The current fiscal cliff talks have caused a number of stocks to pull back in value. There are quite a few stocks who have become decent buying opportunities while others have become potentially worthless. One such company is in the technology industry. The company in question is the computer retailer Hewlett Packard Company (HPQ). Is HP a value play right now or a value trap? [Read more...]

Investors often look in the wrong place when they are trying to find a company that can make them a lot of cash. Investors are attracted to the big name companies like Walmart’s (WMT), Exxon’s (XOM), Nike’s (NKE), and Coca Cola’s (KO) of the world. While these are all great companies that can make money for investors over time, they are not great growth stocks. Large cap stocks have a place in the portfolio of investors as income generators, defensive plays, or stable growers. Investors looking to take some risks with their cash should look for a certain type of stock. [Read more...]

Facebook launched its initial public offering a few weeks ago and a lot of investors gobbled up shares of the stock. Facebook had a lot of things going in its favor. The company has name recognition. Facebook is incredible well known with over 600 million people having accounts. Social media is one of the hottest niches in the technology market place and investors are lining up to throw cash at the sector. Combine all of the factors and you can see why Facebook’s stock price hit $45 a share.

The bloom quickly came off of the rose and Facebook has seen its stock price tumble dramatically. Shares of Facebook have plummeted 55% as investors have been burned by the pricey IPO. Now Facebook is trading slightly above $20 per share. The stock dropped because a number of larger firms dumped their shares on the open market burning smaller investors. There was also some concern over the short term revenue and profit growth.

While growth investors may hate to see a stock like Facebook plummet. As a value investor, I love it when a quality company has a major price dip. That is a buying opportunity to me.

I love Facebook as a social media website but the stock was clearly overpriced.
Facebook was trading at 9 times book value, 85 times earnings, and 3 times the projected growth rate. The future P/E ratio was near 70. There was no reason that Facebook deserved such a lofty valuation except for hype. While I did not like Facebook at its IPO price, I do think that the stock is worth a shot in this price range. I would buy Facebook in the $18-$20 range as much of the risk has disappeared from the investment.

The P/E ratio is still high but Facebook’s P/E ratio is much closer to the projected growth rate of the company. Facebook has a massive $10 billion dollar cash hoard and virtually no debt. The company is still in the early stages of capitalizing on its online advertising. Facebook’s $1.8 billion in free cash flow should continue to rise long term. The 3.5 price to book value is right in line with industry competitors.

Google and Apple have been on a tear with both companies taking out the $600 level. The same cannot be said of all technology companies. There are a few laggards out there that seem to be keeping the NASDAQ from reaching its optimal level. Let’s take a look at a few tech giants that have been stuck in a holding pattern. [Read more...]

ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, are among the most popular investment tools for newbie investors. Much like mutual funds, they consist of a group of stocks or commodities based on an existing index, such as the S&P 500 or NASDAQ. They may also consist of a group of stocks in the same general industry, such as the Global X Fishing Industry ETF, which contains holdings in twenty fishing-related companies. [Read more...]

My aim is to always be honest with the readers of my blog. I always try to keep them informed of my winning and losing investment ideas. Most of my picks have been dead on but occasionally I have some picks that go the other way. One of these is the company Apple. [Read more...]

This may sound like a broken record but Yahoo is undergoing a major overhaul once again. The company’s cofounder Jerry Yang resigned from the Board of Directors this week stepping down from a post that he has held for years. Yang’s departure has caused a temporary bump in the stock price as investors seem to be in favor of the move. So, is Yahoo finally ready to get things right? [Read more...]