Owner: Story-Stocks.com URL:http://www.story-stocks.com Join Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:31:08 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Story-stocks.com focuses on individual stock analysis and personal finance tips. Site statistics:Click here
Characteristics of a Winning Investment, Part II 2008-02-14 03:42:00 Generally the stocks I single out for investigation on this blog share many traits. In an ongoing series I outline the qualifications of these story-stocks.When I invest in a particular stock, I'm really investing in the people employed by the corportation. While I do not know them generally, it's easy enough for me to find out certain things about them. The first thing I want to know is whether they believe in themselves. This, I can ascertain by investigating the level of insider ownership.Insider ownership is represented by the percentage of outstanding shares in a public company owned by the directors, managers, officers, or others who have key 'insider' knowledge of the operations of said company.In a general sense I'm looking for corporations whose insiders own at least 10% of the op Read more:Winning
Stock Market Riches on $3 a Day? 2008-02-12 11:27:00 Let us imagine that you're just starting out. Maybe you're working a 9-to-5 and your pocketbook isn't exactly overflowing with disposable investment income. Still you'd like to build up some measure of a nest egg for the future. Happily, I can report, you are not out of luck.The first step requires that you take inventory of your financial situation. Full time wage earners in the United States earn a minium wage of $5.35 an hour. Hopefully you're doing a little better. But let's say you're not. How can a person earning $42.80 for each eight hour shift save anything with which to invest.Admittedly, it won't be easy. But imagine you could place just $3.00 aside each day. That would add up to $1095.00 a year. Obviously, we are beginning to arrive somewhere.Saving $3.00 a day might take a litt Read more:Stock
, Market
, Stock Market
Why Mutual Funds Fail To Beat the Market 2008-02-12 05:52:00 Perhaps you have heard that 75% of actively managed mutual funds will fail to keep pace with the general market over any significant period of time. Well, you heard right. With history as my guide, I can confidently proclaim that the vast majority of mutual funds will underperform the market over the next five years.There are a number of reasons for this. Let's look at a few:1. Mutual
funds are often overdiversified.A diversified mutual fund must hold a minimum of 20 stocks, with many funds owning over 100 or even a thousand individual securities. As you might imagine it's difficult to reap the rewards of a big winner if it represents 1% of your total assets. Furthermore, who has 100 or 1000 good investment ideas at any time. Of course that's not the only reason funds fail to outperform th Read more:Market
, Funds
Characteristics of a Winning Investment, Part I 2008-02-12 02:21:00 Generally the stocks I signal out for investigation on this blog share many traits. In an ongoing series I outline the qualifications of these story-stocks.Naturally we're all looking for investments that will generate a superior return on our capital. If we're long the market, we're looking for issues that will rise at a greater rate than the market as a whole. If we're short, we search out the opposite. Let's assume that over the long term you expect the market to rise and are looking for issues that will outperform the market as measured by some benchmark like the S&P 500.When I go stock hunting, I'm probably rather a lot like you. I look for stocks that I think can double, triple, or more over a significant period of time.If you were to present me with a list of ticker symbols my f Read more:Winning
JMBA: Undervalued on a P/S Basis 2008-02-08 00:04:00 Sometimes a confluence of events serves to provide investors with a bountiful windfall or a demoralizing defeat. Often times the same series of events will produce both effects dependent only on which side of the trade one is on. That may be what has happened in the case of Jamba Juice (JMBA).In the past six months Jamba's stock has swooned from $8 a share in September to close yesterday at $2.76. Several factors contributed to the freefall. Last month the company reported fourth quarter and fiscal year 2007 results to the disappointment of the street. Analysts called for revenue to measure $64 million for the quarter and $327 million for the year. Jamba reported $54.5 and $317.1, respectively. The stock lost 15% in the session following the announcement.Jamba Juice has continued to langui Read more:Basis
