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Great Weekend Reading

May 3, 2008 by 6 Comments

I leave you with some great Warren Buffett quotes (they apply to today’s market and any market for that matter):

Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.

Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.

Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.

The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth.

Filed Under: Blogs, Links

Daily Blog Posts in E-mail

May 2, 2008 by 1 Comment

My feedburner subscriptions are increasing but I don’t think many of you know that my blog posts can be sent to you via e-mail updates or through your favorite home page readers such as Google and Yahoo (among others).

Click the large icons below and sign up for FREE to get my daily blog posts in your e-mail and/or favorite reader:

Filed Under: Blogs

TeleTech Holdings Inc.

May 1, 2008 by 2 Comments

Stock of the Day
TeleTech Holdings Inc.
Wednesday’s Closing Price: TTEC – $22.93

Sector: Services
Industry: Business Services
52-week Price: $16.17 – $39.06

TeleTech Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides onshore, offshore, and work-from-home business process outsourcing services. Its services include the transfer of its clients’ front and back office business processes to its delivery centers or work-from-home associates.

The stock is an interesting play that could provide rewards based on increasing earnings, revenues and a 10-week/ 30-week positive crossover. The stock was flagged in a technical screen I ran this week looking for strong candidates that made the positive 10/30-week crossover.

The recent slump in the economy may hurt the immediate potential of the company as revenues could stall or even drop but that shouldn’t last for long (or so I think).

Anyway, this stock is a pure trend play based on technical analysis, a possible rebound that I will test with an entry in the $22 area. It’s not my ideal IPO momentum trade or a stock making a new high but this type of position works for me in this market environment.

$10,000 invested five years ago would be $57,398 today

Potential Trade Set-up:
Ideal Entry: $22.00
Risk is set at 1.0% of total portfolio or $1,000 of $100k
Stop Loss is 10% or $19.80
Number of Shares:455
Position Size is $10,000
Risk is $2.20
Target is $40
Reward/ Risk: Possible 8-to-1 (long term)

Institutional Analysis:
Held By Institutions: 59%
Total Held by Institutions: 453
Money Market: 150
Mutual Fund: 291
Other: 12

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 2008 Stock of Day, Stocks

Master Stock is Priceless

April 30, 2008 by 1 Comment

Once upon a time, I asked: Is Mastercard Priceless

Longer term trend investors can establish a position now at the 50-d moving average or at least start to initiate a position by accumulating shares. Look for a confirmation on a move to the up-side above the trading range I have highlighted in blue on the weekly chart.

Bottom Line: MA is rated a buy in my book and I am grabbing shares today.
*This blog post is not a recommendation to buy this or any other stock. Please do your own due diligence and buy and sell at your own risk!

One month later, Mastercard was already Paying Off

First quarter earnings rose 70% boosted by higher gross dollar volume and a 19% jump in the number of transactions processed. The Purchase, N.Y., issuer of credit and debit cards and provider of a transaction authorization network reported first-quarter earnings of $214.9 million, or $1.57 a share, up from $126.7 million, or 94 cents a share, a year earlier. MasterCard said net revenue for the quarter rose 24% to $915.1 million from $738.5 million a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings of $1.16 a share on revenue of $842 million.

Six months later, Mastercard was Charging Ahead

Mastercard (MA) looks like it’s heading for $200 and beyond after the recent numbers presented to Wall Street. Some analysts are cutting their ratings but what do they know. Listen to those talking heads and you will go broke. But hey, they’re experts!

How about those experts? Well, the stock is up 155% since the original blog post on 4/2/07 at $107.28 and it has never violated the 200-d m.a. on the weekly chart (weekly closing price). Mastercard has been a wonderful holding in my portfolio and I was delighted to see the earnings release today. Both MA and Visa lit up my screens when I returned home from work. Other holdings didn’t fare as well but these are the days I love (could this joy be a contrary indicator?). Visa is now above $80 per share with a 6%+ gain today on above average volume.

Take a look at some of the other posts highlighting Mastercard over the past 12 months. I featured Mastercard on the blog 17 times in 2007 and another half-dozen times already in 2008.

MA: 17 Times, 112% peak gain (debut on 4/2/07 at $107.28; current price $209.48)

Portfolio Snapshot: Growth

Where’s the Smart Money Going?

Highest Rated IPO’s

Cash Back from Mastercard and Baidu

Profit with these Stocks

VISA (V) set to Launch

Anticipating the VISA IPO

Take a look at Mastercard versus American Express, as viewed by investors:
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Stocks

Young Stocks Moving on Volume

April 29, 2008 by 6 Comments

A screen I run often searches for stocks that have debuted on the market with an IPO within the past two years. I prefer trading in young innovative stocks that can make strong moves based on powerful earnings and revenue increases.

Today’s group contains stocks that are very familiar to this blog as they continue to appear on almost every type of screen I run.

Why?

They have been the leaders of the market over the past 1-2 years at one point or another. I can’t say that I would buy shares in all of the issues listed below but they are on a watch list. Momentum trading has been very profitable over the past 6-8 weeks as we can see in stocks such as CLR and SD.

Continental Resources is up more than 100% since it’s low in January of this year. It’s moved from $24.44 to $47 in one month on huge volume versus the average. The stock is certainly extended but that’s what I thought when it debuted on the blog on January 7, 2008 at $26.57

CLR – Continental Resources Inc., $26.57
This is the first appearance of the stock on this blog as it has had a nice run from $15 to $28 in four months. The stock is extended but trending higher. An ideal entry is above the 50-d m.a. Set up a favorable risk-to-reward trade before entering.

Titan Machinery and Visa Inc reported solid numbers but their stocks went in opposite directions based on the guidance they gave moving forward.

Young Stocks up on Higher Volume
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Daily Stock Screens, IPO, Stocks
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