Anyone have some good stock suggestions?

Telecom, Biotech, and Internet are the hottest markets at the moment. If you have no idea about these markets, don't trade the stocks unless you've done research because their return graphs look like a seismograph reading. Some of the hottest trends in the market today are B2B solutions providers, human genome research, Internet caching services, networking providers, fiber optics-related companies, and wireless transmission of data. Small and mid-cap stocks are the hottest stocks out there as well, with blue-chip stocks taking a backseat at the moment in terms of ROI. If you're going for solid growth in the future, a lot of the old blue chip and large market cap companies are still good bets. I still own Oracle, but that's about as "blue chip" as I'll get. I'm still young and love to take risks.

As for specific stocks, I'll let you do the research, but the following are what I own :

JDSU - JDS Uniphase
MERQ - Mercury Interactive
ORCL - Oracle
ARBA - Ariba
SAPE - Sapient
CMRC - Commerce One
XLA - Excelera.com (hottest stock of the century quite possibly)
ROBO - Eshed Robotech (bought today at $7 and it's about to close at around $11-$12. I doubt this is a long-term hold).

I also own some funds :

JAGTX - Janus Global Technology
JAENX - Janus Enterprise
JAGLX - Janus Global Life Sciences
JAOLX - Janus Olympus
VIGRX - Vanguard Index Growth
and various others through my 401k and IRA accounts.

If you're new to investing, do yourself a favor and read about it before you start. Don't rely on others to give you stock or fund picks. Do your own "due diligence" and make informed decisions. The earlier youg get started, the better. I started investing when I was 15 because my dad forced me to. It's amazing how fast money compounds in terms of return on investment, especially in this market. There are people in their 30's that are millionaires because of this. I know a family whose members never made more than $40,000 as individuals; they are about to retire in their early 50's as millionaires because of investments.

Those of you throwing your money away on sports cards and comic books, take it from somebody who did the same : looking back I wish I had invested $500 in Microsoft or AOL rather than looking for that Shaq rookie card. Good grief.

Ok, I'm off my soap box. =)

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[This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited March 03, 2000).]

 

Phi-
True story 2 days ago on Wednesday I pulled some dollars from a mutual fund account (only about $3000) and I was debating between 2 stocks - Krogers (KR) & AT&T (T). I actually had a friend of mine tell me last thursday that their stock was at 46, but they were told it could go to 90 within the year.
Instead I though Kroger was undervalued at 14 1/2 or so. SO I stuck all that money in Kroger.
On Thursday AT&T was up 2 and it was up over 6 on Thursday. Not sure today, it was probably close to the same.
So I don't know if AT&T is still a good buy, but I'm kicking myself in the a$$!

 

I prefer chicken stock over fish stock with just a bit of Cayenne pepper... BAM!

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Thanks!!! I'm new at the market and will take a look at some of your suggestions. My 401K blossomed so fast I thought that maybe I should dip into the market a little as well. So here I am. I'm still young enough to make a buck or two. I'll take your advice on doing the research first. I've heard a lot about the Human Genome company in recent weeks and figure maybe I should stick to what I know...which is Biotechnology and Medicine. I'm not that familiar with the Technology stocks, but it seems to me that everyone under the sun is putting money in that direction. I'm looking for long term investments....some of which will hopefully pay off. I'm a little nervous, but willing to take a chance.

What are your thoughts on the funds? A few people have told me they can be risky and have gotten burned (airline). So I'm hesitant to dive into something like that. I guess I thought they would be safer, but have heard differently. What's your take? Or does it all just depend on the amount of research one does. Also, I noticed you do a lot with Janus. How have you done with that Group? I'm not invested with them, but noticed that they have made some very good investments.

Thanks again, and feel free to give any advice you think will help.

Phi




[This message has been edited by PhiSlammaJamma (edited March 03, 2000).]

