The worst performing S&P 500 stock in 2005 is...

[TObject]

Dana Corporation, down 61%. The best performing is Apple Computer, up 131% with their gay iPods everybody loves so much.

I have been pretty much staying away from stock trading since March. In addition to that I entrusted my pension plan management to an advisor, who has been performing much worse than your lousiest bank savings account unfortunately.

Speaking of which. If you haven?t dumped your bank?s savings account for one of those 4.00%-4.25% direct savings accounts yet, then do it, I highly recommend it.

[Jerry Bransford]

Originally posted by TObject
Dana Corporation, down 61%.

Probably due in no small part to Jeep shifting away from Dana axles. I wonder why Jeep is switching axle brands?

[Tim]

Originally posted by Jerry Bransford
I wonder why Jeep is switching axle brands?

cheaper is neater?

[Daless2]

Hi Sergey,

Yes, thank you very much, I owned Dana Corp for the last few years. (Stupid me!)

The up side is I also owned NDAQ (Nasdaq Market Place, Inc).

They are the company that owns and created the NASDAQ Market.

They went up a little this year. Started at $8.15 a share, ended up at $35.18 a share. I think that is like 245% more or less, double Google and Apple with only half the hype! LOL!

Yea I sold most of it on Friday. Don?t want to get greedy! LOL


If anyone is interested, the New York Stock Exchange (which is a NOT for Profit organization) will be merging with a company called Archipelago Holdings (Symbol AX) early in 2006.

AX closed on Friday at $50 a share. Started the year at about $20. This rise is attributed to the NYSE merger and going public with the Exchange.

Owning the market places is like being Levi Strauss during the gold rush. You don?t dig for gold; you sell supplies to those who do. You don?t buy and sell stocks; you own the company that creates the market place for other to buy and sell stocks, taking $0.007 per transaction. (Oracle (ORCL) uses the same model).

You make money two ways, automating the stock transaction process (lowering your costs) and by an increase in buying and/or selling.

It makes no matter if the markets go up or down, you still make your $0.007 per transaction.

While I have sold most of my NDAQ I do believe it has an upside of about 20% in 2006.

I still own all of my AX. I believe it has a potential to double again next year.

I do not advise anyone to buy any stocks, but this is what I have been doing and why it makes sense to me.


Others I own and really like in 2006 are:

Verisign (VRSN) Internet security. Last week the 1 billionth Internet user went online. There are at least 5 billion more to go, all of which need security protection. The market is very very large. Not going to run out of customers anytime soon.

PetCo (PETC) Sell all kinds of pet supplies using the Wal-mart approach (run by former wal-mart executives) . They also consolidate a lot of mom and pop stores into their brand. Buying out owners (not putting them out of business) in exchange for shares of stock in PetCo. Very steady growth, very solid business plan.

WalMart (WMT) Stock is down for 2005 but market potential is truly remarkable in China.

Expansion plans in China alone will in fact double Wal-Mart?s size. Being Wal-Mart knows how to make a profit on everything they do I have no reason to think they got stupid over night and wont do so there as well.

If you double stores, double the number of customers in those stores, it is logical to assume profits will go up dramatically.


Tyco (TYC) and GE (GE) are two companies that are in a lot of businesses. 30 different businesses for GE, and 21 for Tyco.

Both will benefit from the $3.7 TRILLION dollars that American businesses have been hoarding for the last year.

The same is true for data storage companies like EMC (EMC) and network equipment makers like Cisco (CSCO).


No I am no longer smart enough to come up with my own stock picks. I let Lehman Brothers do that for me, and I could not possibly be happier with the results I have received in taking their advice in 2005.


In truth I never trade stocks, I invest with the idea of holding for 12 to 24 months.

Maybe some will find this info interesting to do your own evaluations.

Anyone else have any investement ideas for 2006? I'm interested!!!!

Happy New Year folks,

God bless all.

Frank

[BlueJeeper]

Originally posted by Daless2
Anyone else have any investement ideas for 2006?

I highly recommend The Future for Investors : Why the Tried and the True Triumph Over the Bold and the New by Jeremy Siegel, pub. 3/05.

