{"id":28880,"date":"2014-12-01T10:14:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T15:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=28880"},"modified":"2014-12-01T10:40:13","modified_gmt":"2014-12-01T15:40:13","slug":"dont-like-the-service-so-buy-the-stock-turning-peter-lynch-upside-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=28880","title":{"rendered":"Don’t like the service? So, buy the stock! Turning Peter Lynch upside down!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Airlines are soaring — directly benefiting\u00a0 from plummeting oil prices. We have Delta (DAL) and American (AAL). Others are doing well also.
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Peter Lynch’s major thesis was “Buy what you like.”<\/strong> Curiously that doesn’t play into “Sell what you hate.”<\/strong> Take Time Warner Cable (please take it). It’s truly miserable dealing with them as a customer. They’re my Internet supplier out here in the west. Time Warner Cable’s\u00a0 (TWC) stock has bounced around this year, but is still up. And take the airlines. Miserable to fly, but great stocks (recently).
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I despair for bricks and mortar retailing. We moved into our new California holiday house last week.\u00a0 We visited Home Depot for stuff we needed. Awful shopping. But what a great stock this year:<\/p>\n

\"HomeDepotThisYear\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What local retailers (including Home Depot, Staples, Bed Bath & Byond and others we visited) lacked, Amazon had.<\/p>\n

That’s what I learned from hours wasted driving from one badly-sign posted, boring strip mall to another. Read that again:<\/p>\n

What the bricks and mortar retailers lacked, Amazon had. And could deliver in a day or two.<\/p>\n

The worst of all the bricks and mortar retailers was Costco.\u00a0 If I had a family of 20 to feed every night and a family prone to use acres of toilet paper and miles of paper towels, Costco is the place to shop. But for normal people who don’t require quantities to make their SUVs groan, I’d skip Costco. But Costco has done nicely in the past year…<\/p>\n

\"CostcoOneYear\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0So depressing:<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

\"ZimbabweUnemployment\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m guessing Syria’s “unemployment” rate is right up there with Zimbabwe. Last night\u00a0 60 Minutes<\/em> did a piece on how the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is using hunger as a weapon, deliberating starving hundreds of thousands of its own people and causing a refuge problem that the World Hunger Organization (WHO) is not able to keep up with. Probably the biggest ever. One Syrian town had eaten all its dogs and cats before WHO got in with a little food and water.Ten million people have fled Syria or have been displaced from their homes. A staggering number in a country of 18 million. That’s 56% of the population.<\/p>\n

Watch 60 Minutes<\/em>\u00a0 here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Italy’s unemployment rate has risen to 13.2% — the highest since the quarterly series began in 1977.<\/p>\n

60 Minutes did a piece on credit card fraud last night. <\/strong>What little I learned: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1. The card issuers only know they’ve been hacked when their customers’ credit cards go up for sale on Internet web sites.
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2. Everyone has been dragging their feet on issuing newer, harder-to-crack\u00a0 credit cards — ones with microchips in them (similar to cell phone SIM cards).<\/p>\n

3. The more publicity hacking gets, the better cyber-security stocks should do. I like CyberArk (CYBR).<\/p>\n

4. Don’t give retailers your credit card numbers..<\/p>\n

5. Make your online passwords very long and very complicated.<\/p>\n

Cell phone service need a boost?<\/strong> If you have a little — perhaps also intermittent —\u00a0 cell phone at your home or office, you will find some joy in a cell phone booster. The device comes with an antenna for your roof (or somewhere on high), and cable to connect it to a transmitter in your office\/home. It’s a fiddle installing the thing but your cell phone service will definitely improve — no matter which carrier you have. This is what you get when you spend $220:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"zboost\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To buy the thing from Amazon (where else?), click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

How ISIS apeals to its recruits. <\/strong>I’m fascinated with the Islamic State’s “marketing.” The best piece is from Geopolitical Monitor<\/em>. It begins:
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The Islamic State has a library of ancient myths and prophecies it uses to lure warriors in a march towards the thirteenth century, where they will defeat the infidels in a great final battle in northern Syria. Whether they die and are rewarded with paradise or survive to enjoy the coming Utopia under divine rule, they will be the victors; and this is the appeal of the Islamic State.<\/p>\n

Read the rest here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Favorite recent New Yorker cartoons.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ALotLikeChristmas\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AlimonySaga\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"RescueTurkey\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"HarryNewton\"<\/a>
\nHarry Newton who wanted to alert his readers to the “boom” in suntan lotion. That’s unfair, given the weather back east. We are here in the Coachella Valley until Saturday. Today we’re scheduled to see some clouds. We’ll bring the good weather back with us when we return on Saturday. That’s a promise.<\/p>\n

Allegedly, the two cheapest shopping days are today (Cyber-Monday) and tomorrow. God forbid you should buy more junk you don’t need.<\/p>\n