 

Phi,

If you are new to investing, don't jump into Biotech stocks individually yet. I'd rather get into biotech funds. Biotech stocks fluctuate wildly even though many are going up like crazy at the moment. My suggestion is the following :

1) buy one or two books about mutual fund investing. Make one of them "Mutual Funds for Dummies". Read it from front to back before you invest. I think it's a couple of years old, so whatever you do, don't just automatically buy the funds it recommends since we are in a different era of investing from even just 3 years ago. But do practice what it preaches in there. It'll help you learn about the taxes associated with funds, the load funds, the no-load funds, etc. You'll understand the jargon. The book is written by Eric Tyson and is usually recommended as a great book for newbies to mutual funds. You may also want to pick up his "Investing for Dummies" book as well.

2) Different sites on the Internet have stock picking games you can play. Join a couple of these. You'll get a decent idea of what stocks you'd like to pick are doing by investing play money. I believe CNet and maybe Yahoo! have these games running on a monthly basis. If you have problems finding one, let me know; I'll find a couple for you.

3) Do NOT invest a dime until you know the pros and cons of investing, how it affects you tax-wise, etc. The "Mutual Funds for Dummies" and "Investing for Dummies" books will educate you on this.

4) Do NOT dump your life savings into this yet. While you're learning invest a little to see how it goes. See if you're a long-term investor or if you're one that runs for the hills when things start going bad for one or two days.

5) If you read Usenet newsgroups, go to the misc.invest.mutual-funds newsgroup and read what everyone's posting. A lot of good knowledge in there (and of course it has its share of idiots, too ).

6) The summer and early-fall months tend to be a rough time for stocks. Be prepared for the market to head south during these months. Figure out ahead of time what you'd do if the funds or stocks you own headed south. If you're under 30, and you're in it for the long term, one or two blips shouldn't mean anything to you, but still, think about it and prepare for it.

I pick Janus funds because they have incredible returns, low expense ratios, and are no-load funds. I don't like buying funds with loads when they have counterparts with no loads doing just as well. You'll understand what loads are when you start reading about them.

There are several biotech plays out there that are already returning over 30% - 50% out there. JAGLX is just one of them.

The beautfy of funds (in many cases) is, they allow you to invest in a sector or group of funds without really knowing that much about the sector. The fund manager handles all the stock-picking.

Also, we are living in some incredible times thanks in a large part due to the technology boom, especially the Internet. The returns people have been getting during the most recent bull run(s) for the past decade are NOT normal. The market can correct (another word for "tank"... hehe) at any time. You haven't felt misery until you watch one of your stocks drop 40-50% in one DAY. So be prepared for that.

Lastly, like I keep saying, research your own investments. Know why you're picking what you're picking. Don't pick stocks or funds simply because "Uncle Joe" or "a friend" said it was hot. Biotech used to be hot a few years ago, then tanked. Now it's hot again. Learn to recognize these cycles on your own.

Online intro to mutual fund investing site that may help you :
http://www.vanguard.com/educ/inveduc.html

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Well, do you?

 

Max out your Roth(and you wifes, if you plan on being with her till she retires) ... then hit into your 401K

When I was a kid, my dad invested a few bucks into some gov. bonds. After 5 years they doubled. Do your kids a favor ... When they are born, throw a thousand or so $$$ into a mutal fund and never look back ... They'll be millionares before they hit 30! I just wished my dad did that ...

 

Space is right on the retirement funds.
Max out your tax deferred investments (Roth, 401(k)) first. Then, if you have money left over, you can invest outside of your retirement funds.

However, I wouldn't suggest giving money to your kids. For starters, when applying for financial aid, a child's assets count about seven times more than the parents. This can kill any chances at aid. Also, the child will have full access to the funds at 18...which can be a problem with some kids. To keep it simple, I would just set some money aside in your name which is earmarked for education, etc.

As for investing, I think you've got some pretty good advice here. The key is reading. A lot of reading. It's your money, make sure you know EXACTLY what you are buying!

Good luck!

 

Redglare

Why would your child need finicial aid if he has, lets say ... (being conservitive here) $500,000 he has invested? College (masters degree) by then will probably cost in the $100,000 range. If you raise your child right they will know how to handle that money and not blow it away.

 

Ghost...

