Le Stocks

[Marshal Davout]

I thought I might start a link on this; although I might be the last person to write it; as i have lost about $3,000 in the market in various ways ( I invested in a "Rare Earths" company back in the day; before I realized that China has a lock on the industry and my company went Bankrupt ! Ha ! )
But there seem to be at least 3 types of Stocks
1. Those you buy for the Value as they might go up ( and usually pay no Dividends ) like Amazon .
2. Those you buy for the Dividends ( these usually don't go Bankrupt ) like Microsoft .
3. Those which are a Hybrid of the first two ( but their dividends are low ) Meta ?
4. Although now there may be a fourth which are the AI Stocks Broadcom and Nvidia !

It may be interesting how I originally found NVDA. I had a spare $1,000; so I was looking for a really good stock to go up in value ! and so I was running down my list of stocks in my "wish List" so to speak. And I had about 50 wish lists with about 10 stocks in each ! Anytime somebody told me to buy a stock I would add it to a wish list. And so I was running down the List and the only thing I wanted to know was how much a stock had gone up in one day from the previous cost ! And I hit upon NVDA which had gone from $25 to $40 in 1 day. This is a rise of $15 in 1 day so it is remarkable for a small stock. And so I threw the $1,000 into NVDA; since it looked like the smart money was already piling in !
Astoundingly then NVDA went up to about $400 a share in 6 months ! They made chips and Graphics boards for the gaming computers; but nobody could tell me why they were going Up ? I didn't find out for almost two Years ! If I had known what was going on; I probably should have got a 2nd mortgage on the house to buy NVDA ! Ha ! But you never know ? Recently the stock went to about $1,200 a share and had a forward split to 10 for 1 so that was seemingly a good deal ! So I have a lot of shares in it for now. It is in the AI Chip industry now; so it may be still a good buy; but then you never know when there will be a pull back ?

[Marshal Davout]

I don't really play around in the market with some of the stuff as you can lose your shirt , so to speak ! But some I do have

O a REIT ( or a real estate Investment Trust ) This was attractive to me as they pay a monthly dividend and are required to pay it out of profits by law ! I bought into it before the disease, though and it is Down something like $450 on me; although you don't Lose until you sell ! And meantime I get a Monthly dividend ! [ It is down because companies have ceased renting or using office space because of Remote Work ! But who could have foreseen that ? ]

Motley Fool an ETF ( Exchange Traded Fund ) This might be the way to go for a lot of people; as you pay these people to watch the stocks for you, so you don't have to ! I got into it as a kind of experiment to see how they did I bought 100 shares for $2,000 basically and now they are worth $5,000; after about 2 or 3 years, so this is making money, I am up $3,000 ! You have to be careful which ones you get into as they will take their fees out of your profits ! The Vanguard ones are supposed to be good as their fees are low; but so far I am not in any of those !

I don't know the overseas markets; as I invest close to home in the US; so I don't really know what Britain and the EU and NATO have ?

[Marshal Davout]

At the Present I don't see how I can recommend anything; as the markets seem to be in Flux a lot ! One guy says the Market will Crash down to nothing like 1929; and another guy says the market will double or triple ! ?
So; I can not see my way to recommend anything in the US; unless one would put their money into ETFs in their 401Ks or IRAs !
Stocks do seem at times to be 50% over-priced !
I got into a Broadcom 10 for 1 and an nvidia 10 for 1. So somehow it seems like I am making progress, but actually the value of the stock is the same when you get done !
SMCI , I think it is, is supposed to have a 10 for 1 sometime in September; but I don't know if that is a good deal or not ?
Also SONY overseas is supposed to have a 5 for 1 sometime; but I don't know about that ?
The world is in flux everywhere; so that is not good for the market !
So I have to leave it at no recommendations except perhaps the ETFs for your retirement funds !

[Marshal Davout]

I bought into Hershey; cause I thought it might be good ? But of course as soon as I bought it, it went down ? Apparently Hershey can't even sell a Candy Bar now ? ! Ha !

Another one which might be good is CTAS which is supposed to have a forward 4 for 1 split in September !
I don't own them at present ; but in checking them out they sell uniforms and like stuff and they are making money at it ! who would think there is money in uniforms ? But is is expensive as about $800 and up for a share ? So I guess their business is good ? !
I don't know whether I would recommend them !

