Update for March 29, 2013

This Week's Activity:

This weeks "StockEvaluator.xls Short List" view is available at the bottom of the UltimateStockFinder home page.  It only contains the companies for this week that are within 5% of their 52 Week Low and also have less than 5 Red Cells.  If you have an Excel viewer on your SmartPhone, you will be able to view it on your phone.  This week, there are 9 companies on the "Short List".  8 of them have 4 red cells each, and on further research, none of these 8 look good enough to me to buy.  The 9th company is SKUL which I already sold a PUT on last month at a strike of $6, and though it is now at $5.28, I am not willing to put any more money at risk on it.  SKUL had their CEO quit last month and just named a new one.  Their founder does not want to return as CEO, so they have hired a NIKE executive as their new CEO.  Also, they just forecast a 30% drop in revenue for the current quarter.   They are down for what looks like some very good reasons.

Next Monthly Meeting 2nd Tuesday of every Month:

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 , 7:30 PM at my house. 

Here are my Buys for March 2013:

Buy   Company    Buy

Date  Bought      Price    Target Sell

-----   ---------    ------   -------------

3/1     AAPL        $435    $475

Here are my Sells for March 2013:

Sell      Company   Sell     Buy       Buy

Date      Sold         Price   Price     Date

-------   ----------   -------  -------   ------------

3/22     AAPL Covered Call Expires Jan 2014

                    Strike $475, Option price $40

                          

StockEvaluator.xls and Mutual FundEvaluator.xls are available for download at www.ultimatestockfinder.com

Remember to send me any other stocks or mutual funds that you would like to see added to the Evaluator spreadsheets,

and "Reply All" with any other investing ideas, information or questions that you want to share.

Thanks,

John D.

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Visit Our Website UltimateStockFinder.com for More Investing Ideas:

All the Yahoo!Finance data is refreshed on Saturday morning into StockEvaluator.xls and contains over 1,800 company stocks.  We will add any company you would like to the list.  Download "StockEvaluator.xls spreadsheet" at: http://www.ultimatestockfinder.com/ 

MutualFundEvaluator.xls is also updated weekly and currently contains over 500 mutual funds.

Run the various Ctrl-_ sort commands in StockEvaluator.xls and MutualFundEvaluator.xls to bring the best companies to the top based on their key financial values. 

Under "Web Search Links" you can find our favorite links for good investing information including:

   Screener for New 52 week lows

   Screener for Good Fundamental Values

   Screener for Stocks with High Volatility

   CNN links that show current P/E values for the major worldwide indexes. 

Under "Downloads" you can access other Ultimate Stock Finder investing tools:

  Download StockEvaluator.xls and MutualFundEvaluator.xls spreadsheets

  View our YouTube training video

  Go To "Investment Training Webpage", for more information on how we do our investments.

  Go To "S&P 500 Total Return Comparison" spreadsheet for 20 year comparisons v.s. other funds

  View the Ultimate Stock Finder watchlist on Yahoo Finance

Update for March 23, 2013

This Week's Activity:

Recently, Tony and Trey commented to me that my StockEvaluator.xls spreadsheet with over 1,800 companies and 58 columns of data for each company is "information overload" for most people.  They both suggested that I present a simplified view with only the few stocks that sort to the top for key parameters.  This "StockEvaluator.xls Short List" view is now available at the bottom of the UltimateStockFinder home page.  It only contains the companies for this week that are within 5% of their 52 Week Low and also have less than 5 Red Cells.  If you have an Excel viewer on your SmartPhone, you will be able to view it on your phone.  Each week, this "Short List" will provide you with several companies that may be good enough to merit further research on your part to determine if they are something you would want to buy.  

Next Monthly Meeting 2nd Tuesday of every Month:

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 , 7:30 PM at my house. 

Here are my Buys for March 2013:

Buy   Company    Buy

Date  Bought      Price    Target Sell

-----   -------------    ------   -------------

3/1     AAPL      $435    $475

Here are my Sells for March 2013:

Sell      Company   Sell     Buy       Buy

Date      Sold         Price   Price     Date

-------   ----------   -------  -------   ------------

3/22     AAPL Covered Call Expires Jan 2014

                    Strike $475, Option price $40

                          

StockEvaluator.xls and Mutual FundEvaluator.xls are available for download at www.ultimatestockfinder.com

Remember to send me any other stocks or mutual funds that you would like to see added to the Evaluator spreadsheets,

and "Reply All" with any other investing ideas, information or questions that you want to share.

Thanks,

John D.

Update for March 16, 2013

This Week's Activity:

I have revised the UltimateStockFinder.com website to make it easier to find the links and downloads you use when visiting the site from your computer, and also to make the entire site more viewer friendly (larger tappable links!!) for Smartphone users.  

Next Monthly Meeting 2nd Tuesday of every Month:

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 , 7:30 PM at my house. 

Here are my Buys for March 2013:

Buy   Company    Buy

Date  Bought      Price    Target Sell

-----   ---------    ------   -------------

3/1     AAPL        $435    $475

Here are my Sells for March 2013:

Sell      Company   Sell     Buy       Buy

Date      Sold         Price   Price     Date

-------   ----------   -------  -------   ------------

                          

StockEvaluator.xls and Mutual FundEvaluator.xls are available at www.ultimatestockfinder.com

Remember to send me any other stocks or mutual funds that you would like to see added to the Evaluator spreadsheets

and also with any other investing ideas, information or questions that you want to share.

Thanks,

John D.

---

Visit Our Website UltimateStockFinder.com for More Investing Ideas:

All the Yahoo!Finance data is refreshed on Saturday morning into StockEvaluator.xls and contains over 1,800 company stocks.  We will add any company you would like to the list.  

