" It is time for this value investor to invest with confidence with one of the best value investors, David Einhorn. I am putting my money to work in Greenlight Capital RE LTD.. The stock is a great value right here and insiders are buying it. "

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,865.34 (Down) Week ending 06-10-2016.

Greetings. I guess you have all heard of Berkshire Hathaway run by Warren Buffett's value investment team with its Geico Insurance company. Buffett takes the cash flow from his stock investments and invest it back into value stocks.

Well,  Greenlight Capital RE LTD.  (Symbol GLRE, $19.73 ) is in a number of different insurance and reinsurance businesses. Their cash flow is managed and invested by DME Advisors that is headed by hedge fund manager and prolific Value investor, (and also Chairman of the company ),  David Einhorn. David runs a Long/Short value based strategy with the companies investments and traditionally has done very well. 

Greenlight ,GLRE is a great buy right now because David is coming off of a real klunker of year in 2015 , with a per share earning loss of (-$9.07) per share. Sun Edison, Micron Technology and a double down on Consol Energy the big culprits of that 2015 loss year.  

So that has provided a great opportunity to get in the stock here at a ground floor price and have David Einhorn be involved with making himself and you some big money. GLRE back in 2014 and 2015 was trading at $35.00 per share. 

 David Einhorn - Value Investor

Greenlight is projecting 2016 earnings per share of $2.61 per share a PE of 6.36 and 2017 earnings per share of $3.29 per share with a forward PE of 5.64. 

Similar to MetLife, that I wrote about in my last blog article, Greenlight is trading under current book value at a 0.86 ratio and has a current book value of $23.04. The target price by analyst on the stock is $31.00 per share. I calculate that at around a 57% gain if it just returns to that historical mean number and target.

Sales Quarter over quarter are up 137.3 % and EPS Q/Q are up 218%. Very easy comparisons to go against from 2015. 

David is heavily weighted in consumer cyclical stocks at around 35% of his portfolio. We will just let him do his thing and get back to his winning ways. He has almost $6 Billion dollars under management. 

Einhorn, along with Soros and Buffett, has recently been buying up shares of Apple Inc., (Symbol AAPL) , at bargain prices here.

I like this stock as a buy and hold till it gets to its target price then I would review the situation again at that time. 

Mr. Einhorn is also a prolific poker player and prolific philanthropist.  I like that!

Have a wonderful summer. Remember you don't have to own every stock. Just own a few that give you the best odds in your favor of making some money. GLRE is one of them at this time.

Freewilly

Looking around for great values and found MetLife Inc. trading way below current book value and that pays a nice 3.72% dividend. Too big to fail? Not according to the judge. Feds are fighting the ruling.

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,535.32 (Down) Week ending 05-13-2016

When us Philadelphia Eagles fans drive up the Jersey Turnpike towards New York or New England we will inevitably pass by the N.Y. Giants football stadium with it's sponsor's logo on the front of the stadium, "MetLife". Now us Eagles fans aren't real kean on those NY. Football Giants because we play them twice a year and the games are very "Physical" because of our rivalry in the NFC EAST division, (which also includes the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins).

I have however taken an interest in the company that sponsors their stadium, that being MetLife Inc. (Symbol MET, $42.99). The company trades at an amazing low Price to current book value of 0.62 with the current book value at $68.83 per share. Part of the reason for this situation is because since the 2008 financial crisis the government had deemed them as "Too Big to Fail" and had added regulation and high capital requirements that the company had to abide by.  Well last month in court a judge had over-ruled that decision and declared that MetLife Inc. would no longer be under those rules and regulations and that they are free to run their finances as they wish. I hope that this will be a key catalyst to the stock price.

Well that has the "Snoopy Dog", the MetLife mascot symbol,  jumping for joy. Here are some of the numbers that the company sports:

A Peg Ratio of 0.78 well below my 1.5 criterion.

Earnings per share for 2016 are projected at $5.48 per share and for 2017 projected at $6.04 per share.  That is a current PE ratio of 9.21 and a forward PE of 7.12 , well below the current market. The expected 5 Year earnings increase is forecasted at 11.80% per year.

