First post

[jhiggins24]

whats up everybody,

I found this board because I read the IBD board and found $$$Mr. Market's$$$ posts very interesting and entertaining. I am 24 years old and have been investing for about a year and a half. I made good money last year on my trades, mostly out of luck. I have been slaughtered in this current correction, mostly because I own too much NT stock. I thought that they were positioned to recieve a lot of contracts so I got burned and am feeling a lot of pain.

I have been reading this board, and the contributors here (stenzrob, the kid and MM of course, as well as others) seem to have a knack for picking winners. I feel like a sheep shadowing your trades, but at this point I feel desperate. I made some money on the IPAR pick, and would like to thank MM. Thank you! Anyhow, I just wanted to announce that I am here, and introduce myself.

See you around,
jhiggins24

PS. I am gh32547 on IBD. I really enjoy messing with some of the stiffs over there, supporting MM. Especially when I have had a few.

PPS: If anyone has any advice on my account, I am listening. I currently hold some positions that have been beaten up, so I feel like I have waited it out long enough, I should stick. Truth is I am a rookie and need some advice. I will do my own DD and won't just blindly pick (I've learned my lesson) so feel free to post advice.

my portfolio:
AMCC
AMD
SIRI
NT
HZO--MM pick
SWIR

[scifos]

AMCC - 12 month revenue -339 million. Negative revenue is usually a disqualifier for me.

AMD - Also has revenue problems, but I think its more of a sector problem for them than a business problem. Not a bad hold.

SIRI - Looks like a good prospect long term. I usually don't hold stocks under 10 bucks though, thats just me.

NT - Looks good, but I'd need to do some more DD

HZO - Good potental

SWIR - Seems okay, didn't look at it much

These are just my opinions, not advice. I am no expert.

[Michaelk005]

siri is a good pick, esspecially on the the latest new of Howard Stern switching to satelite radio, Depends if they get the contract though... For a long term die and hold investment,, i currently hold a few hundred shares in my portfolio.. will sell in 2040 lol

[ParkTwain]

comments

I would rather comment on how you approached picking this group of stocks. Do you take an approach that is similar to that of MM? Do you prefer a 15% and out approach to making a profit? How quickly do you want to grow your capital? How much time do you have to do stock research? These are the kinds of things that I find to be the most interesting to discuss at MM's site. For instance, MM's screen depends greatly upon the idea of Relative Strength as defined (and published) by IBD. My take is that this measure leads one to stocks that are already too far past their period of best (and most reliable) price appreciation. I am more of a chart watcher who focuses on chart setups that should lead to an upside breakout. Such breakouts very often lead to 15% and more price appreciation in a shorter time period than MM typically achieves. (I tried to demonstrate during a series of weeks previously under my thread on this site.) This is just my approach based on about 6+ years of experience in the markets. I want fast capital appreciation, 15% gains and out in each case, but with a focus on those situations that will MOST RELIABLY get me that result. To accomplish this, I have found that a technical (chart) orientation is more important than a fundamental orientation. Nothing is foolproof, of course.

[mrmarket]

welcome....feel free to contribute and reply to any opinions posted here. Let me say 3 things to you:

1. You are young. Time is on your side. If you invest for the long run, you will be rewarded because you are young. If you are investing because you want to buy a car next month, you will panic if your positions move against you. If you're not sleeping at night, you have too much of your rent money in the stock market. If I was 24, I'd spend more time in the gym. A rippling physique is a sure thing, the stock market is not.

2. Do your own homework. It's your money. Yes....there are many intelligent people on this forum offering much wisdom, but it's still your money.

3. If you are reading this, you could be out getting laid.

[mimo_100]

Re: First post

whats up everybody,

.........SNIP

PPS: If anyone has any advice on my account, I am listening. I
........

I assume you trade in a cash or margin account.

I have Roth IRAs that I trade in. Very tax efficient, as long as
you have gains.

[RL]

If you are a long holder DKS and BEMT could do well but nothing Is a sure thing. GOOD LUCK

[jhiggins24]

The money I invest with is money that I do not need for rent or anything. I never take money out of my stock account for any reason.

As far as my approach to picking stocks, I am trying to find exactly what it is. It sure needs some improvement. I am determined to find something that works for me. I have picked many winners (see below) but my execution has sucked.

As far as 15% and out, I look at that on a stock by stock basis. Some terrible mistakes I made last year include selling RIMM at 21 (bought at 18 OUCH!) sold AH at 16 (bought at 14) and sold XMSR at 12 (Bought at 11). I made these mistakes early on in my trading when I was making way too many trades. I have grown more patient now. I sold RIMM because of a negative article I read in Barrons. I learned that lesson too.