I had KO or Coca Cola; but it seemed like it was going nowhere in value; so I sold it. It might be good for a young guy to accumulate; but as an older guy I need appreciation in value now !

[Marshal Davout]

The market is going down ! It seems like the whole Market is waiting for the Profit made by one stock Nvidia the AI Giant ! If they do well then the market can recover; however, if they have messed up, then the market goes down further ?

Meanwhile we also wait for the FED to reduce interest rates; so that will ease everybody's expenses ! so it seems like the entire US Market waits for the results of one stock , and maybe the world, also ? !

They announce their profits tonight after the market closes .

Every day the Pundits tell me to buy Amazon and Googl; however I own a few shares of each and all they seem to do is stagnate; so why would I buy more ? I did buy HCA a Health company and that went up a little; so I like stocks accruing value and not stagnating !

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Marshal Davout

The market is going down ! It seems like the whole Market is waiting for the Profit made by one stock Nvidia the AI Giant ! If they do well then the market can recover; however, if they have messed up, then the market goes down further ?

I wish I would have noticed this thread earlier. I have been an active market participant since the early 90's, with stocks, futures and Forex. I'll definitely chat with you on this topic.

The stock market hasn't been tied to reality in over 25 years. Wall Street caters to the big investors, so whether you and I have a job doesn't matter when it comes to stocks going up or down. It loves a big money supply, a cheap money supply. So when the Fed acts on interest rates, or the chairman making public statements about the future of their fiscal policy, it really moves a market.

We are in a HUGE bull market run, 16 years so far. A bull market is like the Titanic and it takes a financial iceberg to stop. Even the pandemic couldn't stop it. It crashed as the world shut down, but while the public was panicking, the pros were buying up all the cheap stocks. Same thing happened in 1987 with the sudden crash and recovery.

NVDA is a leader in the AI revolution. What remains to be seen is if AI is real or a scam. We've lived in a world of bubbles for quite a long time now. It can be real estate, pharmaceuticals, precious metals, solar power, EV, etc. Wall Street hypes it up drawing all kinds of money into it and stock prices skyrocket until it blows off. The brokers and pros buy the stocks before the bubble even exists and they need somebody to sell their many millions of shares to once the bubble nears exhaustion. That's why they need the general public to start buying stocks, so they can dump their stocks on the unsuspecting public once they locked in their profits.

When the real collapse comes, you will know it. We will wake up some morning and the markets will be turned upside down (I still remember the Dot Com and the 2007 crashes well).

Until then, you just trade what you see, and what I see at this moment is more upward momentum. Markets don't crash during a presidential election year anyway. However, after the election into 2025, it's anybody's guess, especially if the opposition party wins.

[Marshal Davout]

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

I wish I would have noticed this thread earlier. I have been an active market participant since the early 90's, with stocks, futures and Forex. I'll definitely chat with you on this topic.

The stock market hasn't been tied to reality in over 25 years. Wall Street caters to the big investors, so whether you and I have a job doesn't matter when it comes to stocks going up or down. It loves a big money supply, a cheap money supply. So when the Fed acts on interest rates, or the chairman making public statements about the future of their fiscal policy, it really moves a market.

We are in a HUGE bull market run, 16 years so far. A bull market is like the Titanic and it takes a financial iceberg to stop. Even the pandemic couldn't stop it. It crashed as the world shut down, but while the public was panicking, the pros were buying up all the cheap stocks. Same thing happened in 1987 with the sudden crash and recovery.

NVDA is a leader in the AI revolution. What remains to be seen is if AI is real or a scam. We've lived in a world of bubbles for quite a long time now. It can be real estate, pharmaceuticals, precious metals, solar power, EV, etc. Wall Street hypes it up drawing all kinds of money into it and stock prices skyrocket until it blows off. The brokers and pros buy the stocks before the bubble even exists and they need somebody to sell their many millions of shares to once the bubble nears exhaustion. That's why they need the general public to start buying stocks, so they can dump their stocks on the unsuspecting public once they locked in their profits.