The ROE, return on equity has been low because of the regulations but that should rise in the future with the new financial freedom. 

The P/FCF Price to free cash flow is 4.55 , which is well below 10. The company did sales of almost $70 billion dollars in 2015 so there is allot of energy for forward synergy here. 

The company pays a nice dividend of 3.72% , so MET pays you a decent wage even if it doesn't rocket up right away. 

Zack's company says that analyst ratings are 9 Strong Buy and 2 Buy with 3 Hold ratings on the stock. There is a target price on the stock of $51.07 , but I would hope that the company could return to at least "1 times book value" which would be $68-69 dollars a share.

I would say that you can buy it right here in this rocky stock market. So take a little ride on the MetLife blimp and see your assets rise up also.

Have a great week. Sorry I have not been posting every week. It is not because of a lack of interest, but more about being very very busy. Always keep some money on the side lines , (10% to 15%) for good buying opportunities. 

Freewilly

Welcome viewers from Germany! I had 158 views in one day and I hope you enjoyed reading. Today I am back looking for another Value investing stock pick. My search led me to Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals PLC (Symbol MNK).

Dow Jones Industrial Average 18,003.75 (UP) week ending 04-22-2016

I decided that my goal now is to become the "Peter Lynch of Value Investing" and to pick out 75 to 100  good value stock investments. No small task indeed.

This week I have picked out a Mid-Cap Value International investment. Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals PLC (Symbol MNK, $66.27) Yeah, it would have been nice if I picked this one out 30 days ago when the price was lower but I think there is still plenty of room on the upside with this one. 

This stock is not without controversy though. It was shorted back it March by that blogger, which will remain unnamed, that likes to short a company's stock and then trash them in the press by creating doubts about what the company is doing at the present time. Well my blog is based on the facts as presented by the numbers presented in the company's audited financial reports, not on presumptions and innuendo.

...and here is what the numbers tell me:

First, MNK is trading at 1.47 of current book value. Earnings per share for this year are projected at $8.05 per share and for next year $8.77 per share. EPS quarter over quarter are up 34.3%.So the forward PE on this stock is 7.07 at the current price. The stock was trading last August, (2015), at $125.00 per share.

The price to free cash flow is 7.31 and I prefer it to be 10 or under. My traditional measurements of PEG and ROE are 1.77 and 10.20, so both a small bit out of my comfort zone. The Current ratio is 1.80 and the Quick is 1.50 both are fine. I had blogged about a stock earlier this year with similar dynamics an story which was Lannett Pharmaceuticals, (LCI), which I also still like and own.

MNK is 92.6 % institutional owned with T. Rowe Price and the Vanguard Mid Cap Fund firmly committed to the company and it shares. The company has a target price of $93.00.  Sales quarter over quarter have been up 19.10% and for the past 5 years have been up 10.30% annually. The stock just broke thorough its 50 Day Moving average to the upside. 

What do the Analyst think about the stock of this company based in Dublin, Ireland where they have the low corporate tax rates?  13 Buy and 3 Hold. 

Many of the Gurus have owned this one. Ken Heebner, Joel Greenblatt, George Soros, Mario Gabelli, David Dreman and John Paulson according to Gurufocus.com.

The Investors Business Daily earnings ranking on this stock and sector is 91 and "A" and they are ranked 4th overall in their group. I just think it would be a good acquisition to purchase some shares for a 2 to 3 year buy and hold purchase. I think that you will be well rewarded.

Besides, you can always go and see Dublin at the shareholders meeting. You need to get away sometimes, don't you?

Best wishes for good investing and good health, Sláinte !

Freewilly

"Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve and Economist, holds off on an interest rate hike and the market is smiling for a change. Here are a few value investment ideas and a couple of Bio-tech speculative picks for you."

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,792.75 (Up) Week ending 04-01-2016

Sorry for being away and not writing my blog. My paying job gets ranked first in the pecking order and I was also traveling. The markets have filled back in nicely here, but there are still some bargains to be found out there. 

One company that I like based on my value criteria is JetBlue Airways Corp. (Symbol JBLU, $21.33). I had purchased this stock before I had heard any rumors about an interest in Virgin America Airways. This company has a current PE or 10.83 and a forward PE of 8.55.