One concern I have about IBD stocks is that they are heavily manipulated. Maybe I am paranoid, but I watched RCKY drop so heavily on virtually no news. also after MM sold IPAR it dropped heavily. It seems that IBD hyped stocks have very steep drops out of nowhere.


----I had a lot of fun with a lot of girls in college and HS, but now I have a girlfriend so I might as well be reading this board. Take it as some consolation that I typed my post last night while I was on my 9th Busch Light. (I know I drink cheap beer).
As far as the gym, I prefer to play sports like hockey and basketball. Blasting a shot past a goalie gives me the rush that MM gets by putting up huge weight in the gym.

Happy St. Patricks day everyone!! I will splurge some $$ for some Guiness today.

[RL]

wrong symbol

Sorry I gave you the wrong symbol Should have been BMET

[Dave]

I hate to say it, but the only stock I would touch in your portfolio is HZO. Many are speculative with continued losses, and the ones with actual earnings are not growing and are in HIGHLY comptetive markets with narrow margins. I actually laughed when I saw SWIR's P/E. I think you are where I was about 18 months ago, trying to pick stocks with very high potential, but also high risk. I got burned badly, and have since been MUCH more careful in my investments. To quote $$$MR MARKET$$$, "Earnings, earnings, earnings" is what it is all about.

Now, what would I do if I actually already held those companies? SIRI looks like it might pan out in the long run. There is little competition CURRENTLY in this segment. It is also a good product, but so is TIVO, and they may fold if they can't turn a profit by the end of this year. People really don't want yet another monthly bill, for the most part. AMD is a good company, but they will always been in a tough market with slim margins, and it is easy to stumble and fall behind the curve in the CPU world.

Anywho, I think if you stick around here and read these guys/gals posts, you will learn about all you need to turn things around fairly quickly. I think you just have to decide how much time every day you wish to put into trading/research. I have the time to daytrade, but I don't have the willpower or stomach for it. I prefer to check things once or twice a day just for kicks, so I mostly use Ernie's method, and jump on his picks when I don't feel confident in mine.

Good luck and make sure to do plenty of DD with ANY pick,

-Dave

[jhiggins24]

Dave,

Thanks for the reply. I own SIRI--the product, in my car, and I really enjoy it, so I am going to stick with that one. NT I bought because I know some people who work for VZ and they told me that NT is winning contracts, so I thought that it would be a good place to be. Unfortunately I didn't know that they had idiot accountants (or crooks).

I am planning to get out of my dogs, I am just waiting for the right time. After that I am going to pick companies with very solid earnings and see how I do then.

thanks,
JHiggins24

ps--I like SWIR because of the same reasons I liked RIMM when it was at 18. I am using a SWIR wireless card to connect to the MM website right now. When wireless laptops blowup like Blackberry has for RIMM I expect SWIR's stock to jump.

[Dave]

J,
Buying a stock because you like their product(s) can be a VERY risky proposition, especially in areas with heavy competition, or one where competition can pop up in a day. I would hold SIRI based simply on the fact that competition cannot simply happen overnight. Some company would have to launch satellites and that costs a ton and takes a good amount of time.

Now look at SWIR. Their products will be under heavy competition and their margins will shrink. That is going to be a tough area to survive in. They cannot get any advantage from name branding or anything else that would help them survive when competition knocks.

I still cannot believe that RIMM has done what it has. Those devices are built like crap. I support 15 of them here in my division, and in 8 months I have had to replace 8 of them because the wheels fail. My prediction is that another company will jump in and start taking RIMM's market share, and their stock will tumble. Right now there are a few other devices that offer similar functions, but nothing has been mass-marketed yet.

Well, almost time to hit the beach!

-Dave

[jhiggins24]

I am getting out of some of my garbage and I bought a little DRAX. Hopefully this one works out. I am going to keep most of my money on the sidelines until the overall market starts heading north.

thanks everyone for the comments.

JH

[jhiggins24]

It looks as if P/E means nothing with a stock like SWIR or RIMM.

Sold some more garbage, bought some SHFL and SGMS... hope I am not too late to party with those.

I am eagerly awaiting the next batch of MM picks. I am definately trying to shift into stocks that are a little more solid (or are less likely to have bonehead accountants like NT).

Am I doing any better?

JH

[jhiggins24]

How does everyone on this board feel about ABAX?