(05-21-2014 07:57 AM)Steve9 Wrote:  Is anyone else looking at Whole Foods Market (WFM) here at $37?

It is a great business, but increasing competition from other organic grocers has led to its share price dropping 40% from its high last October.

If they can successfully defend their profit margins, there looks to be a lot of growth ahead as it expands from its current 377 stores, to its target of 1200 stores.

Yes, I'm looking at it daily. At $37 it's still a bit too high. WFM is losing lots of love from Wall Street after lowering earnings guidance three times.

It still trades at 21x next year earnings, a valuation a bit too much for a great brand but deteriorating fundamentals. (the stock is reminds me of LULU, a once highflying growth stock and is going through some maturation pains).

I'll start buying at around $33. If it falls to $30, I'll buy hand over fist.

^^^Whole foods blows my mind every time. I just cant wrap my head around it. Doesn't mean there isn't value, but id rather buy something like Trader Joes (reasonably priced, loved by customers and grassroots small stores w/limited posh).

The big if at Whole Foods is the hot foods sections +wine bars they are rolling out. Whole Foods has transitioned a bit into lunch/dinner/socializing spot. I foresee that will drive profits for the future. The supermarket sections makes very little sense to me. I rarely see people shopping. Most eating or buying 2-3 items of knick-knacky stuff.

Just my 2c.

I too would rather buy Trader Joes. Unfortunately it's not publicly traded.

An interesting thing about Whole Foods is the idea of Conscious Capitalism, that the co-CEO, John Mackey, wrote a book about.

Whole Foods aim is to use the power of business and the relationship between farmers, vendors, consumers, company employees, and shareholders to advance humanity as well as increasing profits.

I don't live in the USA, so can anyone let me know if the idea of Conscious Capitalism is making any impact on the general US population?

^Hype. For consumer staples, location then price are defining factors. How close is the store and how much does it cost?

(05-19-2014 08:10 PM)cool Wrote:  

(03-29-2014 04:16 PM)Steve9 Wrote:  At a time when most US internet companies appear to be fully valued, Im looking at buying Yandex (YNDX) on Monday. It is the most popular search engine in Russia with a 62% market share.

The stock is down 35% since the Crimea crisis.

Analysts expect Yandex to grow 30%+ per year over the next 5 years.

If there are any tech savvy Russians here that think that Yandex will not be a much bigger company in 5 years please add in your thoughts.

Goddamn it, I have watched YNDX pop back up to $30.50 from a low of $24.00 in the last week or two.

Bought YNDX a couple a few weeks ago with an average price of 23.48. Too bad it was only 200 shares, was being cautious. Now at 31.92 or +36.05%. Thanks for this tip!

Also bought YHOO after some research with the idea coming from this thread, hopefully it will pan out as well (only 1.5% up on it ATM)!

Bought a decent size of Neustar last week at 26.50$, the price has suffered a lot due to the fact that they might loose their exclusivity in numbers-switching contract to Ericsson.
The company lobbied US regulators to retain the contract , more info here: http://blog.neustar.biz/neustar-insights...n-process/

Also bought LQDT after the big drop. I like the ratios and the numbers on this one and I believe in their business.

Hi all,


This thread is fascinating to me. I have just started to look into stocks and investing. My current knowledge is none but I think it would be very interesting to learn a bit about this.

Can anyone recommend a good book/guide/blog for learning the basics on stocks and investing please?

I am looking to put $1,000 into OptionsXpress or Trade King (any recomendations?) and just go from there.

Also, any shouts for early stock buys much appreciated

Anyone looking at buying GOOG? Seems like Google has nowhere to go but up.

I got sum good suggestions from you guys on another post and also did some research. This morning picked uo the following....

LUV
MMM
WU
SCHA
SWKS

ALSO REALLY LIKE AAEV

I have a list of others i veen meaning to research ill post later

(05-23-2014 11:48 AM)jbkunt2 Wrote:  Hi all,


This thread is fascinating to me. I have just started to look into stocks and investing. My current knowledge is none but I think it would be very interesting to learn a bit about this.