The company is projecting earnings of $1.97 per share for 2016 and $2.49 per share for 2017.  Q/Q earnings were up 115.40% and the Sales Q/Q are up + 10.2 % . The company operates at Gross Margins of 68.7%.

JetBlue fits well with my investment parameters with a PEG Ratio of 0.32 and a Return on Equity of 23.10%. The company pays no dividend currently.

The company trades at a price to Book value P/B of 2.12 to 1 and trades at price to forward cash flow of 10.42. I like companies that trade at less than 3 Times current book value , (P/B),  and with a P/FCF of under 10.00. 

My next pick is a Closed-End management fund named , Tekla Healthcare Investors (Symbol HQH, $24.52) located in Boston, MA. First off, the fund boost a dividend yield of 9.95% and they reinvest your dividend in more shares so you have a compounding effect with your money. 

The fund has a PE of 8.9 and produced earnings of $2.76 per share. 

The thing I really like is that this fund trades at a Price to Current book value of 0.85 (P/B). So if they ever liquidated the fund you would have an instant 15% gain. The fund currently has a Return on Equity of 30.60. 

Quarter over quarter sales were up 170% and EPS for the last 5 years ave averaged 27% gain year. 

......... And now for some fun speculative Biotech-Pharma picks for you. This is for money that you would spend on the lottery or gamble at the casino, money that you could sustain a loss on with these investments. I own a little each of these.

Depomed (Symbol DEPO, $14.38).  Depomed is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on pain management and other central nervous system conditions. Depomed has sales and products already to market and have a 5 Year growth rate of 33.52%. They just had their patents upheld in court against Purdue Pharmaceuticals.

Egalet (Symbol EGLT, $6.89). 

First of all the company is holding $5.81 per share in cash on the balance sheet so you are getting the rest of the company for practically nothing. "Egalet, is a fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company, focused on developing and commercializing medicines for patients with moderate to severe pain. It has the first and only approved immediate-release oxycodone product formulated to deter abuse via snorting, for the management of acute and chronic moderate to severe pain where the use of an opioid analgesic is appropriate." Quarter over Quarter Sales/Revenue is +387.30% and next year earnings are projected to be up 63.7%. Analysts have a target price for EGLT of $18.20. and chronic pain while helping to protect physicians, families, and communities from the burden of abuse.

Flexion Therapeutics, Inc. (Symbol FLXN, $9.42) is the most speculative pick of the three picks because they do not have a product to market yet so no sales revenue.  "Flexion Therapeutics is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel non-opioid pain therapies. The company is currently advancing a portfolio of injectable drug candidates that have the potential to provide better and more persistent analgesia compared with existing therapies." They are very well financed with a Current Ratio of 13.80. The price to Book value P/B is 1.95. The target price by analysts on the stock is $35.50 per share. Be careful with any of these three. They are to add a small position to your already well invested and diversified portfolio.

NCAA Final Four college basketball tonight here is the USA.  Go Villanova Wildcats, our local Philadelphia, PA. entrant in the fray.

Freewilly

When I do my stock screening sometimes it seems like I am channeling The Chairman, Mr. Mario Gabelli. We seem to like the same value stocks to invest in. Here are two of them, Viacom B and Tri Pointe Group Inc."

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,006.77 (UP) Week Ending 03-04-2016

The Chairman, Mario Gabelli is one of the legendary Value stock investors of all time. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Gabelli Asset Management Company Investors, (GAMCO Investors) an investment firm headquartered in Rye, NY.   






Some of the Chairman's great investments have been Precision Cast Parts, Madison Square Garden, Cowles Communications, Keurig Green Mountain and Chris Craft. Gabelli is a leading proponent of the Graham-Dodd school of security analysis. (Ben Graham and David Dodd). Graham's most well known disciples of Value Investing include Warren Buffett, William J, Ruane, Irving Kahn and Walter J. Schloss.