Download "StockEvaluator.xls spreadsheet" at: http://www.ultimatestockfinder.com/ 

View the Ultimate Stock Finder watchlist on Yahoo Finance

MutualFundEvaluator.xls is also updated weekly and currently contains over 500 mutual funds. 

Download "MutualFundEvaluator.xls spreadsheet" at: http://www.ultimatestockfinder.com/ 

Go To "S&P 500 Total Return Comparison" spreadsheet to see 20 year comparisons of other funds v.s. the S&P

Run the various Ctrl-_ sort commands in StockEvaluator.xls and MutualFundEvaluator.xls to bring the best companies to the top based on their key financial values. 

Go To "Investment Search Links" to find our favorite links for good investing information including:

   Screener for New 52 week lows

   Screener for Good Fundamental Values

   Screener for Stocks with High Volatility

   CNN links that show current P/E values for the major worldwide indexes. 

Go To "Investment Training Webpage", for more information on how we do our investments.

   Also, view our YouTube training videos for StockEvaluator and MutualFundEvaluator

Updates for March 8, 2013

This Week's Activity:

Annuities are good for people who want a guaranteed annual income stream in retirement, but they do not want to do any management of the underlying investments that generate that income stream.  Since I prefer to manage my investments, I wanted to see if a typical annuity would guarantee me a better income stream than I expect to be able to earn with my safe and conservative mutual funds.  

The way an annuity works is you make a lump sum payment to the annuity provider (usually an insurance company) to start the annuity at some age before you retire, and the annuity provider will invest and hold your money until you reach age 65, at which time they will start paying you a guaranteed amount of money every year until you die.  I made a spreadsheet to compare Annuity returns, expenses and residual (death) benefits versus a self directed account that I invest in a stable conservative mutual fund. 

The main problem I have with Annuities is, what do they do with the money left over in your account when you die.  I have not been able to figure out a clear death benefit payout value in my reading about annuities, so I need help from any of you who own an annuity to explain to me what your annuity guarantees to pay out to your heirs when you are gone.

My spreadsheet  "annuity_calculator.xls"  is available at the "Investment Training webpage" from www.ultimatestockfinder.com .  

I estimate that a typical Annuity will pay at a guaranteed 4.5% rate.  For a clear comparison, I input a 4.5% rate of return for my self directed investment even though I believe I can do better than that.  My favorite stable mutual fund, PRGMX has an average annual return of 6% over the past 25 years.  It was up 24 of those years, down only 1.  I ran a "filter" search in "mutualfundevaluator.xls" and found two more funds PTTRX and PRWCX, that have average annual returns of greater than 8% over the past 25 years and are both up 23 and down only 2 years. 

Please talk to me if you have an annuity to help me understand the costs and death benefit amount, so I can properly account for them in my spreadsheet.

Next Monthly Meeting 2nd Tuesday of every Month:

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 , 7:30 PM at my house. 

Here are my Buys for March 2013:

Buy   Company    Buy

Date  Bought      Price    Target Sell

-----   ---------    ------   -------------

3/1     AAPL        $435    $475

Here are my Sells for March 2013:

Sell      Company   Sell     Buy       Buy

Date      Sold         Price   Price     Date

-------   ----------   -------  -------   ------------

                         

StockEvaluator.xls and Mutual FundEvaluator.xls are available at www.ultimatestockfinder.com

Remember to send me any other stocks or mutual funds that you would like to see added to the Evaluator spreadsheets, and "Reply All" with any other investing ideas, information or questions that you want to share.

Thanks,

John D.

Updates for March 2, 2013

This Week's Market Activity:

AAPL (Apple) hit another new 52 week low ($429.98).  We had a buy limit order in at $435, so it triggered.  AAPL has 4 red cells in Stock Evaluator, but with a P/E of 9.8, and very low debt and goodwill, and a 2.4% dividend we think it is too good to pass up.  AAPL is 39% down from it's all time high of $705 in Sept. 2012.  I think the market is overdoing the punishment.  Our target sell price is $475, which AAPL was at on Feb. 11.

Next Monthly Meeting 2nd Tuesday of every Month:

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 , 7:30 PM at my house. 

Here are my Buys for February 2013:

Buy   Company    Buy

Date  Bought      Price    Target Sell

-----   ---------    ------   -------------

3/1     AAPL        $435    $475

Here are my Sells for February 2013:

Sell      Company   Sell     Buy       Buy

Date      Sold         Price   Price     Date

-------   ----------   -------  -------   ------------

2/4        AAPL       $36.00      not bought unless it is PUT to me. 

       PUT$430 Oct2013                                     

2/7        VSAT      $4.00   $32       Employee Stock Purch Plan 6/29/2012

       CALL $50 Sep2013     

2/8        RFMD      $.75     $4.45     1/9/2012

        CALL $5 Aug2013

2/11       MU         $.82     $6.50     9/10/2010

        CALL $8 Jul2013

2/11       SKUL      $1.20        not bought unless it is PUT to me. 

       PUT$6 Sep2013                                     

2/21        AAPL       $40.00     not bought unless it is PUT to me. 

       PUT$425 Jan2014          

2/25        APOL       $1.70      not bought unless it is PUT to me. 

       PUT$17 Aug2013          

2/27        BBRY       $2.10    $13    9/21/2012 

       CALL$17 Dec2013          

2/27        STM       $2.10    $.30    5/4/2012 

       CALL$10 Oct2013          

                          

StockEvaluator.xls and Mutual FundEvaluator.xls are available at www.ultimatestockfinder.com

Remember to send me any other stocks or mutual funds that you would like to see added to the Evaluator spreadsheets,

and also any other investing information or questions that you have.

Thanks,

John D.