iROBOT: Too obvious, too pricey 2008-02-07 01:05:00 Of all the stories I've come across in researching articles for this blog this might be my favorite, or at least the most fascinating. Today we'll be talking robots. Rock 'em. Sock 'em. Robots. Yup, robots!Founded by "roboticists" from MIT, iRobot Corp. (IRBT) operates on the cutting edge of technology. iRobot's robotic offerings are targeted towards providing solutions to problems that are too "dirty, dull or dangerous" for humans to happily resolve. In the future robots may battle mankind for control of the earth, but for now they're happy enough to do our vacuuming and mopping. According to the company its robotic offerings will in time extend to a "broad array of markets such as law enforcement, homeland security, commercial cleaning, elderly care, oil services, home automation, landsc
infoUSA: Scaring the Greed Right Outta My Hair 2008-02-05 23:16:00 It sometimes takes courage to buy when the faint of heart are fleeing. In investing, like in life, cliches abound that command us to go against the grain and be greedy when others are fearful. However, equally important are the words of Kenny Rogers who advised that one ought to know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em. These are the thoughts pulsing through my brain at the moment as I relfect upon one infoUSA (IUSA).The company, which operates salesgenie.com and peddles various marketing lists, elicits in me the great, dichotomous emotions of investing: greed and fear. First, a quick digression. I came by infoUSA while reading a recap of this year's slate of SuperBowl ads. For the second consecutive year, infoUSA ran ads for salesgenie.com that were universally panned as unfunny a Read more:Greed
, Right
Let's Get Digital 2008-02-02 14:23:00 How often does a company with $160 million in debt and nearly $17 million in losses in fiscal year 2006 capture my attention? Rather infrequently I must confess. However, the IMAX corportation has achieved the status of an exemption. IMAX controls a niche in the specialty exhibition business, and they may finally be leveraging that status into prolonged profitability and growth.In December, IMAX announced a deal with AMC Entertainment to install 100 digital projection systems in theatres in 33 American markets. In July of 2008 the company will roll out the first 50 units. In January they followed this pact with the announcement of 12 more screens in China and the Phillipines. This deal increases the IMAX footprint by nearly 40%. And certainly caught my attention. But as I thought about the Read more:Digital
It's a Land Grab 2008-02-01 07:15:00 I subscribed to a newsletter from the Motley Fool not too long ago and received a copy of their Stocks 2007 publication. One of the companies highlighted, Marchex, purchased more than 100,000 domain names in 2006 for over $150 million. After this purchase, the company owned well over 200,000 unique URLs on the this world wide web. Well, this got me to thinking, as there are only so many usable configurations of letters and numbers that might be suitable for such a thing. I wondered, how much can a portfolio of 200,000 domains be worth?We'll get to that in a moment. For the time being, Marchex has parked the vast majority of their sites and littered them with some pay-per-click ads. To be sure they're not the most appealing destinations. But so what. They have 200,000 of them. Try lasvegas
Underfollowed Metretek Merits Monitoring 2007-03-03 19:46:00 Can Metretek (MEK), a small cap ($190 million) provider of gas and electric energy measurement products, services and systems continue to obliterate analysts projections? The company has substantially bested estimates for the last two quarters (by 39% and 112% respectively) and is expected to post Q4 earnings of $0.22 a share on Tuesday, March 13. The company, which is only followed by only a couple of firms, provided full year guidance of $0.68 to $0.72 per share for fiscal 2006.I expect MEK to also issue further guidance for 2007. In the Q3 conference call the company offered preliminary guidance of $15.5 million in income, $137 million in revenue, and $0.89 a share in earnings. If Metretek can deliver on these numbers, year over year earnings would see 29% growth. Not too shabby for a c
optionsXpress: Making a Name in the Options Game 2007-03-03 16:58:00 Over the past few years equity options have emerged as a "viable" investment vehicle shedding their previous label as a gimmick best suited to gamblers. A beneficiary of this new mentality has been online broker optionsXpress (OXPS) which now accounts for nearly 3 percent of all options trades in the United States.Options
