Filed under: Analyst reports, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Time Warner (TWX), Home Depot (HD), Indices, Halliburton (HAL), Altria Group (MO), NYSE Euronext (NYX), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Duke Energy (DUK), Dow Chemical (DOW), Top Picks 2007, Valero Energy (VLO), PetroChina Co Ltd ADR (PTR), Huaneng Power Intl ADS (HNP), Level 3 Communications (LVLT), Chasing Value, S and P 500, DJIA

No surprise the volatile James Cramer of TheStreet.com carries the burden of having made the best and worst picks for the year among those I’ve been tracking monthly. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), the best performer among all the stocks and indices in this review, has saved his rear throughout the year. In general, it has been a good year for energy and tech stocks. It has been a poor year for the financial sector, and as of August, for most of the Wall Street investment firms.

August had some gut wrenching moments but finished on a positive note. Still, the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 14,000 level has not been seen since the financial sector gave the bears something to grouse about. The housing market and subprime loans continue to worry the market, but no help is expected in the form of rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

Crude oil prices have been up slightly, but down at the pump even through the busy Labor Day weekend and even with continued turmoil in Iraq. All the speculation about a Dow 15,000…16,000…17,000 has come and gone and I have not read about such silliness lately.

The month of August continued the trend of stock picking outperforming the indices … again. Earnings reports still trickle in but nothing unexpected affected the market. Perhaps the most telling is that there are discussions of slowing in some industrial sectors but I think Wall Street is just too eager to jump on short-term news. The global economy is still clicking along in a positive direction and August was another month where Chinese stocks did very well. Mergers and acquisitions are showing some signs of slowing, but deals are still getting done.

This is my eighth follow-up where I compare my stock picks to Cramer’s and the indices. For reference, check out my original Dec. 28, 2006 post on the topic.

Summary of Results:

• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has continued to move up in the recent erratic stock market. It closed at $515.25, for a solid +11.39% gain through eight months of the year, holding the top spot.
• My picks continued to advance through August improving to a 6.14% gain year-to-date. Adding the dividend portion of 1.94% (2.89% x 0.67) brings the total return to +8.08% (improving on last month’s +7.09% gain for the first seven months). Clearly, dividends can help and make a noticeable difference when the returns are modest. Leading the way for me were Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO), which continued to be my best overall pick, gaining 32.75%, and Huaneng Power International ADS (NYSE: HNP) gaining 28.72% for the year so far. My biggest surprise and disappointment is Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), which is down 13.73% so far in 2007.
• Jim Cramer’s average return on his nine picks was 6.75% for the first eight months, beating the Standard & Poor’s index, but losing out to the DJIA and the NASDAQ. Cramer, however, did beat the average of the three indices. Adding the dividend portion of 0.44% (0.66% x 0.67) brings Cramer’s gain to +7.19%. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the best pick of the year among those discussed herein. There does not seem to be much that Apple can do wrong this year. Given new product and software launches and the continuation of current products and programs there is every reason to believe 2007 should be another one for the record books. Apple has been Cramer’s savior from disaster because some of his picks are in trouble for now. In particular, his worst pick, the New York Stock Exchange Group (NYSE: NYX).
• All of the Indices gained ground in August, with the DJIA, NASDAQ and S&P coming back the last week after some very tough trading days, for an overall average of +5.78.% year-to-date. Adding their portion of the dividend yield of 1.21% (1.8% x 0.67) brings it up to a total gain of +6.99%, which is not very exciting but safely beats out most fixed income securities. The overall market remains one where stock pickers seems to be topping the indices.

Note that portional dividends have been added to the results. This is one of the criteria I use in my stock picks and it is having an impact on the results thus far. Only three of Cramer’s picks pay dividends averaging about 0.66%. The Indices pay a higher average of 1.8% and my picks average still higher at about 2.89%. Google does not pay a dividend. The flatter the market is this year, the more the dividends will be a factor.

