Today’s Investments

For my long term investment portfolio, I added 100 more shares of General Electric at $12.95.

For my short term trading, I bought 750 shares of Ultra Financials Proshares(UYG) at $2.84. Financial stocks are trades right now. Every bank stock got slaughtered today. Some examples: PNC bank lost over $15 per share today to close at $22. Citigroup lost 20% of its value today to close at $2.80. Bank of America lost nearly 30% of its value to close at $5.10. M&T Bank was down 10% to close ar $35.60. Wells Fargo & JPMorgan Chase down over 20% a piece. Some of these stocks deserved to be punished but every financial stock didn’t deserve the beating that they took.

Interesting Stocks

Listed below are a few stocks that I have been trading in and out of over the past two months based on when I think shares are cheap.

Bank of America(BAC) dropped to the $10 price level today. As stated in a previous post, I sold off all shares at $17. I am waiting for the stock to hit the single digits and then I will be a big buyer again. A dividend cut is definitely coming. While Bank of America and Citigroup(C) are expected to report big losses for the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo(WFC) and US Bancorp(USB) are expected to be profitable in the 4th quarter.

Alcoa (AA) dropped to $9.50 today. I sold off all of my Alcoa shares at the $12 level because I figured the earnings would be bad. I would be a buyer again at the $7 price level.

General Electric(GE) dropped to $14.70 today. I began adding a small amount of shares again at the $14.90 level. Whenever GE gets below $15, I am a buyer.

United States Oil ETF(USO) is dipping to levels where I would look to add shares. Right now it trades at $31 per share. Below $30 I will look to add shares again.

Intel(INTC) with a 4% dividend yield at $13.57 looks reasonably cheap. I know that technology companies earnings are going to be rough in 2009 but Intel is a good long term investment. I think the stock will get cheaper still and will look to buy at $12.

Is GE a buy?

 

I have been watching General Electric’s stock for the past few months as it’s value has declined significantly. Warren Buffett recently bought 3 billion dollars of GE preferred stock yielding 10% and has the option to buy 3 billion dollars worth of more shares at $22.25 over the next five years. This plays right into Buffett’s philosophy of investing in companies with a wide economic moat. The GE name and its diverse array of industrial and financial businesses are a major competitive advantage. The stock is currently trading at about $15.50 a share. The stock has declined about 60% from its 52 week high of $38.67. I am not a huge fan of General Electric but at its current level it is an intriguing stock. GE currently pays a dividend of $1.24 which is a 7.7% yield. I have wondered if the dividend is safe. GE’s management made an announcement last week that they will pay the dividend through 2009. So I will take them at their word.  Could GE decline below $15.50 in the near time? Yes. But I have a hard time believing that this industrial conglomerate will not be worth more than $15.50 a share in the future. I believe that the company is trading at a discount to its intrinsic value, So I purchased 250 shares of GE stock at below $16. In my opinion, any pullbacks below the current price are buying opportunities.