In Search of the Perfect Investment

Some of you missed yesterday’s email of my column. It had some neat recommendations. Click here.

The BIG theme today is buying cheap. The stock plummets. You’ve dumped it because it violated your stop loss rule. Now it may have hit bottom. Example Halliburton which I wrote about earlier :

And the reason for the bounce? The Wall Street Journal yesterday wrote:

Halliburton Co.’s third-quarter earnings rose 70%, but shares of the oil-field service company rose only slightly amid persistent worries that low crude prices will slow drilling in the U.S.

Halliburton and its peers, such as Schlumberger Ltd. , are bellwethers for the energy industry because of the work they do for oil and gas exploration companies.

Halliburton Chief Executive Dave Lesar told investors on a conference call Monday that he expected that low oil prices would be relatively short-lived.

Halliburton’s customers show no signs they will stop activity in North America next year, though growth could slow in other parts of the world because of geopolitical disruptions, he said. Halliburton is a major provider of hydraulic-fracturing services in the U.S.

Interesting that Halliburton expects that low oil prices “will be relatively short-lived.” That’s like asking a long-only mutual fund manager which way the market is going. I’ve heard now from at least half a dozen oil executives, half of whom believe it’s going to $70, maybe lower. Others think it’s going to bounce back. Important to remember that the Saudis drag oil out of the ground for under $5 a barrel.

Another bouncer (with great recommendations):

Meanwhile, the lower oil price is a huge present to U.S. consumers, who’ll buy more and travel more. Hence my recent recommendation — Delta (DAL), which has bounced nicely. I heard a lot of recommendations yesterday for American Airlines (AAL):

A theme I’m hearing a lot these days is industry consolidation. One company buys another. Then another company buys another. Pretty soon the industry is run by a handful of companies, who now can jack up their prices, and make them stick. A beneficiary of this is Micron (MU):

Another stock that dropped (after a disappointing quarter) and which I picked up is Netflix.

Whether Netflix does well or not in the face of huge new competition is now 100% irrelevant. Mark Cuban is shamelessly pushing his own Netflix purchase on CNBC every moment he gets. He was doing it again this morning. I suspect that CNBC has a rule against its reporters pushing the stocks they own… But for those somewhere in the middle, like Cuban… who knows.  Cuban appears regularly on CNBC’s Shark Tank and as a learned (opinionated) guest.

Meanwhile Keith Meister, managing partner and chief investment officer of Corvex Capital Management with over $6.5 billion of assets under management, did a neat presentation on one of his favorite stocks — Crown Castle (CCI). His pitch caused the stock to bounce.

Some investors are waiting the surge on prices of stocks pushed at this week’s Robin Hood Investor Conference to subside before buying. For the persuasive presentation on CCI, click here.

 Too good to be true.
CNBC is brimming with ads for real estate investment opportunities from a company called National Realty Investment Advisors. I pray you’re not tempted. This one fits into the category of “too good to be true.”

As interest rates stay low and the economy and prices pick up, older investors are increasingly desperate. Tell your parents to be increasingly wary.

Putting things into perspective.

What we know about Ebola

Ebola spreads by contact with bodily fluids, such as through a break in the skin or someone with contaminated hands touching the eyes or nose.

The World Health Organization has made clear that there’s far more virus in blood, vomit and feces than in other bodily fluids.

There is no specific treatment for Ebola but specialists say basic supportive care – providing intravenous fluids and nutrients, and maintaining blood pressure – is crucial to give the body time to fight off the virus.

Profuse vomiting and diarrhea can cause dehydration. Worse, in the most severe cases, patients’ blood vessels start to leak, causing blood pressure to drop to dangerous levels and fluid to build up in the lungs.

“The key issue is balance between keeping their blood pressure up by giving them fluids, and not pushing them into pulmonary edema where they’re literally going to drown,” McCormick said.

We depend on the body’s defenses to control the virus,” said Dr. Bruce Ribner, who runs the infectious disease unit at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital, which successfully treated three aid workers with Ebola and now is treating one of the Dallas nurses. “We just have to keep the patient alive long enough in order for the body to control this infection,” he said.

Classic thoughts on sex.

“Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.  — Rodney Dangerfield

“There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL.”  — George Burns

“Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake a whole relationship.”  — Sharon Stone

“Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.” — Tiger Woods

“My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch.”  — Jack Nicholson

” Clinton  lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is.”  — Barbara Bush (Former US First Lady)

Harry Newton who’s so old he now reads everything about living forever. Here’s a neat study from Men’s Journal Magazine.

An Apple A Day Can Cut Heart Disease Risk 40 Percent

It’s no surprise that fruits are good for you, but new research suggests they just might have the potential to save your life. Researchers at Oxford University  found that eating as little as one medium-sized apple or a handful of fresh strawberries a day could slash your risk of heart disease by 40 percent.

The researchers tracked about half a million people in China with no previous history of heart disease for seven years. By the study’s end, they found the group who ate at least 150 grams of fresh fruit a day had significantly lower blood pressure, less risk of cardiovascular disease, and fewer deaths compared to those who never or rarely ate fruit.

And while the daily fruit eaters saw the most cardiovascular benefit, even the participants who ate fruit just one to three times a week had up to 28 percent lower risk of heart disease than non-fruit eaters. This suggests that the more fruit you eat, the better off you are, says study author Dr. Huaidong Du.

Harry’s take: You must eat only organic apples. Normal apples get sprayed and the chemicals penetrate the skin and affect the apple. My friend who’s a food physicist tells me non-organic, pesticide-sprayed apples are the worst fruit to eat.