| |
| |
|
Investing |
|
|
|
Articles and Information about InvestingNetFinancial | Institutions | LoansColleges and Universities | Search Engines Stocks: Reduce Risk Yet Maximize Profits
It is important to note that every smart investor wants to minimize risk while maximizing profit potential. Yet conventional investment theory tells us that in order to increase returns, you have to increase risk. You may be surprised to find that this conventional wisdom is not always true. When I was a professional stock trader, I made most of my profits from appreciation in my portfolio, not in short term trading. In other words, I was a position trader. Any losses in my stock positions were taken out of my paycheck at the end of the month - in fact, I had to pay back any loss. If you are in this position, you desperately want to learn all the techniques to make large profits without risking much. I became an expert out of necessity. So while my trading account had virtually no losing months, my gains were as much as 300% per year. In my stock picking, I first looked for stocks that were so cheap they could not go down. If they did go down, I was happy to buy more because at those prices, you could buy the whole company and sell off the assets for a profit. From this group of "safe" stocks, you select the ones most likely to have large appreciation. A stock is cheap in my book if it sells below the liquidation value of its assets, and most cheap if it sells anywhere near the net amount of cash it has on hand. So the first two measures of value I looked for were book value per share and cash per share. Book value is the value of the shareholders equity carried on the books of the company. Generally, since you are buying a share of stock, you will want to know the book value per share. The one caveat to looking at book value is that companies often have intangible assets on the books, goodwill and the like. You have to take these intangible assets with a grain of salt. The safest thing is to look for "tangible book value." Book value per share is often calculated for you in the various Internet financial stock search programs available. The next indicator to look for is cash per share or working capital per share. Working capital is current assets minus current liabilities. These assets are near to cash or will generally be turned over in one year: receivables, inventory and the like. To measure the health of working capital, divide current assets by current liabilities to get the "current ratio." A current ratio of two to one or better usually indicates a solid company. As long as the company does not have any long term debt, or at least none coming due in the near future, the company is solvent and should be around for a while - little or no bankruptcy risk. Next, we look for low price-earnings (P/E) ratios. In my opinion, buying high P/E stocks to chase growth companies is inviting real risk. If the company disappoints in earnings, not only will the stock drop from lower earnings, the P/E ratio will deflate as well, giving you a double hit. OK, so you have found a company that is selling at or below book value with a current ratio better than 2:1, and a low, low P/E. It may be that the stock will not go down, but will that stock go up? Picking growing industries and growth companies is more than I can tell you here, but there are two simple things you can look for first: (1) Is the company buying its own stock, or has it bought its own stock at about this price, and (2) are the insiders making hefty purchases of their stock? Next, you can look at the ratio of revenues or sales to market values or the dollar amount of sales per share. Generally speaking, the company with a relatively high amount of sales per market value or sales will have more action on the upside. That company has more revenues to make profits from. After you have narrowed the field using the above techniques, there will be no substitute for intense homework about company prospects to find which of those cheap stocks that truly give you superior returns, what I call my "Home Run Stocks." About The Author John Lux is a former OTC Trader and author of the book, "How to Find a Home Run Stock." To read the book and find your own Home Run Stocks, click http://www.asklux.com/investing-books/home-run-stock.htm. Email John at john@asklux.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Investing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
College Savings Plans - Are They The Best Choice For My Child? College Savings Plans - are they the best choice for my child?College Savings Plans, also called Section 529 plans, are one of the best ways to save for college because they offer:- Tax advantages- A variety of investment options- Flexible contribution options- Parental control- Little impact on eligibility for need-based financial aidTax advantagesInvestments in 529 plans are usually exempt from federal taxes. Earnings are tax-deferred and are not subject to capital gains taxes. Before You Start Investing There maybe several reasons why you to want to invest your money. You may want to retire early, want to build your own business in the future, or to pay for your kid's education. How to Calculate the Value of Your U.S. Savings