Stock Market Video
A Different Take on the Marriage Industry
Common Sense Ain't Common
In Case You Missed It
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In this week's Stock Market Video, Paul Goodwin, editor of
Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report
, sees markets in a holding pattern that isn't likely to break
until we get a convincing resolution of the European debt
crisis.
Paul talks about the importance of having the market on your side
in growth investing. To illustrate the dangers of this market, he
shows the big corrections in
Chipotle Mexican Grille (
CMG
), Lululemon (
LULU
), Under Armour (
UA
)
,
SourceFire (
FIRE
)
and
Monster Beverage (
MNST
).
On the positive side, Paul says
China Mobile (CHL) and Coca-Cola FEMSA (KOF)
and several housing stocks--
Lennar (LEN), Pulte (PHM) and Toll Brothers (TOL)
--are holding up well as the sector rebounds. Click below to watch
the video!
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For many of you, this is almost a holiday week, as many Americans
are using the opportunity created by the July 4th holiday on
Wednesday (worst possible day!) to take some time off. So I'm
taking the opportunity to publish a favorite piece of silliness.
In the days before computers, e-mail, printers and Xerox machines,
there were still humorous pieces that circulated through the
business offices of America. They were typed, and many of them were
fuzzy because they were produced at the back of a stack of copies
made with carbon paper. They weren't really much higher in quality
than the stuff that makes the rounds of the globe by e-mail, but
they were a lot more trouble to produce, which meant that there
were fewer of them. Scarcity produces value.
I still have a collection of those old "pass-it-on" pieces, and in
honor of June, the month of brides (and bridezillas) I want to
share one with you. This is from the early 1960s, when JFK was
still president. I collected it when it was published in my
hometown newspaper, the Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune.
I clipped it out and I'm reproducing it here because I've always
liked it and don't want it to fade away like the yellowed piece of
newsprint that I've kept for so long. I think it's a useful
corrective to the towering ego-trips of many young women on "their
day." With any luck, someone will put it on the Web and it will
last forever. All the place names are in Oregon.
(If you need an investment rationale, you can remind yourself that
June is a traditional month for marriages and that with over two
million weddings that cost an average of $27,000 each, this is a
major industry. )
Groom Simply Stunning In Peachy-Keen Outfit
GRANTS PASS (AP) Bob Grant, publisher of the Illinois Valley News,
published his version of a wedding after the expected information
failed to reach him.
He collaborated with Don Rosenberg of Cave Junction, father of the
bridegroom and came up with the following version of the
Gibbons-Rosenberg wedding in Cave Junction:
"Leland was beautiful in a black suit of wool with matching lapel
pressed down sharply against the chest. Peering out of the
left breast pocket were four tips of a cleverly folded white linen
handkerchief while on the left lapel, quaintly held by placing the
stem through an unused buttonhole and securing it with a small
silver hat pin, was a white carnation.
"He wore a shirt of white nylon, severely plain, which was held
together at the front by little buttons of plastic. Around
his neck and under the shirt collar was a tie of black jersey,
knotted carefully in decorative style, and held to the shirt front
with a clamping device of gold plated brass. The cuffs of the
shirt sleeves were closed with links of the same plated metal.
"On his left wrist he wore a mercury battery-powered watch, a
Christmas gift from his father, that was held in place with a metal
band. His trousers, of simple pleated design, matched the
coat and were supported by a belt of black goatskin. His
shoes, of black horsehide, covered socks of some dark material and
were fastened with a bow.
"He wore no hat and had his hair combed back and then forward from
the forehead in a slight wave with no visible means holding it in
position.
"The bride wore the customary white."
[If you're serious about trying to cash in on the marriage biz,
you might take a look at XO Group (XOXO), the company that runs
TheKnot.com, which caters to the wants and needs of brides to be.
The company also runs a bridal registry and publishes magazines for
those getting married and those having babies. From 2002 through
2006, XOXO was a very hot item. It fell off the dock in 2007 and
2008, and has been hacking around since then. Cute company name and
symbol, though.]
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Here's this week's Contrary Opinion Button. Remember, you can
always view all of the buttons by
clicking here
.
Common Sense Ain't Common
Popularized by Will Rogers, whose humorous wisdom resonated with
the common man. It reminds us that real common sense comes
from thinking differently from the common man at times of mass
irrationality.
When the common man believed Internet stocks would go to the moon
in 2000 … when he believed Bernie Madoff was a genius … and when he
believed in late 2008 that America's financial system might
actually fail … at all those times, he lost his common sense
because his thoughts melded with those of the irrational crowd
… and he paid the price.
[Editor's Note: And speaking of common sense, with the July 4th
holiday coming up on Wednesday, I'd also note that Thomas Paine's
pamphlet, Common Sense, which was published in 1776 and sold
500,000 copies in its first year, was also uncommonly eloquent in
its plea for American independence.]
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In case you didn't get a chance to read all the issues of Cabot
Wealth Advisory this week and want to catch up on any investing and
stock tips you might have missed, there are links below to each
issue.
Cabot Wealth Advisory 6/25/12 - Balancing Stock
Risk and Return
In this issue, Lou Gagliardi, editor of
Cabot Global Energy Investor
, discusses the art of balancing risk and return in investing and
the importance of finding companies with strong balance sheets.
Featured stock:
Suncor Energy (SU).
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Cabot Wealth Advisory 6/28/12 - Doubling Down for
Gains in Turbulent Markets
Value investing guru Roy Ward, editor of
Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter,
reminds readers that a decline in the price of a value stock can be
a great opportunity to increase the size of your position. Featured
stock:
Deere & Co. (DE).
Have a great weekend,
Paul Goodwin
Editor,
Cabot Wealth Advisory