Google has not been the brightest star (or stock) this year, wavering at times as most speculative stocks do, but it was the best bet for the second month in a row. I still maintain that Value will beat Growth and indexing over the long run. Google will be the wild card! Two of my picks continue to be mentioned as buyout candidates but the rhetoric has died down considerably; The Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) and The Home Depot (NYSE: HD). Home Depot continues to receive the most negative discussion in business circles these days although now the sub-prime loan mess is stealing headline space on a daily basis.

The following are the closing prices as of December 28, 2006 and eight month returns for the seven stocks I recommended plus the addition of Spectra Energy Corp. (NYSE: SE) that was spun out of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK). Among Cramer’s picks Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) which was spun out of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO), is included in the calculations

1. The Dow Chemical Company: $40.02 is UP to $42.63 (+6.52%) 3.54% yield
2. Duke Energy: $33.02 (incl. of Spectra Energy (NYSE: SE)) is Down to $29.97 (-9.24%) 4.31 yield
3. The Home Depot Inc.: $39.73 is Down to $38.31 (-3.57%) 2.31% yield
4. Huaneng Power International ADS: $36 is UP to $46.34 (+28.72%) 3.62% yield
5. PetroChina ADR: $142.12 is Up to $144.33 (+1.56%) 4.5% yield
6. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) $22.00 is Down to $18.98 (-13.73%) 1.1% yield
7. Valero Energy: $51.61 is UP to $68.51 (+32.75%) 0.84% yield

The following index comparisons are also from December 28, 2006 :

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 12,501.52 is Up to 13,357.74 (+6.85%)
• NASDAQ Composite Index: 2,425.57 is Up to 2,596.36 (+7.04%)
• Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ($INX): 1,424.73 is Up to 1,473.99 (+3.46%)

The Cramer Speculative Stocks for 2007:

1) Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) $5.66 is Down to $5.23 (-8.13%) No dividend
2) Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) $5.49 is Down to $5.07 (-7.06%) No dividend
3) Savient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SVNT) $12.01 is Up to $13.18. (+9.47%) No dividend

The Cramer Growth Picks are:
1) New York Stock Exchange Group (NYSE: NYX) $97.51 Down to $72.75 (-25.39%) No dividend
2) Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) $80.87 UP to $138.48 (+71.24%) No dividend
3) Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) $27.42 Up to $31.92 (+16.41%) No dividend

The Cramer Value Picks are:
1) Altria Group (NYSE: MO) $86.23 UP to $69.41 +(Kraft at .692024 x $32.06 = 22.19) to $91.60 (+6.23%) 4.12% Yield
2) Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) $200.80 Down to $176.01 (-12.35%) .72% yield
3) Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) $31.26 UP to $34.59 (+15.23%) .97% Yield

The New Powerhouse Google

I continue to track Wall Street darling Google since it is of broad interest to the investing public and internet users alike. Google closed December 28, 2006 at $462.56, rose in January, then traded downward for a few months before hitting new highs in June, closing the month at $522.70. In July Google hit another all-time high of $558.58. However a 3 cent earnings miss followed (based on analysts expectations) knocking it down considerably, about 10%. Since then it has found support at around $500 per share and traded in a very tight range between $505 and $515. Google ended the month of August at $515.25. for a solid YTD gain of $52.69 per share (+11.39%) building on last month’s performance. Google does not pay a dividend.

I will be reporting again during the week following the closing stock prices each month.

Disclosure: I own shares of DUK, HNP, PTR, SE, TWX, and VLO.

To find more potential opportunities and verify my track record read Chasing Value or Serious Money.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Smoking is good for you!

I’m not too surprised by this one. I mean, it’s a pretty easy place for an advertisement to go. This one, however, has me baffled:

I mean…this is just…including x-rays and everything. Wow. I just…an it’s like…whew. I’m not even sure what to say.

I’m not sure why the little toy commercial’s there, but it warms my heart.

Share This

Today at Interact 2007 I discovered the work of Tony Bergstrom who happens to be Karrie Karahalios’s student. He presented today the Conversation Clock table.

