Recommended Investing Books

Recommended Books

Stocks
How to Make Money in Stocks By William O'Neal
A must read investing book for any level trader. Might want to pick up a couple issues of Investors Business Daily as well.

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
Another must read. Written for the value investor not for the growth investor.

Options
Option Volatility and Pricing By Sheldon Natenberg
Bible of Options Trading- Must own for option traders

Getting Started in Options By Michael Thomsett
Excellent first book for those thinking about trading options

On My Reading List
Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom


The Successful Investor: What 80 Million People Need to Know to Invest Profitably and Avoid Big Losses


Trend Following: How Great Traders Make Millions in Up or Down Markets

Stock Chart: Marvell Technology (MRVL)

Marvell Technology's stock (MRVL) looks like it is ready for a buy.
By the way, I finished William O'Neil's book How to Make Money in Stocks and will try to apply some of his techniques. My New Years Resolution will be to use more technical analysis and become a better chart reader.

Other books:
Currently Reading
The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture

Will Read Soon
Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom
The Successful Investor: What 80 Million People Need to Know to Invest Profitably and Avoid Big Losses
Trend Following: How Great Traders Make Millions in Up or Down Markets

Going for The Gold ???

I was about to go with a 10% weighting in gold this morning but I felt like it was not the proper buy point for Goldcorp (NYSE: GG). I believe gold will be the story of 2006 like oil and natural gas was for 2005. Goldcorp seems like the ideal fit for my portfolio: no hedges, no debt, increased production, and low mining costs. I need Goldcorp to come in a bit before I initiate my investment in gold. I believe the Gold ETF (NYSE: GLD) is too conservative for me.

Instead I took the money from selling my position in Lennar (NYSE: LEN) and increased my stake in Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN) . I still have some cash on the sidelines, ready to buy GG once it comes in.

As of 12/30/05 Long: CERN No Positions in : GG, GLD, or LEN Positions may change without notice

IPO's To Watch

Here is a list of stocks going public in 2006 courtesy of BusinessWeek. I have highlighted the stocks that I am interested in and will probably have the most buzz.

Castle Brands (ROX)
Chipolte Mexican Grill (CMG)
Colt Defense (CLT)
Crocs (CROX)
Mastercard (MA)
Morgans Hotel Group (MRG)
Morton's Restaurant Group (MRT)
SAIC (SAI)
Thomas Weisel Partners Group (TWPG)
Tim Horton's (THI)
Town Sports Club International (CLUB)

Keep an eye on the SEC filings on all of these companies. I also believe J. Crew will go public in 2006, so keep an eye on that one as well.

Stock Split

New River Pharma (Nasdaq: NRPH) announced that they will split their stock 2 for 1. The change will take place on January 13. I see this as a plus since the float is so tight with only 18.4 million shares outstanding and 8.5% of it short.

Note: I am long NRPH

Stock Chart: Gilead Sciences (GILD)

I am long Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD). I am considering adding to my position as GILD has pulled back to the 50 day moving average.

Sold Lennar (NYSE: LEN)

I used some of the strength today in Lennar (NYSE: LEN) to close my position for a small gain. Lennar short term looked overbought. The volume has improved.

Fundamentally, the housing boom is ending and there was a recent article about how Lennar is raising sales commissions for outside brokers. From a 2% commission to a new "3-4-5%" based on number of homes sold. Not exactly a bullish move. I admit the stock will spike when the Fed says they are done. But what will Lennar be trading at when they are done tightening?

Stocks I'm Watching

I am currently looking to go long the following stocks: CWTR, TRAD, and ISRG.
Looking to sell my position in Lennar (LEN), hopefully they don't say anything too bearish during the call tomorrow.

Cerner (CERN) Stock Publicity

Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN) today was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal for questionable accounting practices. I missed a great buying opportunity today around $90. Looks like a few people went short today, which is better off for long term investors in my opinion (short squeeze). Cerner announced after the bell a 2 for 1 stock split effective January 9. I am not a big fan of stock splits but hopefully it will reduce the bid/ask spread a bit.

From Reuters:

"We haven't seen any new information today that would cause us to second-guess our thesis that Cerner is a dominant player in a rapidly growing market. We believe today's weakness is a buying opportunity," said Wieland, who has an "outperform" rating on Cerner.

