WPSPIKER

Verizon's Droid Is the Real Deal

I can not comment on the APPL IPhone as I have not used one, as far as network support I do have VZ and have for a very long time, the Network in USA ia probably best going. I dont travel internationally but stateside you cant get better coverage and they are adding more towers daily and upping to 4 g speeds. that being said I dont know what Droid will be like and probably wont opt for one IF the cost is too high, What is wrong with the IPhone is that it costs too much and has the limited stateside service areas without roaming which can add more $ to monthly bill already high. I think that the new system will be good and it will take market share from IPhones how much will have to wait & see. but will be a good enough to start picking up some VZ which hasn't performed lately other than a nice DIV.
mark

Natural Gas Production Declines Are Becoming More Evident

With the production from NEW multi-direction drilling rigs the low count is nothing to worry about with the massive storage filled up and the less than bad temps and downed industrial production the nat gas prices are being held up by speculation is best that most people in the know can figure. UNG for example helps little guy get into the market and helps to prop up futures prices which effect pricing all around. While it UNG probably is not going to make anyone much money in near term and is too unpredictable for far term. best bet is not the producers either but transporters and end users who will be biggest benefits in next few years with down prices for the product of NG. Look to gas pipe line companies who get paid for the amount that moves through the lines and those that benefit from selling the gas to end users, there are several good ones who pay great dividends with solid earning to support them as well as most of them have rate increases to the ave home user on books and approved through state/local gov and once the price is increased you know they will not claw back that trend... Look to elec. utilities who have NG as a feed in raw material to produce electricity as well. I own NI, DUK, FST, VLO and recently took profits and got out of CHK....
my well meaning advice and not an expert would be to look at as many similar companies as you like, do home work prior to jumping into anything right now as utilities and pipe line companies are lagging overall markets but that is good as it leaves more room for them to go up and less room to drop. Cyclicals are hot at the moment but there is lots of volatility in them. Producers are going to have a pull back real soon I think and the utility/defensive sectors will hold firm and maybe start to rise at a better rate and catch up to the overall market place.

mark

Dividend Increases: 9 Stocks

One thing is some companies are not in the GROWTH business such as utilities, NI or DUK both of which I own are good Dividend paying companies but the growth is not from buying other companies but from population and increases in the rates they charge customers as well as acquiring other smaller companies. DUK has been buying companies like crazy expanding it's ALT ENERGY mindset, where as NI has been sticking to their core business. Both of these any many other companies pay much better dividends than those above, save one that is at/near its all time high as well as of fridays at its year high and in this economy buying ANYTHING at its all time/year high is not wise...

I still believe in buy & hold but with a dont stick your head in the sand mentality...
mark


On Sep 19 09:48 AM Crude Oil Trader wrote:

> My years of being a business owner/CEO myself has ruined my mind
> set when it comes to trading/investing in companies that offer large
> dividends. I will always have to question and doubt a company that
> doesn't know how to use capitol to grow a company. And if youy believe
> buy and hold is dead, what is the sense? Check out this great trading
> video "The Buy and Hold Myth.....Is Buy and Hold Back" > tinyurl.com/mgzezn

Solar: Energy's New Growth Sector

What I didnt see in any of the info above was who will be helping to transmit the energy be it solar or wind. DUK for example has tons of WIND farms, now why they have not started adding SOLAR in the same fields I dont know, (or maybe they have) as DUK reports to be such a large proponent of renewable energy. I do own DUK in my portfolios just to make it known, while there are a few other energy supply companies none seem to be really pushing the renewable sector much.
There are also other manufactures who were not mentioned that have great process for thin film components such as ESLR, (evergreen solar) where cost per watt is still higher than some but the systems are less materials overall and we all are seeing what is happening to materials and what happened last year when companies could not get any silicon to build panels with if & when the demand & all the gov. subsidies come back we may/will probably again see the peak be held back due to raw materials more than actual solar cell production. Other play would be to look at WHO supplies the glass for the solar panels. (GLW) corning maybe I dont own any of them but they could be a more global play? I dont know but again think outside the box as to who would be involved in the overall picture. sure the pure solar company plays are good but with the amount of them out there finding THE ONE is not going to be easy...

mark

UNG: The Best Way to Invest in Natural Gas

sorry but I still see no fundamentals that support the rise in Nat Gas prices or UNG, while CHK has a great deal of hedged plays they are due to run out as well as the near full wells, forecast warmer than ave winter I think that anyone buying in needs to use options as I can see it dropping faster than it has rallied...

mark

Despite Dedicated ETFs, No Reliable Way to Play Natural Gas

I have been investing in other areas where Nat Gas is used, transported or sold to end users, not so much the producers as others have said the producers are going to fast be in a corner, limiting production down to keep supply at the area it already is, east coast reserves are nearly full. I would look at pipeline holding/transportation companies they are paid based on how much they send down the line, their costs for transmitting are down and getting lower the major costs are NEW pipelines and maintenance. Two good names are (NI) Ni Holdings and (DUK) Duke Energy both have a diversified company structure and hold areas that are very profitable now with lower energy cost to THEM yet they are able to continue to charge the higher retail costs to the ave consumer. look for their profits to get better much faster as supply contracts run out. while larger producers like (CHK) Chesapeake have sold future gas prices these are starting to run out and Nat Gas with the GLUT we have the chances of locking in good profit margin contracts are over. most producers only have a 8~24 month futures contracts and anyone that will buying Nat Gas at volume will be shopping for best rates if not already doing so...