On the Conversation Clock table, lapel microphones monitor conversation while the visualization of history is projected in the center. The Conversation Clock provides a visual history of interaction and communication. Each contribution displays bars colored to indicate the speakers’ identities. The lengths of these bars indicate the degree of participation, measured by volume. As a conversation progresses, a history is built with concentric rings reminiscent of the rings on a tree.

The Conversation Clock displays various conversational cues such as turn taking, interruption, conversational dominance, silence, agreement, aural back-channels, mimicry, time spans, rhythm and flow. If an individual has not been speaking, their lack of aural contribution is made clear in the rings. Of course, if individual is speaking at length and dominating the conversation, one can easily observe this as well. Aspects such as interruption, silences, and argument also make visual impressions on the table.

As a result, the Conversation Clock allows people to interpret their role in interaction. The visualization of audio allows people who speak the most to regulate their speech and speak less and the persons who speak the less to speak more.
“Live visualization of audio through social mirrors can provide influential cues for
individual participation in conversation. Participants alter themselves in order
to equalize the contribution of individuals.”

Paper to download

Share This

Filed under: Breakfast, Snacks, Stores & Shopping, Our Bloggers

OK, confession time: I don’t drink the milk in my cereal bowl.

Well, I eat my cereal with milk poured over it, of course. I’m just not one of these people who slurps up the leftover milk once my cereal is gone. I’ve never understood why people do this. I usually pour just enough milk to eat my cereal so there’s no milk remaining when I’m done with my Cheerio’s or Quisp or Corn Pops. If there is milk leftover I actually put a little more cereal in the bowl or just throw the milk away.

So that’s why I’ll never buy the new cereal straws from Kellogg’s. It sounds like a fun idea, but it’s nothing I’d ever use.

Has anyone else tried them?

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Editor’s Picks, Interviews

Perhaps the most famous rock groupie of all time, Pamela Des Barres in the 1960s and 1970s had affairs with everyone from Mick Jagger and Keith Moon to Jim Morrison, went on tour with Led Zeppelin, and even played in a band created by Frank Zappa (the GTOs). Nowadays, she’s more of a writer, having penned ‘I’m With the Band’ a few years back. Her new book, ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together,’ compiles more backstage stories and other anecdotes from Des Barres’s many hang-outs with rock legends. Despite her hey-day-of-rock-and-roll pedigree, Des Barres is up-to-date, gadget-wise — she totes a Pocket PC and a Mac wherever she goes. Find out more in her answers to our latest Switched Questionnaire.

What gadgets do you always bring with you to the set?

My cell/fancy phone/Internet/camera Cingular thingie–Pocket PC.

What cell phone do you have right now and what do you love/hate about it?

Cingular’s version of BlackBerry, its Pocket PC. It’s too complicated and has a mind of its own. I want to throw it across the room.

Who’s the last person you sent a text message to and what was it about?

To a handsome New York producer fellow regarding our recent meeting about a groupie documentary.

Where do you go pretty much every time you get online?

eBay, Google, Amazon, my e-mail account, MySpace, and my Web site www.pameladesbarres.com

What annoys you most about your iPod, cell phone, or laptop (or any other gadget)?

I only now how to do 1/10 of what my PC thingie is capable of.

Name one thing you wish your iPod/cellphone/laptop (any gadget) could do that it doesn’t do now?

Take my temperature and transcribe my interviews for me.

What upcoming gadget can you not wait to get your hands on?

I just got a little Panasonic movie camera, that’s enough to deal with for awhile.

You’re stranded on a desert island: What gadget do you bring?

My computer because it’s a lifeline to the entire bleeping universe.

What’s the most-played song or artist on your iPod?

My boyfriend, country singer Mike Stinson, then Elvis and Dion.

BlackBerry, Sidekick, or Treo?

Cingular PC/phone-thingie.

Did you get an iPhone?

No, enough gadgets already…

What’s the longest time you’ve ever spent playing a video game in one sitting and what game was it?

My son is the expert, he’s the Japanese editor at Play Magazine and he loves all the Final Fantasy games.

Mac or PC?

Mac, because I am an artiste!