Note: I am long Cerner

Trading Update for 12/12-12/16

I am still alive, but the trading activity should be minimal since I have final exams next week. My posting on the blog will also be kept to a few posts. I have to focus on Athena, Accounting, Acceptable Macornutrient Ranges (AMDR's), Standard Deviations, Z-Scores, and Zeus not the stock market.

I will be back 110% on 12/18

Momentum Trade

Today I purchased a January 2006 Titanium Metals $80 Call. I admit the stock is overbought but I only plan on holding the call for a short period of time.

Note: I am already long the common stock (TIE)

New River Pharma (Nasdaq: NRPH) Update

New River Pharma (Nasdaq: NRPH) filed an application for a pediatric ADHD drug. The stock saw a nice afternoon pop. I mentioned this stock on Monday as a speculative stock play.

Briefing News
Press Release

Note: I am long NRPH

Afternoon Stock Market Weakness

Here is a chart of (Amex: DIA) which tracks the Dow Industrial Average. For the past five days the market hit its highs during the open or by noon and then sold off. Generally this would be considered bearish. I still remain over 95% invested in equities.

Speculative Stock

I owned a few shares of Sears Holding (SHLD) and sold them today before they report Tuesday. This has been a disappointing investment. The fact of the matter is nobody shops at Sears anymore, they shop at JC Penny, Wal-Mart, Federated, and Target. I took a 15% loss in SHLD.

I have been doing some research and today I took the money from Sears Holdings and put it into New River Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: NRPH). NRPH will benefit from a partnership with Shire Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SHPGY) in developing a new ADHD drug that prevents overdosing and will make the drug more prescribed as patients cannot overdose from taking the drug. They are also working on a drug similar to Vicodin that prevents overdosing. They don't create drugs but improve existing drugs that big pharma is not interested in improving. This is a real interesting company and I believe the stock could pop like Noven (NOVN) did today with its ADHD patch.
I would like to warn fellow readers that this is a speculative stock and I don't recommend it for your IRA/College Savings Account.

Invest at your own risk.

Sell The Steel Stocks

Despite the takeover talks of US Steel (NYSE: X) , the fundamentals are terrible for all steel stocks. China is no longer importing steel. The input prices are increasing with higher energy costs and ore prices. Check out the following reports.
China Steel Surplus
Steel Prices Fall 23%

Note: I have no position (long or short) in any of the steel related stocks.

Top Performing ETFs

Top Performing ETFs (1 Year Market Return) as of 12/2/05

BLDRS Emerging Markets 50 ADR Index (ADRS) 42.03%
Vanguard Energy VIPERs (VDE) 40.76%
iShares MSCI Emerg Mkts Index (EEM) 36.08%
iShares Dow Jones US Energy (IYE) 34.94%
iShares S&P/TOPIX 150 Index (ITF) 22.66%

Source: Yahoo Finance

Stock Market Recap

After a nice run up on all of the major US indicies the Dow pulled back today. The Nasdaq and S&P each advanced slightly. Next week should be interesting. There is a lot of bullish sentiment in the stock market. I hope that doesn't end with dissapointing reports from semiconductor companies.

Dow
10,877.51 (-35.06)(-0.32%)

Nasdaq
2,273.37 +6.20(+0.27%)

S&P 500
1,265.08 +0.41(+0.03%)

New Position: (BRCM)

This morning I sold half of my position in NDAQ for a 108% gain. I am letting the rest run in that stock. I was going to pull the trigger on AX but I cannot buy at $59 and watch it fall back to $50. I feel I have enough volatility in that sector with my remaining shares of NDAQ. I rolled the money from NDAQ into BRCM. I feel BRCM is well positioned for the next year. They also make a chip for the XBOX 360 and many other popular electronic devices.

Taking Profits in a Position

I have doubled my money in (NDAQ). I am looking to sell half of my position and let the rest run. Some stocks I am looking at are ITG, AX, CME, LOGI, CUTR, MRGE, ISRG, or BBBB. I still need to do a little more research to make the best selection. I might buy two stocks from the above list. Since I have not done anything with the money from the sale of my shares in Halliburton (HAL).