SAIC Is Soaring
SAIC went public a few weeks ago, and I purchsed the stock at $18. Last week the stock jumped to almost $20. I sold a majority of my holding at $19.50. I made $1.50 per share, which is about 8.33%. Not too shabby for a two-week investment. My gains allowed me to buy a new digi-camera, the SD700 IS.
Today, SAI broke the $21 mark before dropping back to $20.33 for the close. I'm still thinking if I should short-term trade it. Over the long run, I believe SAI is a good investment.
Business Money Market with Checking
I'm looking for an all-in-one account for my business, where it has high-yielding money-market rate and allows a few check writing with free ACH withdrawals. I currently have a HSBC Free Business Checking account, but it earns no interest. With interest rates so high these days, I'm losing out on quite some money. I would like some input from self-employed people out there, as well hearing suggestions for taking advantage of tax savings for me.
Opened a 6% 13-Month CD
I opened a 6% 13-month CD with Washington Mutual on 8/31/06. It seems to be one of the highest yielding CDs out there, even 'til today.
Q&A: What To Do With 20K Bonus?
A question from "What to do with 1K, 5K, or 10K of savings and in your twenties?"
Anonymous asked:
So i've got 20k from a recent bonus, and won't need to touch it for about 10 months. After that I might use it for a down payment on an apartment. My money is currently sitting in a 5% savings account, but thinking about putting some of it in an higher yielding closed end bond fund. Any other suggestions for increasing my yield while not risking too much of my principal?
said:
If you could tolerate some risk, you may consider putting them in low-beta high-yielding dividend stocks. Do some research, you should be able to find a few companies that are expected to do well over the next 10 months. Otherwise, hunt for the highest yielding CDs. I recently opened a 6.00% 13-month CD with WaMu.
Blogger Update
I haven't updated much recently because I've been busy with work and closely monitoring the stock market. I have done a lot of short-term trading lately, and I've been making some nice profits. I still hold some long-term investments, but I want to spice up my portfolio so I mixed it with some short term trades. I'll try to post some updates on my trading, but it's time-consuming. I hope I haven't lost too many readers. I'd like people to post their trades and investment strategies as well. I've also created a private investment group. If you would like to join, just put "Growing Money" in the comments and I'll sign you in.
Initially, I created a Google group, but because I had a few complaints, I switched over to Yahoo group.
Here's the Yahoo group link:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/StockPickersElite/
Is Sony (SNE) a buy?
I read an article in BusinessWeek on Sony. Sony is banking most of its money on its Blu-Ray technology. Their main competitor is Toshiba's HD-DVD. Blu-Ray can hold 25GB on a single layer and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. Music and film industries are pushing for Blu-Ray technology, because Blu-Ray DVDs have larger storage capacity and will enforce copyright laws to prevent privacy. Blu-Ray DVD technology players will only play original Blu-Ray DVDs. With all the backings by major companies, it looks like Sony will win the war on high-def DVD standard format. Also, the Sony PS3 will come with a Blu-Ray player but the XBox has not incorporate such technology yet. It looks like they will also recapture a large percentage of the gaming industry. Now, the question is, "Is Sony a buy?"
The stock closed at 40.35 today. Looking at the fundmentals, it's good in some areas and not good in others. The forward P/E of 19.78 looks attractive, while the PEG ratio of 1.52 suggests that its earnings is not growing fast enough over it's P/E. The margins are very low. The debt level is very unappetizing to me. However, the next year growth rate is at 104%. That certainly looks like it would change things if it meets 2008's expected earnings. Also, if Sony wins the high-def DVD war, it will be bring a lot of attention to the company and investors' interest.
Trailing P/E (ttm, intraday): 31.52
Forward P/E (fye 31-Mar-08) 1: 19.78
PEG Ratio (5 yr expected): 1.52
Profit Margin (ttm): 2.13%
Operating Margin (ttm): 4.66%
Total Debt (mrq): 9.55B
Next Year Growth: 104.0%
Is Yahoo a Buy?
Yahoo is hitting not just a 52 week low, but a 104 week low.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=YHOO&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
The fundamental looks great at this point.
Profit Margin (ttm): 21.11%
Return on Equity (ttm): 15.40%
Revenue (ttm): 5.97B
Revenue Per Share (ttm): 4.233
Total Cash (mrq): 2.69B
Total Cash Per Share (mrq): 1.947
% Held by Insiders: 10.25%
The insides have a 10% stake in the company, which is a very large size for a company this huge. Looking at the chart, Yahoo has been dropping for some time. The biggest question is, "Has Yahoo's stock bottom out yet?"
SAIC Goes Public
My company went public recently and started trading in the secondary market on Friday, October 13. I purchased shares at $18.
The IPO was for $15, but was traded up to $17 in the primary market. The stock opened at $17 in the market on Friday morning and closed at $18.18.
SAIC provides scientific, engineering and technical services to the U.S. military and government agencies.
Science Applications International Jumps 20% On Debut
SAIC: A Company Built to Last
TD Ameritrade's Terrible Customer Service
I am interested in purchasing an IPO and I went to sign up for the IPO service with TD Ameritrade. There are many pages detailing the risk involved. I went through all of them and was prompted by three questions. Basically the questions asked to prove that I'm not a restricted person holding a beneficial interest.
You hereby certify that:
Yes No This account is eligible to purchase new issues because no restricted person (which includes an account that meets a general exemption and, by definition, is not a restricted person) holds a beneficial interest in the account.
Yes No You are a conduit (such as a bank, foreign bank, broker/dealer, or investment adviser) and all purchases of new issues are, and will be, in compliance with the Rule.
Yes No This account is a restricted person and is not eligible to purchase new issues.
I picked 'yes' for the first question and 'no' for the other two. It seems right to me.
Error:
Thank you for your interest in IPOs through TD AMERITRADE. Based on the information received from your IPO Registration Form, you are currently not approved for IPO trading. We apologize for the inconvenience. For further assistance, please call our Electronic Brokerage Customer Service Department at 1-800-934-4448.
But then it gave me an error message. I called the number stated in the message, waited about 15 minutes and finally someone answered me. I told the Customer Service Representative that I was trying to sign up for IPO but I received an error message. At first, he try to direct me away by telling me that I should be talking to Technical Support. Then I told him it was an error message saying I was denied of IPO service. He was terribly rude. He had a rough tone (as if someone gave him a hard time today) and he did not try to be accomodating. He just told me that if that's what the system says, that's what it means and there's nothing he can do about it. I told him I want to know "why" I was denied. All he says is, "It's a hit or miss." I told him that I should qualify for it. Then, he tells me, "it's all based on the web." And if I think the web made a mistake I should talk to technical support. Why would I talk to technical support for this? The CSR was not helpful at all. I called because I wanted to know why I wasn't approved for IPO service. He not only repeated what the web says, but tried to direct me to another department that would only direct me back to his department. I'm highly disappointed with TD Ameritrade's Customer Service.
I don't think I asked him an unreasonable question. Shouldn't a customer know why he's denied for something? Was it because I didn't have enough money or experience? Their requirement for IPO service asks for a minimum of $50,000 in the account and I have exceeded that requirement by a huge margin. And I chose the maximum years of experience on their list. Do they not want to keep a customer happy? I could move all that money away from their account.
Additionally, I went back to the IPO service sign up page and chose different combinations for the questionaire form. I was still denied.
TD Ameritrade's Customer Service Rating: F