One of the stocks that Mario initiated coverage on on June 29th, 2015 is Tri Pointe Group Inc. (Symbol TPH, $10.68). Mario's target price for the stock is $19.00. From the Tri Pointe website, " TRI Pointe Homes became a publicly held company, trading under the symbol “TPH” on the NYSE. It was the first IPO in home-building to emerge after the downturn. Within 5 years, the company merged with Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company (WRECO), which operated as five distinct home-building companies in seven states, to become TRI Pointe Group. This merger has created one of the top 10 largest public home-building companies in the United States based on equity market capitalization." 

 Here are some of their franchise names around the country:

• TRI Pointe Group                                         
• Maracay Homes
• Pardee Homes
• Quadrant Homes
• Trendmaker Homes
• TRI Pointe Homes
• Winchester Homes

Here are the numbers for Tri Pointe Group Inc.. The current PE is 10.68 and the Forward PE is 7.73. The PEG Ratio is 0.31 and the ROE is 10.70%. Price to current Book Value is 1.38. 

IBD has the earnings rank at 75 and gives it a "B" Rating. EPS for this year is +149.60 and EPS for the next 5 years is a rate of 34.39%. Sales Quarter over Quarter is 35.6% and the EPS Q/Q is 342.90%.  I like this stock here and have taken a position in it.

The second one of Mario's value picks he has owned for a number of years as a storehouse of value. Mario is often looking far ahead down the road for values. Sales have been down every year here at VIAB for the last 5 years, but I guess he thinks that the assets intrinsic value is not being realized or capital is just not being deployed properly.  The company is Viacom Inc. B (Symbol VIAB, $38.82). VIAB has a PE of 8.29 a Forward PE of 6.81. This one pays you to wait with a 4.12% current dividend payout. The company had 2015 sales of $13 Billion dollars and Income of $1.87 Billion.

One idea is that Viacom will start unlocking value by leveraging its high quality asset as owner of Paramount Pictures with some type of joint venture. 

A look at my normal measures show a PEG ratio of 0.91 and and ROE of 60.30. The price to free cash flow is 11.05, (I like this number to be 10 or under), and the Price to current book is 4.17 , (I like under 2.5). The current consensus target price on the stock is $48.55. 

Earnings for the trailing 12 months have been $4.68 per share. 2015 earnings were $5.22 per share and next years 2016 earnings are projected at $5.55 per share. So with the stock at $38.82,  this stock is inexpensive even with the company running the way it is currently, (i.e inefficiently for the great assets that they have). 

The IBD rating currently is rated at "63" for earnings and a "B" rating. 

I don't think something is going to happen quickly but I think we are finally at a "Starting Point" here. So I would buy in smaller positions and take a position over a one year time frame. (25 or 50 shares at a time).

 Mario Gabelli wearing a name tag? Who doesn't know him!

So a couple of ideas for a stock market that has been up for the last 3 weeks. Just be careful here in stocks that have already run up. There has been allot of speculating going on with the swings in the price of Oil.

I want to take a moment and wish the love of my life, my wife Deborah, a Happy Birthday today. She trust in me to do the right things financially for our family. My hope is to provide us financial security and to also help people who are not as well versed in the stock market to invest their money smartly and carefully. 

All are welcome to ask me questions in the comment section here on the blog or follow me on Twitter at @freewilly555 and ask questions there.

Thanks and hope you become a great investor,

Freewilly

"Things move so fast in this market that two blog subject topics that I had picked out ran away before I could even get to discuss them. Well maybe the third idea is now the most timely. Life moves fast!"

Dow Jones Industrial Average 16,392 (UP) Week ending 02-19-2016

I had it all setup perfect for the this week's blog. IBM was sitting there at $123.00 and had a 4.4% dividend and was going to earn over $14.00 a share next year. I was going to tell you all about how Warren Buffett was really right about IBM and that it was a great value purchase here. I even tweeted about it early in the week. Perfect setup. Then the stock went up $3.00 one day and then $7.00 dollars on the next day and  it was at $133.08. What happened? It had not moved in ages? Evidently people must have been swooping in for that dividend with very little downside risk. It is still cheap here but not as magical as it was at $123.00. Oh well.

