The great UCLA Men's College Basketball coach John Wooden had a very important quote: "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." So many investors in almost every asset class simply do not prepare before investing their hard earned money. I have been as guilty as anybody. During my first attempt at investing, I spent 5,000 bucks on buying stock in Starbucks, 2,500 on America On Line, and 2,500 on a company called Ultrafem. It was 1993 or so and I spent a ton of gas driving up and down Southern California looking at Starbucks locations- I still own it, and have added plenty more, and yes, it has done well. America On Line at one point was a 41 bagger, but I sold too late, but still did well. However, Ultrafem was an alternative to women's tampons, the management were crooks, and you could see from one quarter's results they were a mess. I had yet to learn enough about reading annual reports, 10-Q's, 8-K's, insider trades, and other due diligence methods, but it worked out ok.
Still, whether it is stocks, bonds, currencies, real estate, commodities, venture capital, or anything involved with risking your funds, look before you leap, and look very hard. No is a good word with investing. No, no, no, no, no. The great Peter Lynch used to say you have to turn over a lot of rocks before you find a possible opportunity. With currencies, maybe look at the current trade account (deficit or sirplus), interest rate differentials, inflation differentials, fiscal sirplus or deficit, and political environment. You might even make a check list of what to look at before you spend your money. Don't forget Wooden's quote as he won 11 NCAA championships in 13 years for a reason.
The Jeremy Lin story just gets better and better, which is really awesome- take a look at this from Techcrunch on Siezing the Moment:http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/18/seize-your-opportunities-like-jeremy-lin/
Interesting business model emerges on lending your car to strangers for cash:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/technology/car-sharing-companies-link-owners-with-renters.html?_r=1&ref=business
What a mess with Steve Wynn as all the dirty laundry comes out:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203358704577233052477385494.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
It will be another interesting week on wall street as the Greece drama continues to unfold. Three years into this and the politicians still cannot make any decisions. Does anyone wonder why Europe has such competitive issues? Many believe Germany will call the shots there for a long time, but they also benefit from a weak Euro as their exports continue to gain share. A stronger currency does not help them at all.
Politically, all eyes are on Michigan as it may be that the Gettysburgh of this election is in Romney's home state. I still think he is the best candidate, but the hard line republicans just don't want any part of him. If Santorum or Gingrich is the nominee, Obama might win 45 states and cruise by 30 points. At least Romney gives the party a fighting chance, but if he loses, he just takes his 200 million with him and says good luck. I hope everyone has a great week and if you have any questions, comments, or thoughts on the blog post, please share them!!
As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk of losses on invested capital. One should research any investment and make sure it is suitable with your objectives, risk tolerance, risk profile liquidity considerations, tax situation, and anything else pertinent to your financial situation. Also, the CFA credential in no way implies investment returns will be superior for any charterholder.
(If you are interested in seeing the latest Seeking Alpha articles about specific stock picks from Yale Bock and Y H & C Investments, click the following links)
1) http://seekingalpha.com/article/375621-unilife-strives-to-be-a-major-player-in-medical-devices
2) http://seekingalpha.com/article/320102-marchex-contender-or-pretender-in-the-mobile-advertising-industry
3) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317215-american-greetings-a-value-trap-or-a-good-opportunity-for-outsized-gains
4) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317139-usa-technologies-possibly-building-a-payment-processing-juggernaut
5) http://seekingalpha.com/article/347561-cardionet-a-market-beater-or-a-value-trap
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Buffett vs Gross, Whitney Houston's Sad News, Digital Theft, and Why Persistence Pays Off!!!