Xpress, which raised its dividend by 25% on Friday, operates exclusively online without cumbersome retail locations to maintain. Without brick-and-mortar branches it has implemented an easy-to-use platform and sports top-notch customer service. I recently opened an account and found it to be the easiest process I've ever encountered for an online service company. They even provided a printable FedEx mailing label so I could deliver a hard copy of my application easily and
Losing OUT? 2007-02-26 18:14:00 Here's a story for you: An integrated publishing (both print and interactive) and lifestyle company creates a dominant brand catering to a hungry, relatively affluent, and otherwise neglected clientele. Better still the company is small ($70 million market cap) with plenty of room to grow and owns properties, online and off, that dominate their respective niches. Sounds pretty nice, no? I thought so, for the reasons mentioned above, when I first stumbled onto PlanetOut Inc. (LGBT) the preeminent supplier of content and entertainment services targeted to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.(Note: I may lose some of you right at the first mention of "lesbian..." The fact that this company operates in "alternative" territory is bound to turn off some potential investors. Myse
Does Myspace Make News Corp a Buy? 2007-02-24 13:07:00 Recently I found myself in the all-too-familiar lengthy line at my bank. As I bid my time thinking about the latest Celtics game, I overheard a conversation between two twenty-somethings just in front of me."I can't stand my job right now. They changed the network so we can't get on Myspace anymore. Can you believe that?!? I spent, like, four hours a day on Myspace," gasped one gal."Oh my God, what are you goin' do?" was her friends astonished response.My ears shot up. Not being a Myspacer myself, I wasn't exceedingly familiar with the social networking site. I had seen the Newsweek cover and the frequent news stories on the the site's popularity, but I didn't grasp "it" until that moment in the bank. Suddenly I realized the profit potential of the Myspace phenomenon. This young woman *nee
The Story on The Street 2007-02-21 19:22:00 Sporting a market cap of just under $325 million, The Street
.com (TSCM) is a small cap in a formerly hot sector, with a quality balance sheet, and a unique story to tell. In other words it's a trifecta! If I was to sum up the story of TSCM in one word, I'd have to say: Cramer. And -- this I hope is clear if you're reading this blog -- I'm not referring to the Seinfeld character.Jim Cramer, the co-founder and largest individual shareholder of TSCM, has become a cottage industry unto himself. With two best-selling investment hardcovers and the immensely popular Mad Money program on CNBC, he has positioned himself as a major commodity. Millions of people love, listen, and invest along with Mr. Cramer. Love him or hate him, his persona shines so brightly it would be fair to say he's reached st
The Newsletter is FREE! 2007-02-18 19:57:00 The Story-Stock.com newsletter gives readers a fresh stock each month that I believe can deliver market beating returns over the long term. My stock picking history suggests the newsletter may outperform by a statistically significant margin. And it's yours to try free!Each newsletter selection delivers a unique investment thesis, an irresistible story if you will. I comb through the equity universe and find the very best opportunities for your money. I deliver to you a thoroughly vetted investment thesis and you decide if a particular story makes sense for your portfolio. Also, from time to time, guest analysts may make selections for the newsletter. Their choices will be tracked, just like mine, over time against the S&P 500. The results will be available for your perusal at any time.Hop
Welcome to Story-Stocks 2007-02-17 16:41:00 You've landed at story-stocks.com, my personal investment blog. And who am I? Well, my name is Bryan Stabile, and I'm an individual investor and stock picker. On story-stocks I'll be providing my personal takes on the market and highlighting individual companies whose "stories" are so compelling that I think their stock prices are bound to go higher. It's these high concept stocks that I'll be focusing on, partly because they tend to represent the most interesting companies, but mostly because I think they can be exorbinantly profitable.Additionally, I will publish a monthly stock pick via my newsletter with the goal of significantly outperforming the S&P 500 over the long term. I'll track my results here for all to see. So check back often.One final note: I subscribe to a get-rich-slo Read more:Welcome
, Stocks
Recommend Site To A Friend