Not to be deterred , I watched ARRIS Corp., ,(Symbol ARRS), get beaten down to $20.70 in it's last quarter as a separate company. ARRIS has done an inversion merger with PACE from the United Kingdom and the combined company will be number one in cable modem/wireless routers. They will be doing an efficiency layoff because of overlapping jobs and also combined will earn $3.23 per share. The earnings report had missed and they were guiding down for next quarter because of an expected write-off with the layoffs. ARRIS will also be picking up the tax savings from the inversion transaction. On this one I went in and bought some shares, (after my IBM experience), things move fast!.  The stock of course bounced back 8.6% once people realized it. Great for my investment, but the opportunity vanished for the blog purchase opportunity. Sorry!

Thank God for the weekend! It gives stocks a chance to stop for 2 days and you can get some stuff figured out for investment ideas. So frozen in time here a second, I like Gray Television Inc. (Symbol GTN, $10.78). This one has been all over the place earnings wise and on the investment chart. $0.84 cents per share last year, $0.59 cents this year and $1.68 to $1.76 per share projected for next year. 

These guys own a whole bunch of TV stations in mid size and small markets. They also had just had acquired Schurz Communications and should be juiced up for a spurt in sales and earnings the end of this year, 2016.

Analysts are 4 Buys , 1 Overweight and 0 Holds so light coverage here. 

Here are the rest of the numbers. A forward PE 6.98. PEG Ratio 1.86 and ROE is 15.50%. No dividend here. Quick and Current Ratio is 2.5 to 1. Price to the current Book Value is 1.85. 

Price to Cash Flow is 7.64, (below 10 is good for me), Sales Q/Q is 14.70% gain and Sales for the Last 5 Years were 24.5% gain.

Price target on the stock is $20.40 , (but I am looking for more like $17.00, 57.69% gain, which it has reached before, a nice gain).

EPS this year will be up 156.30% and EPS next year will be $205.39%. 

This just looks like a nice Value trade to me. Value Stocks seem to be in, while Growth stocks this year seem to be mostly treading water.

So buy some Gray Television Inc. (GTN) here and sit back and wait a while for this one to develop and play out for you. This is a 12 - 18 month investment. (Not a short term trade).

Thanks and have a great week,

Freewilly

"Time to take a look around and nibble on some bargain quality stocks to add to your portfolio. It feels like the storm has mostly passed"

Dow Jones Industrial Average 15,973.63 (Up) Week Ending 02-12-2014

Well that was fun! I finally stuck my head out of the foxhole after two weeks to see if the sky was still there (and it was). I thought it might be a good time to put some of that cash to work that we had stashed over on the sidelines.

So I did not venture far out just to my backyard for a local company in Philadelphia. Lannett Co. Inc. (Symbol LCI, $25.51) is a Philadelphia PA. based generic pharmaceutical company that had just purchased another company called Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals. Kremers just this past week got FDA approval for Temozoloride capsules, so more to add to the honey pot. Lannett founded in Philadelphia in 1942 has seen it stock price go down from a high of $72.44 to this current level of $25.51. Some of that was coattails of the Mylan Labs sell off, another generic pharma company.

At it's current price it appears to me by my metrics to be a great bargain. The company is projecting 2016 earnings of $3.74 per share which is a PE of 6.55. 2017 earning are projected at $4.04 per share and a forward PE of 6.17. IBD rating is 68 and B.

Financials are strong here also with a Return on Equity of 24.10 and a PEG Ratio of 0.72.
The Current ratio is 4.2 to 1 and the Quick Ratio is 3.3. 2015 Sales growth was 46.6 %. Target price for the stock is 37.  I would say you can buy a full amount of shares here at this price.

The next one I would nibble on is Synchronoss Technologies Inc. (Symbol SNCR, $23.46).  The company is involved in Wall Street's favorite two words: "Mobile" and "Cloud". They help companies to synchronize those two with their business platforms. No mystery here, pretty straight forward. The 52 week high on the stock is 52. Sorry for the guy that bought it at that price!

SNCR will earn $2.36 per share in 2016 and $2.88 per share in 2017. That is a forward PE of 8.05. The company has a PEG Ratio of 1.59 and an ROE of 8.80 % and is trading at 1.67 times current book value. The IBD rating is 95 and "A".