When the real collapse comes, you will know it. We will wake up some morning and the markets will be turned upside down (I still remember the Dot Com and the 2007 crashes well).

Until then, you just trade what you see, and what I see at this moment is more upward momentum. Markets don't crash during a presidential election year anyway. However, after the election into 2025, it's anybody's guess, especially if the opposition party wins.

Undoubtedly you know more than I do; CleverCowboy; as I have only been in the market for about 10+ years and so I am a Novice ! But I think I am getting more intelligent in it as I don't take as many chances. I don't do the fancy stuff such as puts and calls or any day trading as it were. Ha ! I just try not to Lose my Shirt ! Ha ! I will be glad to Chat with you !

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Marshal Davout

I don't do the fancy stuff such as puts and calls or any day trading as it were.

I took a deep dive into options some time ago and not a fan. I'll explain why.

There are two distinct advantages of options that draw in the novice: They are highly leveraged so buying a call or put is relatively cheap compared to buying the stock outright. Your loss is limited to what you paid for the option. So if you like Stock XYZ and it's at $90 and you think it will go to $100, you might pay $150 for a call option with a $100 strike price. It doesn't hit the target by the time it expires so you lose your $150 and that's all. You might think of it as a victory that you didn't lose your shorts and it was "worth a shot." But now you are not trading, you are gambling, so welcome to the casino.

The winner is the guy who sold you that option, who now has your $150 in his pocket. The professional traders are sellers of options, not buyers. They do what they did to you hundreds of times a day, taking money from those who hope their stock suddenly shoots up (or down) to hit their strike price.

They know that for the vast majority of time, stocks are locked in a price range (like your Amazon and Google shares). Eventually they might go substantially higher, but you don't know when. It might take months or years. So novices might keep buying call options with 30 day expiration over and over again thinking eventually their stock will take off, and they keep losing their premium each time it expires worthless.

Option sellers have access to advanced algorithms that calculate fair option pricing and probabilities that a stock will remain between two price points, and they start selling options outside of that range. So mathematically, sellers are at a distinct advantage, if they know what they are doing of course.

So you are wise to stay out of them.

[Marshal Davout]

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

I took a deep dive into options some time ago and not a fan.

So you are wise to stay out of them.

I get a dta @ dailytradealert .com Which is Free and always has a lot of them in it or references people doing it; but I don't do it ! It also has plenty of stock advices in it. I get about one email a day from them ( I forget how I got connected; maybe through Motley Fool ) I used to subscribe, when I had extra money, but I stopped and just got into their ETF Motley Fool 100 I think it is. They have various etfs now. The etf has been good to me, as I have made about 3,000 on it ! ( on 100 shares ) They watch the stocks for you and then charge a fee for the service, but so far I am making money, so I don't care about the fee so far ( maybe it is when you sell ? )

I generally don't buy a stock unless it is going up and has dividends; my one exception is NVDA, which only pays .01 cents a share ( they make billions and can't pay you a dollar ? Ha ! )
I bought Broadcom AVGO merely for the Dividends; but then it shot up in Value; so I lucked out with it !
SCMI is supposed to have a 10 for 1 forward split in September; but I don't know if that will be a good deal; as it is pricey last time I looked !

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Marshal Davout

I generally don't buy a stock unless it is going up and has dividends; my one exception is NVDA, which only pays .01 cents a share ( they make billions and can't pay you a dollar ? Ha ! )
I bought Broadcom AVGO merely for the Dividends; but then it shot up in Value; so I lucked out with it !
SCMI is supposed to have a 10 for 1 forward split in September; but I don't know if that will be a good deal; as it is pricey last time I looked !

Good dividend stocks are usually pretty boring stocks, like utility stocks. They can trade in a certain price range for years. They have already matured as a company so there isn't as much reinvestment as other stocks, like tech. So they pay out more dividends.

Tech stocks don't pay squat for dividends because they are always reinvesting to expand their company. The fact you got a penny a share for NVDA is lucky.

I haven't used an advisory service for years. The biggest stock advisor is Jim Cramer on MSNBC and he probably is wrong more than he is right. I generally perform scans for stocks that have been beat down and are reaching a price point where historically it has held up and rebounded, because odds are it will rebound again.