Can anyone recommend a good book/guide/blog for learning the basics on stocks and investing please?

It is a wise move to learn about investing. The vast majority of financial products are sold by people whose only interest in your wealth is the amount of fees they can sucker you out of.

I would not be in too much of a hurry to invest all your money right now...read and learn first.

Here are 4 books I think are suitable for n00bs:

The Little Book That Builds Wealth by Pat Dorsey.

The Little Book of Behavioural Investing by James Montier.

One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch.

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William Thorndike.

Anyone a bit savvier than myself care tp comment on aevvx. Cant seem to find any articles or messageboards or info on it and not great at reading charts

(05-27-2014 10:12 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  Anyone a bit savvier than myself care tp comment on aevvx. Cant seem to find any articles or messageboards or info on it and not great at reading charts

Do you have a goal in mind or strategy ? This a mutual fund with a $2500 buy in by the looks of it with a management fee of 1.46%. Hasnt really been around long enough to make a technical call on.

If you are interested in playing emerging markets as a whole than EEM is an etf with no minimum buy in and has a lot of liquidity in it and a lot of assets. It is probably a safer play. Although it doesn't really move all that much but does offer a dividend

(05-27-2014 06:41 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 10:12 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  Anyone a bit savvier than myself care tp comment on aevvx. Cant seem to find any articles or messageboards or info on it and not great at reading charts

Do you have a goal in mind or strategy ? This a mutual fund with a $2500 buy in by the looks of it with a management fee of 1.46%. Hasnt really been around long enough to make a technical call on.

If you are interested in playing emerging markets as a whole than EEM is an etf with no minimum buy in and has a lot of liquidity in it and a lot of assets. It is probably a safer play. Although it doesn't really move all that much but does offer a dividend

Hey thanks for chiming in and thank you for the advice. Saw tat one recommended somewere and yes I was looking to play emerging markets. I just checked out that ETF, does seem to be a better fit. Honestly don't really have a strategy whic I guess is not smart, basially got a little money sitting on the sidelines waiting to build up a bit more of a bank roll to make some real estate moves but wanted to try to get that money working for me instead of just sitting.

(05-27-2014 06:44 PM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 06:41 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 10:12 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  Anyone a bit savvier than myself care tp comment on aevvx. Cant seem to find any articles or messageboards or info on it and not great at reading charts

Do you have a goal in mind or strategy ? This a mutual fund with a $2500 buy in by the looks of it with a management fee of 1.46%. Hasnt really been around long enough to make a technical call on.

If you are interested in playing emerging markets as a whole than EEM is an etf with no minimum buy in and has a lot of liquidity in it and a lot of assets. It is probably a safer play. Although it doesn't really move all that much but does offer a dividend

Hey thanks for chiming in and thank you for the advice. Saw tat one recommended somewere and yes I was looking to play emerging markets. I just checked out that ETF, does seem to be a better fit. Honestly don't really have a strategy whic I guess is not smart, basially got a little money sitting on the sidelines waiting to build up a bit more of a bank roll to make some real estate moves but wanted to try to get that money working for me instead of just sitting.

Do you have good credit ? Have you learned anything about real estate yet before you start investing in it ?

Liar loans and pretty much no down payment loans are back in the good ole US of A.

You do not need much money to invest in real estate at the moment if any at all. But just like the stock market if you dont know what you are doing you will lose it all in no time at all.

(05-23-2014 11:48 AM)jbkunt2 Wrote:  Hi all,


This thread is fascinating to me. I have just started to look into stocks and investing. My current knowledge is none but I think it would be very interesting to learn a bit about this.

Can anyone recommend a good book/guide/blog for learning the basics on stocks and investing please?

I am looking to put $1,000 into OptionsXpress or Trade King (any recomendations?) and just go from there.