Analyst right now are 7 Buy and 1 Accumulate. The company is doing a $100 Million dollar buyback of its stock. The company has a healthy Current and Quick Ratio of 5.7 to 1. The 5 year sales growth rate is 28.80%. I would buy it here, (and have purchased both of these here).


One last thing I would add for some yield here is a company that has done very well during the market downturn. 

AT&T (Symbol T, $36.47) has an IBD rating of 80 and "A". This one you are buying for the 5.26% dividend yield. The company grew big last year because of the acquisition of Direct TV. (Must have been the Hanna and the horse commercials.) This year it will only grow at 6 -7 % so really you are buying this to act like a "bond" and give some stability to your portfolio. (I own it from an earlier point). It has a 15.5 PE , so you don't have to be real aggressive buying it here. Nibble. The company will earn $2.84 per share in 2016 and $3.00 per share in 2017. 

(The aforementioned Hanna and her horse AT&T/ Direct TV commercial)

So don't get too crazy this week but you can probably put a little money to work on Tuesday when the stock mark reopens.  We are celebrating Lincoln and Washington's Birthdays on Monday.

(the aforementioned George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, US Presidents)

Thanks and have a great week and Valentine's Day today, here in the USA,

Freewilly

Enigma: definition : a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation. Such is the case with one popular name but very unpopular stock. Twitter (Symbol TWTR, $17.84)

Dow Jones Industrial Average 16,094 (UP) Week ending 01-22-2016

A picture tells a thousand words. Our Nor'Easter here this weekend mirrors the turbulence of our current US stock markets this past week.  Hard to tell where the ocean ends and the shoreline begins, kind of like our stock averages. 

But sometimes, like Doc in John Steinbeck's story Cannery Row, you can go into The Great Tide pool, (of stocks), and in the some small eddy you can find some really amazing things. 

Such is the case of one enigmatic stock called Twitter Inc., which finds itself tossed and turned with the wild tide of these markets. 
 Twitter, (Symbol TWTR, $17.84) is simply the most fantastic and fastest news delivery system in the world. Don't try to picture it as something else or compare it to other things that it is not. 

Analyst are projecting $0.36 cents earnings for this year and projecting next year earnings at $0.56 per share. For the next 5 years earnings are projected to increase by 65% per year. Twitter has a Quick Ratio of 10 to 1. Analysts have 18 Buy recommendations and 23 Hold recommendations. Yet, Insiders over the last three months have been selling shares by a 2 to 1 ration , rather than buying them.?? 

The company has target prices of 40, 33,29,24, and 21 by various firms. Ex-Microsoft CEO bought 4% of the shares and says "Good Job" and is glad he has bought the shares. The company trades at 2.8 times book value.

There have been two large option trades with big buys placed on the March $36 Call Options.

Revenues for the company have been growing from 2013,$668 Million to 2014 at $1.4 Billion to 2015 at $2.0 Billion. Quarter over quarter sales are up 57.5 percent.

"The US markets got clobbered last week. Worst start to a new year EVER. So there must be some value picks that provide a margin of safety. I like BP plc ADR right here with the combo of dividend and potential cap gain. This is not a trade it is an investment"

Dow Jones Industrial Average 15,988  (WAY Down!) Week ending 01-15-2016

Oh brother, what a pounding we took last week. Hope that you didn't sell out of all your long term investments. I hope you still have some cash on hand to take advantage of some current bargains. 

They keep telling us that it is the end of the world for oil and that prices will continue to dive. My feeling is that we have come down on Brent Crude from 145.61 in July of 2008 to now $29.20 in January 2016 , (Oddly that is almost the exact price of a BP plc ADR share, (Symbol BP, $29.16), and that most of the correction has already happened and we are damn near a bottom on the price. 

This is a value/total return investment play for a two year investment. The BP dividend yield currently of 8.23% and with BP having more of a priority to maintain their dividend then to buy back shares, even a rise in the price from here to the $32 or $33 dollar area would be a 10 plus% added with the dividend would be an 18% investment return.  That is a fine number with me. In the short term, the stock price could go lower, but I think its steady dividend will hold it up at a decent price level . The company has $23.61 Billion in cash and short term investments. Last quarter, even at reduced revenue numbers, the company did $35 Billion dollars in revenue for the quarter.