Mark m

UNG Trading 101

Fridays close of $9.54 for UNG is still pretty high vs the underlaying cost of NG at this point. While I want to get into the play as a long term investment I'm not positive that the bottom has been put in at this point it may bounce as shorts start to cover but the risk to reward without being able to understand the "options trading" above is attempting to trade without the options. This is what the average investor does and this is how the hedge funds end up with most of the little guys money. Where will the fund be in 6 weeks, 6 months or 6 years.? this may depend on too many things not the least of which is all the talk in/by Fed/Congress about futures trading that has been going on as of late. Will there even be futures trading in 6 months with this constantly changing government we have? who knows... I'm willing to bet we are close to a bottom for UNG but I am not wiling to risk my capital on this GOV. not to mention that the GOV. will probably end up with the profits through taxation & fees even if UNG does go up I dont think you will get to keep much more than 20% of the PROFIT if/when it does go up by the time the TAX man is done...

Mark

Joy Global Surprised by China but Remains Wary of 'Bumping Along the Bottom'

I do own some (JOYG) as the company is making money while they did state that 2010/2011 may see less sales that statement I'm sure is based on the current level of sales and current level of the economy. The current levels are not going to stay depressed for even and should turn even better later in 2009/early2010 and the rather good climb of spot prices in raw materials. I think they may have guided lower as overly cautious. Their earnings calls over last few quarters seem to be more pessimistic than optimistic for global recovery. Something I would normally not expect from average company but that seems to be Joy Globals view.

Mark

Another Natural Gas Bull Sticks His Neck Out

the biggest problem with CHK is the people who are giving away share holders money into their own pockets...
if/when they stop doing that it will be a company worth investing in again.. Until then the STOCK will remain broken but not the company.

mark

Natural Gas ETF Premium Reaches 20%: Time to Unload?

I've heard it both ways, so now what, some say anything below 11.00 is a strong buy, did anyone see what the oil EFTs are trading at for %?

go figure, that it is a big game,

mark

Stay Away from AIG - Barron's

I will be shorting AIG this week, that ridiculous jump in price was a classic short squeeze which drove UP the price which made people (inexperienced day traders primarily) flock to the stock to try and book some profits when the slow to respond shorts were covering. My crystal ball said by weeks end the stock will be 20% lower;) & by my best estimation it will still be overpriced per the actual underlying value

While "Too big to fail" has been coined the primary reason Gov didnt let it fail was due to the Interests held by other governments who also own US dept, this is my summation on the company. I'm going to be watching closely for the volume and the price action in pre-market and post market Monday to determine where I will be starting my Short Sales;)

MM

Cash for Clunkers Coming Soon to Your Kitchen and Laundry Room

I too have been seeing the little (BLOCKED) popup on my firefox shows that it has been stopping threats and or addon pop up windows every time I visit here. I'm not even using the latest FireFox and it works beter than MS...

now to the news.
dont just think WHL (woorlpool,) & GE (General Electric) think of the companies that sell them parts, Preferably ones who also sell parts to automakers & Furnace manufactures. I'm long HON (honeywell) & JCI (Johnsen Controls) who both are major suppliers to many many of these manufactures who are end item beneficiaries. Not to mention that these people also make after market parts used to upkeep existing items. An additional play maybe Eclipse for some of there factory updated heating equipment.

Mark

Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index: Top 10 Stocks

IF there was an ETF I would think that it would consist of the top few stocks mostly, top 10 or 25 even, this way you would have a good hedge. not sure if you wanted to go that direction but you may want to look at buying 5 of the top 10 stocks above, doing a comparison of each one based on returns, total volume drop from high to current and the link. attempting to maximize the yield and growth vs how far it has come down in the last year/18 mo. Also will need to look at the assets of each and the total risk reward of each to determine which you want to get into. Keep track of the others as well so that you can trade out of one when it has made a big move up/dn to minimize your loss & maximize your return. Keep in mind dividend dates as well as that each stock will probably drop an equal amount to the div after payment dates.

mark

On Aug 20 09:27 AM oldman wrote:

> is there an ETF for this? I had DVY couple years ago and it had a
> horrible 2007-08. What goes down alot also goes up, if you can stand
> the down. Maybe better with a small group, not 100?

Thursday Options Update: AA, ESLR, UNH, HOT & DE

I was going to sell out of my ELSR today luckly I got the info on the the 5.0 call price so now I think I'll hold it for a while longer.

while solar stocks are tied to the OIL stocks I'm looking for a similar thing to happen that has been happening in Europe. when the government has imposed a higher price to the owner for any electricity they put into the grid. I dont have any solar panels but the investment that ESLR has done with 1 new factory in north east and the new shares it sold to fund more equipment they are actively growing the business. The cost is lower and the raw materials are much less than traditional silicon cell mfgs. FLSR if i'm not mistaken make metal based cells with a much higher cost per watt which will keep them out of the average home users ability to buy and install roof mounted solar system to gain a nice grid electricity off set in costs if the government actually does something good to help the electrical situation and makes the cost of buys the cells/system profitable in a mid to shorter span.

SPIKER

The Autos and Mentality That Ruined Detroit

nice read magnum: more info regarding what is happening today that the original not so news worthy same ole bla bla bla above..