Interesting contrast between Bill Gross, the largest manager of fixed income in the world at PIMCO, and Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Gross is heavily invested in U.S. Treasuries and Buffett believes they should come with a warning sign that says, "Hazardous to your financial health." My own belief is U.S. Treasuries are the biggest sucker bet because of the high prices, low yields, and low expectations for inflation. The view in the financial world is that it is the best asset to own which is negatively correlated to stock markets or commodities. Essentially, by owning treasuries you are betting the bond market bull run over the last 15 years keeps going unabated. There is a quote in finance that trees don't grow to the sky, but that is just my opinion. I would even lean more towards buying an ETF that shorts 10 year or 30 year treasuries, but you need a real strong stomach for that, and it has not worked for the last few years. Doesn't mean it won't work, but you could definately feel some pain if Europe falls apart. Here is a link to what Jim Cramer thinks about the debate (fron CNBC.com) :Cramer's Pick in Buffett vs Gross Bond Battle
The news that Whitney Houston died yesterday was sad. She sold over 170 million albums world wide and in her prime could really bring it. It is also a reminder if you don't take care of yourself and have good healthy habits you are going to run into problems. I look at this situation, or Michael Jackson, where you have people who have every reason to live and are self destructive and just think it is a waste of talent. Unfortunately, the most common thing in the world is wasted talent and intelligence. What is rare are guys like Buffett and Munger, who built themselves into billionaires, and built Berkshire Hathaway into a multi-billion dollar enterprise and helped build the wealth of tens of thousands of people. Yet Buffett takes more criticism these days than ever before. You have to wonder if there is anything in the world that is unassailable. Here is a link from Bloomberg on the Whitney Houston Story-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-12/whitney-houston-record-setting-popular-singer-film-actress-dies-at-48.html
Great article in the New York Times on digital theft at the highest levels, especially when traveling to China-http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/technology/electronic-security-a-worry-in-an-age-of-digital-espionage.html?ref=business
Another good example of an entrepreneur in the NY Times as well-http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/jobs/plum-districts-chief-on-investing-in-mom-power.html?ref=business
Nice article from CFO magazine regarding the return on investment of social media. By the way, CFO magazine is a super read for anybody interested in business-http://www3.cfo.com/article/2012/2/technology_social-media-roi
Great story in the NBA about the new point guard for the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin. Not drafted, cut last year by the Warriors, shows that persistence pays off. Reminds me of a good friend of mine-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-08/harvard-s-lin-boosts-knicks-interest-in-asia-with-record-setting-debut.html
I hope everyone has a good week and if you have any comments or questions, please post them!!!!
As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk of losses on invested capital. One should research any investment and make sure it is suitable with your objectives, risk tolerance, risk profile liquidity considerations, tax situation, and anything else pertinent to your financial situation. Also, the CFA credential in no way implies investment returns will be superior for any charterholder.
(If you are interested in seeing the latest Seeking Alpha articles about specific stock picks from Yale Bock and Y H & C Investments, click the following links)
1) http://seekingalpha.com/article/320102-marchex-contender-or-pretender-in-the-mobile-advertising-industry
2) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317215-american-greetings-a-value-trap-or-a-good-opportunity-for-outsized-gains
3) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317139-usa-technologies-possibly-building-a-payment-processing-juggernaut
4) http://seekingalpha.com/article/347561-cardionet-a-market-beater-or-a-value-trap
The news that Whitney Houston died yesterday was sad. She sold over 170 million albums world wide and in her prime could really bring it. It is also a reminder if you don't take care of yourself and have good healthy habits you are going to run into problems. I look at this situation, or Michael Jackson, where you have people who have every reason to live and are self destructive and just think it is a waste of talent. Unfortunately, the most common thing in the world is wasted talent and intelligence. What is rare are guys like Buffett and Munger, who built themselves into billionaires, and built Berkshire Hathaway into a multi-billion dollar enterprise and helped build the wealth of tens of thousands of people. Yet Buffett takes more criticism these days than ever before. You have to wonder if there is anything in the world that is unassailable. Here is a link from Bloomberg on the Whitney Houston Story-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-12/whitney-houston-record-setting-popular-singer-film-actress-dies-at-48.html
Great article in the New York Times on digital theft at the highest levels, especially when traveling to China-http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/technology/electronic-security-a-worry-in-an-age-of-digital-espionage.html?ref=business
Another good example of an entrepreneur in the NY Times as well-http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/jobs/plum-districts-chief-on-investing-in-mom-power.html?ref=business
Nice article from CFO magazine regarding the return on investment of social media. By the way, CFO magazine is a super read for anybody interested in business-http://www3.cfo.com/article/2012/2/technology_social-media-roi
Great story in the NBA about the new point guard for the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin. Not drafted, cut last year by the Warriors, shows that persistence pays off. Reminds me of a good friend of mine-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-08/harvard-s-lin-boosts-knicks-interest-in-asia-with-record-setting-debut.html
I hope everyone has a good week and if you have any comments or questions, please post them!!!!