Bonds If you're like many Americans over the age of 55, you've probably had money taken out of your paychecks for years and years in order to purchase U. S. The Benefits of Laddering Your CD Investments If you've decided to stock some money away in a certificate of deposit, why not reap the highest benefit over time by laddering your CD investments? What's a CD latter? I'm glad you asked.A CD ladder is made up by purchasing several CD's at one time with different maturity dates. Before You Invest You Must Read This It is important to answer the following questions before you begin to invest any of your money. The answers to these questions will help to guide you to when, what, where, and how much to invest. My Way Or The Highway: Give Your Financial Professionals A Good Talking To! All this talk about Investing is encouraging lately. Over the last few years, more people have become interested in the duty to invest there money, then ever before. California Deparment of Corporations and Franchise Opportunities Law What CA Needs To Do To Address Issues in FranchisingWe should not allow anymore degradation of California through incessant over regulations in the franchising sector. No other sector of our economy provides as many jobs as franchising. Why You Need To Buy and Sell Gold Coins (Part 2) How to Collect Rare CoinsFor Fun and ProfitTime has proven that collectors tend to make the most money in rare coins because they search out "undervalued coins" and buy during market lulls. Buying in today's market climate offers you superb upside profit potential. Powerful Hidden Techniques Mystery Formula - The Covered Call Option Trading Buy-Write Strategy For better or worse, most option trading investors purchase stocks with the intent of holding their shares for an extended period of time.We do this mainly because the media and industry professionals have drilled into our heads, year after year, time after time, that it’s best to buy and hold. Justify Social Security ... Dont Save for Retirement It is a common question when investors review their retirement plan-should we include social security benefits into our retirement income projections?It seems the closer an investor is to retirement, the more likely he/she will include social security benefits into the analysis. Younger investors, however, may feel compelled to omit such benefits. Options Made Easy and Investor Education - Simple Enough for a 10 yr Old Kid How many of you out there think that the market is performing well?How many think the market is performing poorly?And how many feel the markets performance is neutral?Actually none of these answers is correct. You see, learning and reading our options made easy articles, you will realize that the market does not perform, you do. Rules of Simple IRA Your Business Needs to Know A Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees plan, better known as a SIMPLE plan, is an IRA-based retirement plan available to employers with fewer than 100 employees.Under a SIMPLE IRA plan, an employee can contribute a portion of his pay to his SIMPLE IRA account. The Cost of Green Eggs and Ham Young readers know that March 4th is the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Can Using Sales Leaseback Method of Investment Property Acquisition Reduce Risk? Sales Leaseback compared to traditional property investmentCan a Sales Leaseback arrangement make investing in Orlando investmentproperties more safe and reliable?Yes. Providing a guaranteed rental amount each month is the safest andmost reliable way to realize a return on your investment. Why Do You Want to Become a Online Trader? Motivational guru Tony Robbins teaches that the reason for doing something rates much higher than the methods you use to get the job done. In order to make your goal REAL, you need to attach severe, horrifying, intense and profound fear to failure. Asset Allocation Lessons: The 70% Inflation Solution For investors only.. Wit and Wisdom on Money, Wall Street and Success - Part #4 Can you concisely summarize your investment philosophy in a few sentences? My experience is that most people can't. The quotes that follow are diamonds that offer a real powerful education in the world of Risk Management. Moving Average Convergence Divergence ( MACD ) Charts The Moving Average Convergence Divergence charts, or MACD charts for short, are a technical indicator that is derived from the more simple moving average.The MACD charts are oscillating indicators, meaning that they move above and below a centerline or zero point. Which IRA Is Best For You? An Ira is one of the greatest ways to save on taxes currently and accumulate money for the future.For individuals three types of IRA's will normally come under consideration. Annuity Owner Mistakes Okay, so I can tell you I have sat in front of countless numbers of people who have made mistakes when purchasing and owning annuities. And I have visited people who wish they never got involved in an annuity.
|
|
Currency Trading | Investing | Leadership | Negoatiation | Real Estate | Stocks and Mutual Funds | Taxes home | NetFinancial | Institutions | Loans | Colleges and Universities | site map Search Engines | EZmatic | 0pops | GetSonic | TrafficFish | Health |
| © 2006 |
