{"id":11851,"date":"2012-02-24T09:09:23","date_gmt":"2012-02-24T14:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=11851"},"modified":"2012-02-24T10:52:45","modified_gmt":"2012-02-24T15:52:45","slug":"the-discipline-of-finding-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=11851","title":{"rendered":"The discipline of finding opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">You search. You find dead ends. You search. It leads to more search. Samsung reported a 79% increase in fourth quarter operating profit. That seems impressive. But I don&#8217;t know what it exactly means. Samsung is listed on the London Stock Exchange. And I can probably buy its stock there. But do I want to do? Ditto for Kia and Hyundai. Too much work? But I do like their products. all my TVs and monitors are Samsung. And my next TV will be their LED 8000 series.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>How to find opportunities.<\/strong><\/span> Saying NO is a\u00a0 key part of anyone&#8217;s investment strategy. But saying No is hard when your range of investment options is limited. Hence it&#8217;s important to expand those options. I have four techniques:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">1. The Tarzan Theory. You swing from one vine to the next one. This works for finding a new job or a new investment. You know the food industry. You figure what&#8217;s hot in your area and you check that out. The Peter Lynch theory.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">2. What&#8217;s happening in your neighborhood. Friends have made fortunes buying cheap real estate in their town and turning it around. Real estate is good because you&#8217;re not competing against the 5 million people who\u00a0 read about the company&#8217;s prospects on the Wall Street Journal&#8217;s web site.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">3. People. Talk to them. Ask questions. Lots of questions. Amazing how much information you can get if you simply ask.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">4. Reading, shopping and keeping your eyes open. What&#8217;s happening around you that seems to be taking off?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Nike&#8217;s new marketing MOJO. <\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Nice article on Nike in the latest Fortune.Click <\/span><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/management.fortune.cnn.com\/2012\/02\/13\/nike-digital-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Favorite Nike tennis sneaker:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/NikeZoomBreathe2K11Blue.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11856\" title=\"NikeZoomBreathe2K11Blue\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/NikeZoomBreathe2K11Blue.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"451\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/NikeZoomBreathe2K11Blue.jpg 451w, https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/NikeZoomBreathe2K11Blue-300x178.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Goes by the stupid name of the Nike Zoom Breathe 2K11. My tennis friends call it the Del Potro shoe. He&#8217;s allegedly wearing it. I&#8217;ve been wearing the shoes for several days. I love it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>We got nothing new at Apple&#8217;s annual meeting yesterday. <\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">No dividend. No new products. No nothing. <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For the full (lack of) story, click<\/span><strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.macworld.com\/article\/165542\/2012\/02\/cook_apples_success_take_center_stage_at_annual_shareholder_meeting.html\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Matt Taibbi on the Arizona Republican debate. <\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He was not impressed. Click<\/span><strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/blogs\/taibblog\/arizona-debate-conservative-chickens-come-home-to-roost-20120223?utm_source=dailynewsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Why women are different to men<\/strong><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Funny Australian lady standup.<\/span> Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch_popup?v=sbF-4LOOC5c\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">What&#8217;s the most important lesson you&#8217;ve learned about women? <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From an interview with Dustin Hoffman in the latest issue of Maxim magazine:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I stand by what a friend of mine once said: &#8220;There&#8217;s only one way for a successful relationship to exist &#8212; at a fundamental level, the man has to be scared shitless of her or it ain&#8217;t gonna work.&#8221;<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Who had more groupies during the making of Rain Man, you or Tom Cruise?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was always Tom. Nowadays I still have the same number of fans that&#8217;ll scream my name on a movie set. It&#8217;s just that now they&#8217;re all over 75.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Favorite recent New Yorker cartoons:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/ImprovNight.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11859\" title=\"ImprovNight\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/ImprovNight.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"549\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/ImprovNight.jpg 549w, https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/ImprovNight-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/NewAnything.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11860\" title=\"NewAnything\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/NewAnything.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"549\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/NewAnything.jpg 549w, https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/NewAnything-300x243.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><a href=\"..\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/HarryNewtonNewShot2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"HarryNewtonNewShot\" src=\"..\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/HarryNewtonNewShot2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Harry Newton who bought a little more AGNC and little more Apple, But nothing else. My RadioShack short is doing fine. My Dell and RIMM shorts are losing a few pennies. I&#8217;m tempted to short Hewlett-Packard. Under pressure from Wall Street, the two CEOs previous to Meg Whitman severely cut into HP&#8217;s R&amp;D. It&#8217;s hard to see her being able to convince corporate customers not to jump ship (as they&#8217;ve been doing)&#8211; especially when the alternative is IBM, a much better managed, more credible operation.<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You search. You find dead ends. You search. It leads to more search. Samsung reported a 79% increase in fourth quarter operating profit. That seems impressive. But I don&#8217;t know what it exactly means. Samsung is listed on the London Stock Exchange. And I can probably buy its stock there. But do I want to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}