As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk of losses on invested capital. One should research any investment and make sure it is suitable with your objectives, risk tolerance, risk profile liquidity considerations, tax situation, and anything else pertinent to your financial situation. Also, the CFA credential in no way implies investment returns will be superior for any charterholder.
(If you are interested in seeing the latest Seeking Alpha articles about specific stock picks from Yale Bock and Y H & C Investments, click the following links)
1) http://seekingalpha.com/article/320102-marchex-contender-or-pretender-in-the-mobile-advertising-industry
2) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317215-american-greetings-a-value-trap-or-a-good-opportunity-for-outsized-gains
3) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317139-usa-technologies-possibly-building-a-payment-processing-juggernaut
4) http://seekingalpha.com/article/347561-cardionet-a-market-beater-or-a-value-trap
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
A Good Job's Report (What?), Europe's Banks, Do It Yourself Apps, Young CEO's, and Urbanspoon's Growth-
On Friday, the stock market was temporarily impressed with the better than expected job growth of 257K the U.S. economy added in January of 2012. Investors in the stock market have been repeatedly burned by macroeconomic numbers showing subpar employment numbers. One of the reasons why there is so much pessimism in the investment and business world is the supposed recovery is one of lackluster growth. In comparison with other economic recoveries where growth averaged 4-6% (Reagan, Bush, Clinton), one that puts up annual numbers of 2% are hard to get excited about. Still, if the economy can continue to post job gains of over 200K per month on a consistent basis, more faith would be justified. Considering that in one month during the Reagan recovery, I believe there was a total of 1 million jobs created, 257K is nothing to, shall we say, do backflips over.
Still, as a stock market investor, we will take good news over bad news every day. Unfortunately, your stocks don't always go up with good news. In fact, they often go down on "Buy the rumor, sell the news." Which is fine, especially if you can find good companies at attractive prices. The harder you look, the more you discover, like turning over lots of rocks to find one diamond. If you find one good one in your life, it more than makes up for the disappointments.
The Super Bowl was a good, hard fought contest, and a pretty well played game. Madonna tried hard as well, although the woman who flipped off the crowd should be banned from network tv and blacklisted by the networks. Anyway, as always, mistakes cost a team and the two by Brady really hurt, especially the safety early in the game, which could be considered an unforced error. Also, I think the Giants mishandled their position and should have knelt down on the ball and kicked a field goal with very little time on the clock, that way Brady never gets on the field again. Giving the ball back to Brady and the Patriots offense, even with under a minute to go, was not very smart. How many times have we seen Terrific Tom come through to win a game at the end with a great drive. The Giants won and good for the city of New York, but that does not mean they handled that situation wisely, at least in my opinion.
Colorado and Minnesota hold primaries today, and we will see if Santorum can catch any momentum. If not, Mr. Romney looks like he will be tough to stop. He will have a lot of work to do raising money and mobilizing Republicans. I also think it is a good thing for him he is very underestimated by so many Democrats and the media, as well as conservatives who don't like his moderate positions. Mr. Romney has been a winner over the last 20 years and not understanding that is potentially a huge mistake.
