Year End Buys (HD, AMGN, APC, YHOO, VLCCF, LRT, SIRI, VG)

Holiday parties, working on ThePanelist.com and family visits have curtailed by writing but not my trading. Here's a list of value stocks that I picked up at year. These stocks seem cheap either because they are out of favor, the victims of year end tax selling, or simply value that I think will come back with the New Year when value managers start going over income statements and running screens again.I bought all of these names for myself or for friends in the last week of the year. Yahoo (YHOO) $25.51Home Depot (HD) $39.90Amgen (AMGN) $68.40Andarko (APC) ...

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The Amazing Volkswagen Beetle

I grew up playing in this Volkswagen. My mother got it in 1965, the year of my birth. I used to play house with Stacy Spung in the back on this when I was 5. In 1981/82, I learned to drive in this . . .

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Buying An Insurer: I'm Afraid Of Global Warming But Chubb Isn't

Photo by Rahull J Young via Creative Commons and Flickr I had to add to my Chubb (CB) position. This property and casualty company is so cheap at a p/e of 8. They've had this low p/e for years as the stock has climbed. People are worried that global warming and terrorism mean that there is another unexpected disaster out there that will hurt insurance companies. While global warming is bad for me, you, the planet, the oceans, all the species that will go ...

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Wait 'Till Winter: Taking Profits On IAC (IACI)

I posted this entry on July 24th, 2006 (Wait 'Till Winter) on buying semi-conductors and online retailers the summer and waiting for winter. I paid $24.75 for IAC/Interactive (IACI) - now $36.67$17.39 for AMD - now $20.80$17.10 for Intel (INTC) - now $20.84Last week I sold part of the IACI position at $36.64 and sold calls against another part. (Jan 2008, 37.5 strike).At a p/e of 38 trailing and Disclosures and Confessions: own and previously owned IAC/Interactive Group, Intel and AMD.Disclaimer: Nothing in this blog is meant to be specific financial advice or a ...

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Where Is The Microsoft (MSFT) top? Getting Ready To Pull The Trigger.

I'm starting to think that Microsoft is reaching the top of it's valuation. Perhaps we get a bit of a kick into year end. I'm not selling right now but I'm looking to sell April 30 calls against about a quarter of my position. When I picked up the position in the summer I was looking at just above 30 as my target price. At a p/e of more than 20 against next years earnings, I'd be ready to sell.Stock Traders Daily, Thomas Kee, sets out all the arguments to short MSFT. While I'm not ...

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Charitable CEO Pay Shows Growing Gap In Humanity and Greed.

An article on the growing disparity between charitable organization CEO's and large corporate CEO pay. The article, by Harvy Lipman, is from Business Week Online but first appeared in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.Why are heads of charitable organizations salaries growing more slowly than the CEO's of large corporations? 1. Donors watch how their money is spent much more closely than shareholders.2. Big Corporate CEO's have less shame about their greed.3. Philanthropic CEO's have enough awareness and humanity to accept that the returns they receive for their talent are way beyond money. I feel sorry for ...

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Currency Down Market Up. Monday's Move Is Not Normal For The Medium Term

The US dollar declines and the US market is down. This is the exact opposite of usual medium term effects that occur when currencies move.I traded Mexican equity derivatives in 1994 during their currency crisis, I was trading Brazil (equities, futures and bonds) during many of their currency crises in the 1990's. I was trading emerging market debt in 1992 when the UK Pound broke from tand fell. In every case where these currencies fell the local stock market indices were up immediately and continued to go up after the currency breaks.Why do do markets go ...

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Found The Old Starbucks Logo - Too Sexy For It's Day

Found this interesting blog entry on the changes that happened at the Starbucks logo to make it less sexy and more mainstream. The first full body mermaid/siren must have offended somebody so we only get her bust now.See Blog From Dead Programmers' Cafe on The Starbucks SirenOh, my opinion on the Starbucks (SBUX) the stock? It's expensive, it stays expensive. And Starbucks keeps turning in phenomenal growth. I have bought it over the years in a hug pullbacks then bail out as soon as the stock recovers. This is the the classic, "I wished I owned ...

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Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) - An Opportunity Missed? Depends on Price.

The cheapness of Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) ($20.32) is mentioned this weekend in Barrons (Welcome Back Bottler - subscription required $$$) . This is a classic situation that is frustrating to all of us who have an idea, don't act, And forget about it only to remember it when someone else puts it in writing for everyone else to see. Andrew Barry is right in denoting the relative cheapness CCE has to Coca-Cola (KO) and other beverage companies like Pepsi Co (PEP) and Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG). CCE is good value with little downside. The relatively ...

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Investment Banks Set to Report Big 4th Quarter

It seem to me that every quarter the leading American investment banks and brokers (LEH, GS, MER, MS, BSC) report earnings, their shares rise only to drift back down until the next reporting period. It would seem this pattern is about to repeat itself yet again this quarter with this quarter's earnings reports which will start mid-December. See this AP article from Forbes.com./images/16689-15956/Wall_Street_Bull.jpg">Photo by Kokogiak Disclosures and Confessions: I own LEH, MS, both directly and indirectly as part of executive compensation plans. I have traded MS, LEH, MER and GS in the past ...

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