Right on both counts. I think if you are talking about someone who can CONSERVATIVELY put assets worth $500,000 in their child's name, then the parents (who would more than likely have serious dough in their own right) would have no concern about financial aid. I guess I was aiming that advice to the average joe, who won't have those type of assets at their discretion.

I agree that if you raise your children right, you should not have the problem of them blowing through their assets. But it CAN potentially be a problem, and that was the point I was making.

[This message has been edited by Redglare (edited March 04, 2000).]

 

I´d invest in China...China Telecom for example.

Or some decent German stocks -- Deutsche Bank , BMW...

 

Everyone in this thread is right that you should max out your tax-deferred investments (i.e. Roth and 401K) before investing in anything else.

As for the rest of their advice, ignore it all. Put your money in a stock index fund (e.g., S&P 500 or total stock market) with the lowest possible management fees (a fraction of a percent) and walk away. You are not smarter than the rest of the market. Neither am I. The odds are that only one person in this thread gave you stock-picking advice that will beat the index funds. And the odds are that you won't correctly guess which person that is. I certainly can't.

 

Will,

That theory was true maybe 3-5 years ago and before, but if you put your money into an S&P500 now, you'd be losing money. The conventional wisdom over the past few years has been very few fund managers beat the S&P 500 Index. That was absolutely correct as about 75-80% of all actively-managed funds underperformed funds that tracked the S&P500. However, if you invested in the "average" Tech fund last year, you'd have about a 60-80+ % return. And that destroyed the S&P's return last year. If you're under 30, you'd be missing out on some of the biggest returns in the history of the market to be "average". Of course whatever you pick is your own decision, but the returns over the past 2 or so years show that you can not only beat the S&P, but destroy it.

What's important to realize in all this is, only the individual investor can make a decision as to how much risk he/she's willing to take and that's what ultimately decides what you invest in.

Conservatives go with what Will said. Younger risk-takers who have time to come back in case of major corrections that affect a sector may want to be a bit riskier.

Let me back myself up a bit:

VFINX (Vanguard's Index 500 fund) : -5.8% YTD
JAGLX (biotech) : 71.9% YTD
JAGTX (tech) : 28.4% YTD
JAOLX (various) : 21.3% YTD
JAENX (various) : 29.0% YTD

All returns courtesy of www.forbes.com.

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[This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited March 04, 2000).]

 

Dr -- You're a smart dude, so you may be right. But your comparison of the index funds to the tech or biotech funds is at least inadvertently rigged. You talk about what would have happened if you'd put money in an average tech or biotech fund last year. Fine. But what if you'd put it in an average tech or biotech fund 10 years ago for the short term? Or what if you'd put it in an average health or energy fund last year? Remember when international funds were the hot thing, when Russia and Latin America funds looked great? What happened to the geniuses who went into those funds in '98?

The point is, you can always look back a year or two or five and observe a couple of sectors that whipped the index funds. But only now (ex post facto) do you know which sectors turned out to be the right ones.

This is not a matter of how much risk you can afford. This is a matter of whether the risk makes sense. If most sectors don't beat the index funds, and if you can't pick the right sectors, then you lose -- no matter whether your time horizon is next year or 50 years from now.

Those of you who think you can predict the right sector at the right time, go right ahead.

 

sizzlin'

 

Nope. I can't predict what's going to happen any better than anyone else. I can, however, see that biotech has been charging upwards for the past 3-6 months at least. I can jump in and ride it until I see a downtrend. Been doing this for the past 10 or so years. Just like I see the wireless industry is picking up steam now. I'm already looking for funds that invest solely in it (there's only one from what I see so far). It's not about "predicting", it's about "reacting". Once I see a downturn in biotech, I dump those funds. No one can predict, but anyone can "react" with any reasonable amount of research. Just how much research you want to do is what makes you the "type of investor you are". If you're a dump it into VFINX and forget about it investor (as I used to be, because I owned that fund for a while), then there's nothing wrong with that. To each his own.

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Oh Lord, we now have a fanclub for LHutz? Apocalypse is upon us.

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a great place to start:

www.fool.com