Europe's Banks don't want to throw good money after bad- not a good sign for the Euro but you can bet many companies will be looking to acquire cheap assets there-http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/europes-banks-reluctant-to-aid-companies-in-need-of-cash/?src=me&ref=business
Nice article on companies creating applications on their own and how they can help productivity-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/do-it-yourself-mobile-applications-gain-honeywell-to-disney-embrace-tech.html
Youth Vs Experience as a CEO-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203315804577207131063501196.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Top
Urbanspoon's Growth is Driven By Mobile-http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/07/urbanspoon-traffic-up-80-in-2011-mobile-growth-faster-than-web/
I hope everyone has a great week and if you have any thoughts about the blog, comments, or questions, please share or email me at information@y-hc.com
As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk of losses on invested capital. One should research any investment and make sure it is suitable with your objectives, risk tolerance, risk profile liquidity considerations, tax situation, and anything else pertinent to your financial situation. Also, the CFA credential in no way implies investment returns will be superior for any charterholder.
(If you are interested in seeing the latest Seeking Alpha articles about specific stock picks from Yale Bock and Y H & C Investments, click the following links)
1) http://seekingalpha.com/article/320102-marchex-contender-or-pretender-in-the-mobile-advertising-industry
2) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317215-american-greetings-a-value-trap-or-a-good-opportunity-for-outsized-gains
3) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317139-usa-technologies-possibly-building-a-payment-processing-juggernaut
4) http://seekingalpha.com/article/347561-cardionet-a-market-beater-or-a-value-trap
Still, as a stock market investor, we will take good news over bad news every day. Unfortunately, your stocks don't always go up with good news. In fact, they often go down on "Buy the rumor, sell the news." Which is fine, especially if you can find good companies at attractive prices. The harder you look, the more you discover, like turning over lots of rocks to find one diamond. If you find one good one in your life, it more than makes up for the disappointments.
The Super Bowl was a good, hard fought contest, and a pretty well played game. Madonna tried hard as well, although the woman who flipped off the crowd should be banned from network tv and blacklisted by the networks. Anyway, as always, mistakes cost a team and the two by Brady really hurt, especially the safety early in the game, which could be considered an unforced error. Also, I think the Giants mishandled their position and should have knelt down on the ball and kicked a field goal with very little time on the clock, that way Brady never gets on the field again. Giving the ball back to Brady and the Patriots offense, even with under a minute to go, was not very smart. How many times have we seen Terrific Tom come through to win a game at the end with a great drive. The Giants won and good for the city of New York, but that does not mean they handled that situation wisely, at least in my opinion.
Colorado and Minnesota hold primaries today, and we will see if Santorum can catch any momentum. If not, Mr. Romney looks like he will be tough to stop. He will have a lot of work to do raising money and mobilizing Republicans. I also think it is a good thing for him he is very underestimated by so many Democrats and the media, as well as conservatives who don't like his moderate positions. Mr. Romney has been a winner over the last 20 years and not understanding that is potentially a huge mistake.
Europe's Banks don't want to throw good money after bad- not a good sign for the Euro but you can bet many companies will be looking to acquire cheap assets there-http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/europes-banks-reluctant-to-aid-companies-in-need-of-cash/?src=me&ref=business
Nice article on companies creating applications on their own and how they can help productivity-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/do-it-yourself-mobile-applications-gain-honeywell-to-disney-embrace-tech.html
Youth Vs Experience as a CEO-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203315804577207131063501196.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Top
Urbanspoon's Growth is Driven By Mobile-http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/07/urbanspoon-traffic-up-80-in-2011-mobile-growth-faster-than-web/
I hope everyone has a great week and if you have any thoughts about the blog, comments, or questions, please share or email me at information@y-hc.com
As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk of losses on invested capital. One should research any investment and make sure it is suitable with your objectives, risk tolerance, risk profile liquidity considerations, tax situation, and anything else pertinent to your financial situation. Also, the CFA credential in no way implies investment returns will be superior for any charterholder.
(If you are interested in seeing the latest Seeking Alpha articles about specific stock picks from Yale Bock and Y H & C Investments, click the following links)
1) http://seekingalpha.com/article/320102-marchex-contender-or-pretender-in-the-mobile-advertising-industry
2) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317215-american-greetings-a-value-trap-or-a-good-opportunity-for-outsized-gains
3) http://seekingalpha.com/article/317139-usa-technologies-possibly-building-a-payment-processing-juggernaut
4) http://seekingalpha.com/article/347561-cardionet-a-market-beater-or-a-value-trap
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