[PINeely]

When I played that game in early '09 I put it mostly in Baidu which is like a Chinese google. Not sure how they are now but my team finished second in the state. As others have said Apple would be a good bet now.

[txz4]

Originally Posted by PINeely

When I played that game in early '09 I put it mostly in Baidu which is like a Chinese google. Not sure how they are now but my team finished second in the state. As others have said Apple would be a good bet now.

I remember that boom.

Vanity covered his bases. Be smart and remember that finance isnt an exact science despite what many especially those carrying their pitch forks in the news believe. Be clever, your teacher will award a well thought out clever plan more than he will someone he gets lucky.

It might be worth your while to check stocks out for companies that provide drilling gear or do refining. Check out Mitchem. the beta is a little higher than i would want but it will give you an idea of the industry and some of its trends.

In your final paper, be sure you justify everything you have done, as vanity said about the euro to dollar value, that would be good to include reasons why you DID NOT do something as well.

[BayMoWe335]

Originally Posted by PINeely

When I played that game in early '09 I put it mostly in Baidu which is like a Chinese google. Not sure how they are now but my team finished second in the state. As others have said Apple would be a good bet now.

Most of the money has already been made on AAPL, at least in the short term. It took out the $500 barrier in short order after posting a blowout quarter never seen before. Even if it moves through $600, it's only 20% gain from these levels. There are going to be many stocks out there that gain much more than 20% and do so sooner than AAPL. Finding which ones will be the hard part. For example, BAC is up about 60% from its low and AAPL is only up about 33% during the same period.

AAPL was my best trade last year, but I wouldn't be itching to buy it at $505 unless you had a pretty long term horizon. Even then, the law of large numbers HAS to start playing a role in the stock and in the company. I could be wrong, but are you confident that in 5-10 years, AAPL will still be the leader in tech? Tech is so fragile that it's hard to say because the consumer is fickle. AAPL makes devices that are hot right now. Products come and go. I believe AAPL can be humbled as quickly as they rose to prominence.

BTW, AAPL is one of my favorite companies, but they are more susceptible to competition than some other leading companies who have been leaders for longer and have higher barriers to entry.

[Cheeserolling]

Wow! Thanks once again for this info guys. And yes, I meant to say Tuesday. I realized we have school off tomorrow. Definitely I will ask my teacher about commodities for oil and such. I think I will look into companies such as Wrigley, McDonalds, Starbucks. Would something like Proctor and Gamble or Coca-Cola be a good choice? And then I should stay away from things such as airlines, General-Electric, construction, home-improvement, or anything that requires higher amounts of money for the average family? What about IBM, HP, or banks like JPMorgan or Bank of America?

[silvergray545]

I did the same project 3 semesters ago. Go with Apple. I did Apple, Verizon and AT&T. I did pretty well.

[Cheeserolling]

Actually we are buying in on Friday, sorry for the confusion. Teacher said no commodities/dividends. I will ask about keeping the 100k in the US dollar. So far I've come up with McDonalds, Walgreens, Walmart, and Mitcham. The oil shortage has interested me, too bad I cant go into commodities. Also, what about something like Amazon? How about beer companies? Spring/Summer will be around and having a drink seems like a cheap way to cool off.

[aut0sh0cker]

Originally Posted by Cheeserolling

Actually we are buying in on Friday, sorry for the confusion. Teacher said no commodities/dividends. I will ask about keeping the 100k in the US dollar. So far I've come up with McDonalds, Walgreens, Walmart, and Mitcham. The oil shortage has interested me, too bad I cant go into commodities. Also, what about something like Amazon? How about beer companies? Spring/Summer will be around and having a drink seems like a cheap way to cool off.

No dividend stocks? That seems really weird to just eliminate most of the Dow 30 like that

[Cheeserolling]

Originally Posted by aut0sh0cker

No dividend stocks? That seems really weird to just eliminate most of the Dow 30 like that

I meant that we can invest into stocks that provide dividends, but we will not collect the dividends.

and P.S. we're ending in June not May.

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by abisson

100k$ on Apple. Safest bet you can do with this POS market. It is at 500$ now... by the end of May, the new MBP and iPad 3 will be revealed. Easily will be at minimum 525$/550$.

Don't forget the iPhone 5.....


I kick myself all the time for not buying as much as i could when it was $85 before the 3G phone. Had about $80k that i was looking to do something with at the time. Makes me feel nauseated at times.

[Buegie]

Originally Posted by Cheeserolling

How about beer companies? Spring/Summer will be around and having a drink seems like a cheap way to cool off.

The market knows that those companies will have higher sales in those periods so that info is already priced in. If they beat estimates you could see a pop but higher revenue doesn't automatically translate into higher prices. Same with Apple, the market knows that new products are around the corner and are basing their valuations on pretty solid sales numbers.

You could make a case for defensive stocks but at the same time unemployment is falling, consumer confidence has been moving back up and the Euro debt crisis is coming closer to a resolution. Also, if you look at earnings, companies have been killing it but the market has still been relatively cautious, leading to the lowest P/E ratios we've seen in a long time.

Point being, you could make a good case either way. There's no right answer which is why your grade will come down to how well you can articulate your decisions, not your overall return number.

Just some things to think about...

[smellfish]

Hoping you picked up P&G earlier this week. AAPL is overbought, avoid Nat Gas & Coal.

[HungHingHK]

Originally Posted by Cheeserolling

Actually we are buying in on Friday, sorry for the confusion. Teacher said no commodities/dividends. I will ask about keeping the 100k in the US dollar. So far I've come up with McDonalds, Walgreens, Walmart, and Mitcham. The oil shortage has interested me, too bad I cant go into commodities. Also, what about something like Amazon? How about beer companies? Spring/Summer will be around and having a drink seems like a cheap way to cool off.

your are picking safe long term blue chips, this is not a investment strategy for 3 months. There will always be douchebags that put everything into penny stocks and get lucky. Not saying you should go penny (or maybe you should) but you gotta go a little more aggressive than that. Those are my grandma's stocks bro

[The1]

dollar stores if you think the recession is going to remain.

[TunedM2C]

Originally Posted by HungHingHK

your are picking safe long term blue chips, this is not a investment strategy for 3 months. There will always be douchebags that put everything into penny stocks and get lucky. Not saying you should go penny (or maybe you should) but you gotta go a little more aggressive than that. Those are my grandma's stocks bro

I have to agree here. You're playing it a bit too safe and need to go more aggressive to get your percentage gains up.