Related Links:

• ‘Shoot ‘Em Up’ Director Michael Davis Uses iMovie
• Kiss Drummer Peter Criss on Gadgets
• Darren Hayes Loves and Hates His Gadgets

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Filed under: Videos and Screenshots, Multimedia

We recently checked out the official site for Unreal Tournament 3, because we love all our PS3 exclusive games equally, and noticed there have been a series of updates that loyal fans may be interested in checking out. Previously only found in a plethora of different places, all the high-res screenshots and videos of the game are listed in one convenient location, saving you the trouble of searching different places for different videos.

Their latest updates deal with interviews as well as the videos shown at Leipzig, which are impressive in their own right. There’s not really much else for us to say except to check it out if you haven’t before, because if you’re looking for an all-things-UT3 site, this would be the place. Come November, we’ll gladly accept any challengers willing to test their mettle against the PS3Fanboy staff! And we’ll gladly get our bums kicked, too.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Navman launched the S90i in Europe without much fanfare despite it being their high-end product. Nevertheless, it is not how loud a product launch is that will sustain sales but how well it performs. Taking this stance, let us look at the S90i’s specifications and features. It comes with a 4.3″ touchscreen display, RDS/TMC live traffic information receiver and text-to-speech feature to pronounce street names, and Navman’s integrated NavPix camera that allows you to capture your favorite locations in Europe. These stored images can then be used to navigate back to them whenever you like by simply touching the photo. Bluetooth connectivity, a Samsung 400MHz processor, 2GB of memory, 96MB SDRAM, and a SiRFStar III GPS receiver rounds off the list of features. The Navman S90i will retail for £300 tops when it is released.

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

Share This

Filed under: Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Trailer Trash, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips

After Polar Express, you’ve got to gore things up a bit. Robert Zemeckis is soon to return with Beowulf, and now we’ve got another trailer to feast on at the official website — one safely housed behind one of those age verification pages. This time around, we’ve got lots of Beowulf ranting, merged with lots of blood and death. Well, what looks like animated blood that is. With this trailer, we get to see some of Grendel’s victims, plus some slow-mo, blood-filled action during a Grendel attack. At the very least, you can expect this to be completely over the top.

Stylistically, I think I prefer it’s predecessor, Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf & Grendel, which came out last year. It’s far from flashy, but it’s got the fighting and the drama — just in a less-sensational package. That being said, it’s pretty hard to resist the names attached to this sucker. Beyond Zemeckis, there’s Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary responsible for the screenplay, and then there’s the cast. Angelina Jolie has seemed to make the biggest splash so far seeing that she’s pretty nude as Grendel’s Mother, but there’s also Beowulf — Ray Winstone from my loved Proposition, Anthony Hopkins as King Hrothgar, Robin Wright Penn as Queen Wealtheow, Alison Lohman as Ursula, John Malkovich as Unferth, and of course, Crispin Glover as Grendel. We’ll finally get to see the whole package on November 16, but if you want some epic adaptations before then, check out Gunnarsson’s version.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Ugh, not more pictures of Palm’s Centro, you gasp. Yes… and much more. This time, it’s the Centro nuzzled up for some quickie shots with Sprint’s Treo 755p and new Vogue (that’s, HTC Touch to the rest of the world) and what must be Sprint’s take on the new OQO Model 02. A veritable who’s who of soon to be launched Sprint handsets. Better yet, our tipster — contrary to previous reports — “noticed little to no difference in typing on the QWERTY with the Centro to the Treo” while noting that the Centro was “much nicer to hold.” He also says that the Vogue was running a 400MHz Qualcomm processor (not the standard OMAP 850) with 256MB ROM / 120MB RAM which suffered “no slowdown” even while running 15-20 applications. Check out all the sneaky pictures in the gallery below. Oh, as to the device to the right of the Vogue and below the OQO: that’s a mystery, any ideas?

Update: That other handset turns out to be the LG Rumor, which looks to be positioned for the Facebook and MySpace messaging crowd. More on this later.
%Gallery-7251%
[Thanks, Catharsis and Stephen]

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Share This