying shoes that are on sale :biggrin:
 

rcpratt

Lifer
Jul 2, 2009
10,433
110
116
You're either trolling or naive.

I'd suggest looking into a dividend ETF such as SDY, based on your desires and inferred market experience.
 

SaurusX

Senior member
Nov 13, 2012
993
0
41
The US is at the beginning of an energy boom. Energy stocks for companies that supply heavy machinery are a good idea imo. Schlumberger, Halliburton (booga booga), etc.
 

nickbits

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2008
4,122
1
81
I'm loading up on amzn currently but no dividend. Look up vanguards high yield dividend fund holdings for some ideas.
 

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
The US is at the beginning of an energy boom. Energy stocks for companies that supply heavy machinery are a good idea imo. Schlumberger, Halliburton (booga booga), etc.
Are you sure now is the time to buy those? Both have a PE around 20, the dividend yield is bad, and they have a fairly high beta number. Schlumberger is outperformed by the Dow on the longest average, beats the Dow over 10 year average, but it outperformed on the 5 year average. Without being an insider in that industry, I don't think I would want to buy that.

My uncle is from BC, Canada so he gave this as the example of something to add to the fake stock portfolio:
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
PE is around 10, dividend yield is 4.73, and the company is from 1867 so it's probably not going anywhere soon.
Another example was AT&T
PE sucks at 30, but the dividend yield is 4.82. It's the biggest phone company in the US so it probably won't die any time soon.
 
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JamesV

Platinum Member
Jul 9, 2011
2,002
2
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Stocks like Microsoft and Pepsi are pretty much buy and forget, but you aren't going to make much off their dividends, unless you own alot of it.

Before you buy anything though, check the history, and see what type of returns you can expect. Nothing is guaranteed of course, but if you figure you'll make $10 off dividends on $1,000 invested, then you might be better off investing that $1,000 into a CD that pays more than 0.01%.

What everyone wants, is stock that will go up, and go up fast, for a big payday... good luck with that. If you aren't reading the business section daily, watching programs like NBR, and surfing sites that give business information, then your chance at that 'big' stock is quite slim.
 

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
What everyone wants, is stock that will go up, and go up fast, for a big payday... good luck with that. If you aren't reading the business section daily, watching programs like NBR, and surfing sites that give business information, then your chance at that 'big' stock is quite slim.
That's why I want to fake buy stocks that are on sale (tanking). You don't buy stock after it has already gone up for years and years. That's like buying a house in 2007 and saying it will keep going up. It won't. It will eventually come down.

btw I bought a condo on sale. w00t crashed economy!
 
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SaurusX

Senior member
Nov 13, 2012
993
0
41
I've had a greater than 13% return on Schlumberger in just the past six months. Granted, the dividends are not that great, but the performance more than makes up for that. Investing is an art or a science depending on who you talk to.
 

Uppsala9496

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 2001
5,272
19
81
Buy it and forget it stock: WAG
Not sure I would buy now at $48+, but when I bought a few years ago in the mid $20's it was nice. Decent dividend. Don't plan on touching it for at least 15 more years. Hopefully it pays for a few years of university for my kid. We shall see.
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
PE ratio of 80? No thanks. That's almost as horrible as the Facebook IPO. Facebook was 100 when it came out (meaning it earns about 1% profit)

Yep, my investment at 45 sure looks bad. I suggest doing some more research. It's a stock I plan to someday give to my kids.
 

Dacalo

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2000
8,778
3
76
PAC - buy and forget, don't get deceived by the high P/E. Do some research and you will know why it is so high. Decent dividend.
 

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
PAC - buy and forget, don't get deceived by the high P/E. Do some research and you will know why it is so high. Decent dividend.
lol I love how it sounds like such a fake name. Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico.
Who do I work for? Uh the.... groupo airporto pacifico banko westo grande :D

Thanks for the input guys. I have a bit more reading to do. I'll still "buy" some of these stocks in my fake portfio, but I'll put a note next to them saying they were ATOT recommendations. In a year I can look back and say "hey those guys were totally right!" or totally wrong as the case may be.
 

overst33r

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
5,761
12
81
If it's for fun or <5% of your assets, then you're OK. I personally wouldn't play with any more than that since it's just like gambling.

You should check out passive indexing (i.e. Three Fund Portfolio). It has been proven to be much more successful over time.
 

makken

Golden Member
Aug 28, 2004
1,476
0
76
INTC - undervalued and the end of the PC era is overblown IMO.
MSFT - see INTC
GE - diversified. They make everything from refrigerators to turbines.
CSCO - everyone needs network equipment.
STX - I know SSDs are the rage, but I don't see hard drives going away anytime soon. And they have have gobbled up everyone else.
 

Jaepheth

Platinum Member
Apr 29, 2006
2,572
25
91
I'd recommend a thumb-hole or pistol grip style stock.

Laminate is a good compromise between the stability of a composite and the aesthetics of hardwood.
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
I've had a greater than 13% return on Schlumberger in just the past six months. Granted, the dividends are not that great, but the performance more than makes up for that. Investing is an art or a science depending on who you talk to.

I've had an 18.5% return on VTSAX in the past six months, and that's with a hugely diversified total stock market index fund.

The past six months are NOT a good indicator of the value of the stock market as a whole, much less any individual company. It's been a wild ride.