Investing 102

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by mdprovee

Greg,

I wanted to let you know the help you and this thread have given me.

I made some changes yesterday on my account, and I am up 11.5% from a year ago. As an example...my AT&T went from $4900 at the start to $6000 yesterday. I know that was a great year, and I dont expect that always, but I will take a good year.

I owe you a steak dinner.

God bless America!


You don't owe me ANYTHING! Just knowing that things are working - or even NOT working - is good enough!

Yes AT&T has had a nice run - but that run is linked to all the new phones and iPad type devices that are coming on! I think AT&T would have been left for dead if they hadn't seen the move in the cellular market. And the market and the demands for speed and data are going to propel AT&T and Verizon to ever new highs.

They pay a great dividend - and have great cash flow... and are well run. What more can a guy want?

[GregWeld]

I used some cash to buy 2000 shares of Apple today.... It has dipped down... we're going into the 4th quarter - which means XMAS shopping will be in full swing - you have the new iPhone - perhaps a mini iPad - and I was just at the mall and the store (which they just quadrupled in size) was MOBBED.... by comparison - there was nobody in the Microsoft store except the blue shirted employees. This is the Peter Lynch way of investing...

I received 3 new iPhone 5's today -- they had been on order since the release date... I like the new look and feel.

The maps thing is still a hassle -- and has made me mad a couple of times... but I just downloaded the Google iPhone map app -- and that seems to work just fine.

If I can get 5% gain between now and Xmas.... I'd be happy!

Once again -- This thread is not about individual names -- and I'm not saying ANYONE should go buy a stock or sell a stock etc --- I'm just kind of blogging about what I'm doing and my thinking. I had posted previously about Apple (AAPL) and that maybe it's "over" as far as a big run from where it was -- but you have to keep an open mind -- and I see the stores jammed and people waiting to buy (pent up demand).... ya gotta rethink sometimes - thus my post today. We'll see how that works out.

PS: It is the only stock in ANY of my accounts that pays such a crappy little dividend -- so it HAS to have growth in the share price - or it gets the boot!

[GregWeld]

BTW --- The LTE is SMOKING fast compared to the 4G of the iPhone 4s....


It's like WOW! Fast.....


That's the only reason I upgraded - because I do lots of road trips and want the phone to be basically a laptop replacement and the speed DOES make a huge difference!

[96z28ss]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

God bless America!


You don't owe me ANYTHING! Just knowing that things are working - or even NOT working - is good enough!

Yes AT&T has had a nice run - but that run is linked to all the new phones and iPad type devices that are coming on! I think AT&T would have been left for dead if they hadn't seen the move in the cellular market. And the market and the demands for speed and data are going to propel AT&T and Verizon to ever new highs.

They pay a great dividend - and have great cash flow... and are well run. What more can a guy want?

Greg, just remember that AT&T makes more profit when the sales of the iphone slows down. The stock has had a good ride recently due to the slow down of iphone4S sales. People were waiting for the iphone 5 to come out.
AT&T loses -$200 for evey iphone sale.

[GregWeld]

Sure they do - and they also sign you up for another 2 year contract! If they were losing money - you wouldn't be getting a 5+% dividend!

And remember that people are signing up for "data plans" for their iPads by the gazillions....

And remember that the "unlimited" data on your iPhone - ISN'T unlimited... if you read the fine print.

And remember - not everyone is going from an iPhone to another iPhone - there are MILLIONS of people that have yet to get a "smart phone" -- and smart phone plans are NOT the $9.95 el cheapo monthly --- the iPhone is like $50 bucks a month! So they're making money on that upgrade cycle.

It's all about the "up sale". Margins are better when you up sale!

[GregWeld]

I know some readers are into Chevron (CVX)....

I was just thinking that when you have a dip in the shares of a company like this because of an "event" -- it usually turns out to be a good entry point. WE have to think longer term than one quarter or two quarters. Chevron has had the misfortune to have a fire at their refinery (California) and has stated that this will affect a couple quarters... well no kidding! It's like if you had a fire at your rental house! Yeah... you'd be stressed out and you'd lose income while it's being repaired... but that doesn't break the original premise upon which you bought the rental does it. It's a mere hiccup.

This stock has been trading in a range of 116 to 118 -- and all of a sudden today it's on sale for 112... That's like almost 5% off... WHOO HOO!


Again -- I'm not pitching one stock over any other --- I just happened to be poking around (as I always do) and noticed this "story" and thought well --- right here is the kind of an "on sale" event that I've talked about before.... A perfectly good stock that for whatever reason is now at a better price.

[GregWeld]

Don't ya just LOVE dividends?? Altria (MO) put some cash into your accounts this morning.

Now I can afford to buy a 100 gallons of fuel for the new "rig" when I pick it up this afternoon!

[nicks67ca]

Greg do you have a preferred service you use when purchasing? Do you pay a broker or are you using Fidelity, Ameritrade, or similar?

Nick

[glassman]

Picking it up today? congrats...

What does Altria do? i've never heard of them (sometimes my head is in the sand....cause my wifey likes the beach)

[96z28ss]

Originally Posted by glassman

Picking it up today? congrats...

What does Altria do? i've never heard of them (sometimes my head is in the sand....cause my wifey likes the beach)

I was just like you in April, I heard it mentioned here a few times. So I did some research. Its the parent company of Philip Morris tobacco company. However I did a bit more research and found that they own a slew of Wine Estates up and down the west coast, 17 in total.
With the amount of wine that is consumed at my house I had to buy into it, been keeping them in buisness for years and didn't know it. LOL
Its been a good stock.