[Link added by admin]

[TObject]

I have an idea for a long-term investment: LEDs - Light Emitting Diodes. Specifically, replacing incandescent and fluorescent lights in homes and businesses with lights based on LED arrays.

I think LEDs are the future of lighting because they consume very little electricity and last for very long time.

A typical incandescent light lasts for 750 hours of use. Fluorescent lamps last as long as 10,000 hours. LEDs last 50,000 hours or more.

We already see LEDs replacing regular bulbs in flashlights, but home and industrial use is very limited due to the cost, and to the fact that current LEDs produce light in a comparatively narrow beam (typically 20 degrees, but as wide as 45 degree LEDs are already available).

As the technology keeps improving and prices come down I am certain there will be huge market opportunities opening up.

So, what is my pick for a company to bet on? ? Illinois Tool Works (ITW), and particularly their Lumex, Inc., subsidiary. Lumex produces a wide assortment of LEDs, including High Brightness LEDs and White LEDs, has manufacturing facilities in Illinois, Taiwan, and China, and makes use of a wide distribution network.

I think ITW and Lumex are in a good position to jump on LED lights bandwagon once it arrives.

[Jerry Bransford]

Speaking of stocks, my old company Silicon Graphics Inc (symbol SGI) used to be one of the darlings of the NYSE, and was trading close to $50 when I was there. They were the hot enormously popular 3-D graphics supercomputer company of the eighties and nineties. SGI's computers were even used to produce the realistic animations for all the mega-blockbuster movies like Jurassic Park.

I was shocked to discover a few days ago that the NYSE recently delisted them after their stock had been below $1 for too long. Now they're with all the other penny stocks on the OTC board at .40 a share, a real shocker. Wow, I made a ton of $$$ working for SGI, now they're barely alive. RIP SGI. Ya shoulda listened to me when I tried to get you to switch to Intel processors and use a Windows-like interface instead of that crappy non-standardized UNIX/IRIX interface.

[scorpio_vette]

Anyone else have any investement ideas for 2006?

i invest every available penny in my jeep. that way i always know where my money is and i can't blame anybody but myself if i screw up my investment.

[Daless2]

Originally posted by TObject
I have an idea for a long-term investment: LEDs - Light Emitting Diodes. Specifically, replacing incandescent and fluorescent lights in homes and businesses with lights based on LED arrays.

I think LEDs are the future of lighting because they consume very little electricity and last for very long time.

A typical incandescent light lasts for 750 hours of use. Fluorescent lamps last as long as 10,000 hours. LEDs last 50,000 hours or more.

We already see LEDs replacing regular bulbs in flashlights, but home and industrial use is very limited due to the cost, and to the fact that current LEDs produce light in a comparatively narrow beam (typically 20 degrees, but as wide as 45 degree LEDs are already available).

As the technology keeps improving and prices come down I am certain there will be huge market opportunities opening up.

So, what is my pick for a company to bet on? ? Illinois Tool Works (ITW), and particularly their Lumex, Inc., subsidiary. Lumex produces a wide assortment of LEDs, including High Brightness LEDs and White LEDs, has manufacturing facilities in Illinois, Taiwan, and China, and makes use of a wide distribution network.

I think ITW and Lumex are in a good position to jump on LED lights bandwagon once it arrives.

Hi Sergey,

If you have an interest in LED Lighting and investing in companies that play BIG in that arena you need to look into General Electric (GE) and EMCORE, Inc. (EMKR).

These two companies have a joint venture, going under the industry name of GELcore, to produce, manufacture, sell and market Commercial, Industrial and Consumer LED lighting.

While you cannot buy stock in GELcore directly, you could own the participating companies.

GELcore just recently completed the change over of EVERY traffic light in the State of Kentucky with LED lights, projecting major State savings in power usage and maintenance.

You might want to check them out. I own GE, but do not own EMCORE. Looks like EMCORE doubled ($) last year in price per share. Closed at $7.42 per share on 12/30/05.

I do not know much about EMCORE other then their joint LED venture with GE.

Hope you find this useful.

Frank