Also, any shouts for early stock buys much appreciated

Yeah, all three of the early Jim Cramer books do a good job explaining the stock market to the lay person. "Real Money," "Mad Money," and "Stay Mad for Life."

It's mostly basic stuff, but I'd have been better of had I known a lot of it early on. One point that sticks with me is his saying that "Half of a stock's movement is due to its sector." I'd buy these great stocks but miss the fact that the sector sucked, so they'd go down. He calls that a "good house in a bad neighborhood" stock.

From there, I would go to the Seeking Alpha blog and just read about what's hot and what people are talking about.

Just a quick, full disclosure update on my obamacare stock plays of LPNT and HCA. Showing the two stocks from the beginning(1st of OCT, 2013), that was the day obamacare went into effect, and progressing up to present time. I like event-driven plays like this. Talking about event-driven play, on the other news, the snow-melting salts/de-icing company, called Compass Minerals(ticker: CMP) destroyed analyst expections on earnings, with stocks shooting straight up. Unfortunately, it wasnt a pure play enough for me(so i skipped it.)

anyways, here is the obamacare stocks LPNT and HCA breakdown from the beginning below:

(09-30-2013 07:13 PM)Nemencine Wrote:  ..... OBAMACARE will be implemented starting from tomorrow: OCT 1st, 2013. ..... How do i profit in the stock market from this event?.... my babies are: LPNT, HCA, CYH, THC.

(12-16-2013 09:15 AM)Nemencine Wrote:  In the interest of full disclosure: LPNT and HCA are my two remaining healthcare stocks holding.

HCA stock price right after obamacare kicked in:




LPNT stock price right after obamacare kicked in:

(10-16-2013 09:28 AM)Nemencine Wrote:  ..... i added to my position in LPNT at $47.50...risk is $2 per share.....

(10-28-2013 05:33 PM)Nemencine Wrote:  Today is a glorious day for my LPNT. It hits 1st price target at $51.50. Here is an update chart below, again, the chart tells the tale:

UPDATE: In the interest of full disclosure, i sold a major portion of my LPNT and HCA shares today. HCA previous entry point here.

Current status of both LPNT and HCA shown below:

Can we get some cyclicality please? This record high shit with no volatility AND rallying bonds is getting old fast! Im no dooms day guy, but this is starting to feel like 2000.

Best trade this year has been shorting ANGI Angie's List

(05-29-2014 11:09 PM)Emancipator Wrote:  Best trade this year has been shorting ANGI Angie's List

You see it being worthhwhhile to buy this at a low, still seems overpriced even at $10 or whatever it is right now. I dont think they've ever turned a profit have they? If it went to $7 or $8 I may roll the dice and buy though.

(05-30-2014 10:13 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

(05-29-2014 11:09 PM)Emancipator Wrote:  Best trade this year has been shorting ANGI Angie's List

You see it being worthhwhhile to buy this at a low, still seems overpriced even at $10 or whatever it is right now. I dont think they've ever turned a profit have they? If it went to $7 or $8 I may roll the dice and buy though.

I'm riding ANGI all the way to the bottom. Shitty company.

Meh, shorting the very best you can hope for is 100% gain and it requires a bankrupcy or complete failure. 50% gain if you timed ANGl perfectly. Hardly the trade of the year. Im admitantly a bit down on the year but took 70% in 30 min a few days ago.

^ People could also have bought puts and got a lot more than 100% return.

(05-30-2014 02:12 PM)_DC_ Wrote:  Meh, shorting the very best you can hope for is 100% gain and it requires a bankrupcy or complete failure. 50% gain if you timed ANGl perfectly. Hardly the trade of the year. Im admitantly a bit down on the year but took 70% in 30 min a few days ago.

Best trade personally for my portfolio

(05-30-2014 02:16 PM)LeBeau Wrote:  ^ People could also have bought puts and got a lot more than 100% return.

My knowledge is severely lacking in options, any recommended resources/books that follows the KISS principle.

Good point on the puts.