Young and Invested

Two Big Issues – RIM’s Future Hangs in the Balance

Note: See important disclaimers below article.
With the number of opinions being expressed on major companies like Research in Motion and Apple, it can get awfully overwhelming to try and understand from a high level what the situation is. This has especially been the case with RIM in the last few days when they released so [...]

Toyota: Catalyst for Shift in Auto Industry

The recent recall from Toyota may help approximately nine million vehicles, but not the company’s stock.           
As of today, 5 fatalities have been reported, and lawmakers around the world continue to monitor Toyota’s reactive actions to the allegedly sticking gas pedals. As responsive as Toyota has been in handling the situation, it won’t be soon forgotten; [...]

Is Skype Ready For Its Own Future?

Note: See important disclaimers below article.
Skype was acquired by an investor group consisting of Silver Lake Partners and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) on Nov 19, 2009, from EBay. The acquisition gave the investors a 56% majority stake in Skype while EBay held on to a 30% ownership.
What made this major move all [...]

Apple – Priced to Perfection?

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The price chart below looks like any investor’s dream if they got in at the right time. Things definitely have been going Apple’s way of late – in their latest quarter, Apple had record quarterly sales for Mac products (3.05 million units), iPod Touch sales grew 100% year-on-year, iTunes maintained [...]

Overpaying for Luxury Clothing? Bet You Never Thought Ralph Lauren Can Make YOU Money

Ralph Lauren’s outperforming of earnings estimated for the 9-months ended September got the company and stock a lot of attention; RL beat S&P’s earnings estimate of $1.25 by $0.50, a 40% surprise, while still suffering a 4% decrease in sales (also above average expectations of -8%). Considering the recession we’ve been in, Polo Ralph Lauren’s [...]

Digital and The Future of Advertising

When you think of an advertising agency, what comes to mind? I instantly think of traditional print and TV ad campaigns that many of us are no longer paying attention to. And whenever I think of CEO’s of the advertising giants that make these campaigns, I think of old men who are hoarding their advertising [...]

Betting on Natural Gas – Part II

Note: See important disclaimers below article.
Just as important as deciding to go long natural gas is how that view is translated into an investing strategy. The value chain of the natural gas industry, shown below (Source: Wikinvest), provides a good overview. There are numerous investment opportunities throughout the value chain that can be capitalized upon.

Betting [...]

Betting on Natural Gas – Part I

Note: See important disclaimers below article.
Why Natural Gas?
The NYMEX Natural Gas Futures (Front Month) hit 10 year lows of around $2.50 a few weeks ago and have since sky-rocketed to around $4.80 at the close of Oct 9, 09. In the process, it has very powerfully broken the downtrend that it was in for the [...]

Welcome to Bubble-ville

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The earliest known bubble was the “Dutch tulip mania” in 1637 which resulted in tulips contracts being sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman (according to Wikipedia). And of course, shortly thereafter, the price of tulips crashed back to normal “flower levels”. All bubbles [...]

Market Views on Mr. Market – Bullish Edition

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(Part 1 of 2)
The market is said to have its own personality. It teaches investors lessons when they get arrogant and provides them with hope when things seem like they couldn’t get worse. This personality is affectionately called Mr. Market.
Mr. Market’s moods are currently being affected by a very interesting [...]