Although my normal PEG Ratio and ROE numbers, (3.07) don't hold up well here, the company is trading at a  Price to Book ratio of less than One, (0.88), and a Price to Cash Flow of 2.8. The current PE is 14.3 and the forward PE is projected at 16.43 so not off the chart numbers. The BP ADR is projecting a $1.56 earnings per share for this year.

The company has also cost righted itself and diversified geographically and in business mix. The company is also involved in research and products in super thin membrane technology , Ultra Thin Membranes. They have anticipated this oil price drop for the last couple years and have adjusted operations accordingly.

Many products and base compounds for many industries are made from Oil. Demand for Oil remains very strong with only a 1 million barrel front end surplus right now. (Boone Pickens said so!), as the number of rigs in the US continues to drop. You need to be thinking long term investment here!

If you feel you need to be in there trading and speculating on oil for a trade, I would probably look to lean to buy some Whiting Petroleum, (Symbol WLL, $5.70), but you are on your own with that one for a trade. The better idea is to buy BP and hold it for awhile!!.

You could also wait a week and then buy BP and that might work out just as well. No reason to be in a big hurry here.

If you are an investor there is nowhere to go but up!

Invest, don't speculate.

Freewilly

" My 2016 picks with a new twist. How to build a small portfolio with 3 stocks, since the purpose of this blog is to assist novice investors to get started. A growth stock, a value stock and a steady Eddie stock."

Dow Jones Industrial Average 16,346 (Way, Way, Down) Week ending 01-08-2016

The purpose of this blog is to help people get started in the stock market who may for whatever reason have a fear of it or that just lack good information about it.

So this year I am giving picks that will allow someone to start a small portfolio starting with $5000 to $10,000. It can be built with 3 stocks from my list using 1 Growth, 1 Value, and 1 Steady Eddie stock.  Now I am not a stock broker, so when you finally make your picks that you want to use, you should run it by a licensed broker to get their opinion for your particular financial situation. This is only to give you an idea guideline on how to get started. (This is just in case you don't win the $1.3 Billion Powerball Lottery here in the USA this week.)

 2016 Growth Stock Picks:

Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen Inc. (Symbol PLKI)

Snap-On Inc. (Symbol SNA)

MobileEye N.V. (Symbol MBLY)

Celgene Corp. (Symbol CELG)

Boston Beer Company Cl. A (Symbol SAM)

Sketchers USA Inc. CL. A (Symbol SKX)

American Woodmark Corp.(Symbol AMWD)

2016 Value Stock Picks:

Apple Inc. (Symbol AAPL)

Time Warner Inc. (Symbol TWX)

Twitter Inc. (Symbol TWTR)

Oshkosh Corp. (Symbol OSK)

Teekay Corp. (Symbol TK)

Iconix Brand Group Inc. (ICON)

2016 Steady Eddie stocks:

Visa Inc. Cl. A. (Symbol V)

General Electric Corp. (Symbol GE)

Johnson & Johnson ( Symbol JNJ)


So here is an example of  a small portfolio:

Buy some shares of  Sketchers (SKX) for growth, Time Warner (TWX) for Value, and Johnson and Johnson for your steady Eddie stock. This would be a good way for someone to start out. 

I have been over past years a "Growth at a Reasonable Price or GARP" investor but in the past few months because of the changing market conditions and the change in the view of the Federal Reserves to now raise interest rates, I have more of a lean to the thinking of Value Investing in stocks or to combine the two styles in my screening of stocks. 

My investing tenets had traditionally been PEG Ratio under 1.5 and Return of Equity of 15 or higher for my GARP strategy.

I have added Price to Book Value of under 2 , (and preferably below book value if possible), and a Price to Cash flow of under 10 which seems to be a sweet spot. I may refine this as the year goes on to get a larger pool of quality prospect stocks.

I personally own 11 of these listed stocks for full disclosure. I am shopping on the others for best prices.

So there you have it. Good luck with your investing in 2016 and remember it does not hurt to have 10% of your money in Cash at all times so that you can take advantages of buying opportunities.

Thank you for reading. We will learn and prosper together. 

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