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Spin

Ok, lets see if we can make some imaginary money to donate to Teakdoor.
Ive been watching and waiting for a few companies to pull back from recent highs and today the price levels have reached lower than I was expecting.

Lets look at the companies I've chosen...

Potash This is a fertilizer company based in Canada.

Mosiac Another fertilizer company.

MonsantoThis company supplies seeds (including genetically modified stuff)


First SolarThis company makes solar panels and are a market leader.

Spin

So heres how the Teakdoor donation portfolio looks right now, since I placed the trades the market has moved in our favour and were up 4600$ DD needs much more than that to maintain his swanky lifestyle so lets not take any profits just yet, we need to make big so that DD can barfine whole sois and ship them home in a convoy of bahtbusses

Because we are using imaginary money, I spent big, way more than i can afford to do in real life That little lot cost over 105,000 U$

Spin

Ok so the market closed early today, 1pm eastern USA time. We made 4722$ in just a few short hours. The markets closed tomorrow as its July 4th and most yankies will be watching re-runs of the movie "Independance day" and whooping and throwing popcorn at their tellys
Anything could happen on Monday though. We might lose the whole lot or we could make some more cash and put a smile on DD face.

Spin

Talk about talking to yourself

Here is a link to some charts so you can see where things are at for each company.....
First Solar
Potash
Monsanto
Mosiac

Jet Gorgon

Interesting picks, Spin. But you are almost wholly weighted in the agro sector, with a solar company thrown in...hehe
Monsanto is a big co, but I do not like its operating mentality -- farmers must buy its GM seeds every year, rather than saving seeds to replant. The company also gets farmers to snitch on each other if one of them sneaks last year's seedlings for sowing. I think the co is doing well in developing countries.
I would add a few financials in the mix, oil service companies (the guys who lease and fix rigs) and utilities for stability. Haven't picked any yet.

Thormaturge

Potash Corporation has been a favourite of mine for the past year, and I mentioned it on here a while back. Above is their performance chart for the past 12 months.

The recent fallback is probably due to speculative profit taking.

I wouldn't want to be holding any stock in financial institutions, and in particular insurance companies. Not only will there be a deluge of legitimate claims but the number of people torching warehouses, sinking ships and setting light to the hearthrug for an few extra bucks is going to soar as the world lurches deeper into recession. Additional loss adjusting costs and increased claims will cripple the insurance industry.

NickA

I will give you a piece of advice that I have gained from many many years of working in the money markets. I'm now a retired multi-millionaire.

buy low, sell high

mrsquirrel

^ You can do something similar on MSN Spin and set up a group where we compete.

Spin

Just on this thread jet, it real life I have a slightly wider choice, but lets face it, with so many sectors in trouble there isnt much to choose from. These four are the one that should move up again quickly and solve all DD's sandwich buying problems.
Yes, I'm pretty sure its a buying opportunity. Buy when others are dumping shares of good companies for no good reason is how I approach things.
great idea, how many are up for it? perhaps we can get some tips from each other....
Much easier said than done Nick unfortunatley

Rattanaburi

Interesting thread, Spin. I will be interested in seeing if you've made good choices. Too bad you don't have any lower-priced stocks to suggest!

Spin

I'm keeping an eye on them and have a couple of targets in mind. Purchasing US housing companies is something I want to do also (Toll Brothers in one i will buy i think). Problem is, just when you look at these companies and think "damn they're cheap now" a few days later they fall another 10-15% or whatever! It like catching a falling knife isnt it?
I think just nibbling away at a position 10 or 20 shares per month in companies like Citi might be a good policy. At those levels if things go Bear Stearns the losses should be minimal. Long term, its a double your money situation I feel.
Jet, which financials would you recommend?

Agent_Smith

Would now be a good time to sell my Enron stock or should I wait for a turnaround?

Spin

Been sniffing around for more relative bargains and FCX Freeport McMoran copper and gold mining company looks pretty beaten up this week. No real reason other than the fact this stock gets dumped heavily when the market gets choppy. Have made money on this one before as it tends to rebound pretty quickly after sell offs. I added 200 at fridays closing price of 108.64$

bkkandrew

Can we use the fund to short stocks? I think more money could be made...

Spin

Yeah sure, but the bloomberg thing doesnt show shorts But we can do the maths ourselves.
Actually I was planning to shift most of the longs i bought into shorts when the technicals indicate any overbought situation but thats a few weeks away yet.
What companies do you have in mind?

bkkandrew

Barrett Developments. BDEV:IX
HBOS:IX

Both fallen sharply, but have a long way to go.

GooMaiRoo

Fertilizer companies like TNH, MOS, POT and SQM were a good call a year ago but have become a bubble of their own and really dropped off the past month or so. I'm not so sure how to take advantage of the financial chaos that seems to be unfolding. A US exchange traded fund 'ultra-short' of the financials called SKF has been good to me. It also helps me to revel in the misery of those as*sholes. Some of the small long-term US water and electric infrastructure companies such as CLHB, AZZ and BMI seem immune to the US downturn. The Vietnamese stock market has been the worst performer in the world this year and this can't continue seeing how smart and hard-working the Vietnamese are compared to others in the region (and how much foreign investment is going there), but there's little transparency and the only vehicle I know to invest there is a battered US pink-sheet Vietnamese fund called VTOPF.PK. Another US exchange traded fund for agricultural firms, DBA, might be a good choice.

GooMaiRoo

I like the way you think. As a small investor who does my own research and doesn't have the wherewithal to actually short individual stocks, I can easily buy short ETFs such as SKF (mentioned in my previous post). Without going too far off-topic, does anyone have ideas on contra-funds, short ETFs and other ways to profit from a downturn of a specific sector without actually shorting individual stocks? It might also be a way to spread the shorting risk with our imaginary TD portfolio.

Spin

I agree to a certain extent but i think theres a little bit more milage to be had on the upside yet.

Skf has been good to me also, maybe the financials are oversold right now and a rally might pan out in the near future. Be looking to take a position if it pulls back to 120 ish.

Butterfly

I am buying nuclear stocks, should be fun