MO - people gotta smoke and the stock has already been smoked. Cigs could be completely outlawed in the U.S. and they would still make money from the rest of the world. GE - because they are tremendously diversified (almost a one company mutual fund ) and because they have enough cash and access to capital to survive even a depression ( they survived the last one ). Truly too big to fail from the governments point of view also. If the gov would bail out chrysler and the savings and loans then they would bail out GE if it got into trouble. I think it is really the last of the true blue chips. Also the valuation isn't bad anymore. CEF - a closed end fund that owns gold. Cheaper and/or safer than taking delivery of physical gold. The dollar is in for a long term slide and you need a long term hedge with low cost of carry.
Interesting you mention GE. A random trader told me today that he thought they were very aggressive with their accounting. Are you familiar with GE's accounting methods? (I'm not)
INVN. A. $7.50/share in cash ($122M) B. No debt. C. Projected EPS: $2.50 (extremely conservative) D. They make the machines that screen for bombs in airports. Every airport is required to have 100% screening by Dec. 31. They have the contract. E. Huge maintenance fees each year all going to the bottom line. F. US will require foreign airports sourcing planes to the US to have 100% screening. G. 95% market share in a market only 5% saturated. H. Israel is a big customer. Never had a problem. I. New products. For instance, a device used by urban tanks that determine if vehicles contain weapons. US Army has a contract. No press release yet. J. the war on terrorism is never going away and anytime there is even a hint of a warning, INVN stock goes up. Perfect hedge in a volatile market. K. Airports, such as Logan International, are moving (in 2003) to the more advanced inline baggage screening products. Every major airport will move to this. $1M/machine plus ongoing maintenance support. L. Top salesguy and board member was former head of counter-terrorism under Bush Sr. M. stock has gone up each week for past 3 weeks despite market slide. N. Just added to Russell 2000.
I saw your post for CEF. One thing you or others who are looking to add some gold exposure to your account is ASA. It is a gold fund that is about 70% in south african mines and 12% Canadian mines. Gold and platinum. Plus to boot it pays .15 share quarterly dividend and sells at a discount to NAV of about 7%. Heck, I may look to buy some myself.
I am surprised (but should not be) to see actual stock picks. It's hard to understand, once you are a trader, that you would pick stocks 'long term', and trying to call a bottom on top of that (since the thread is about stock pick, biased long). anyway, that's just my opinion. I know it is shared by many other pro traders, but the markets are fueled by the big funds and institutions after all, so I know stock picking long term investments are the fundation, engine and reason traders can make money. I agree with some though, if you HAVE to go long (why? OK IRA has to be long...) pick some funds then and actually spread among several funds or ETFs.