stock question

[Double]

http://www.investors.com/learn/b01b.asp

Earnings, also called profits or net income, are what a company makes after paying all its obligations, including taxes. Companies often conclude their quarters at the end of March, June, September and December, though some companies end their quarters in different months.

i dont understand this, i was always thinking that companies first invest their earnings to pay less taxes. and that would mean that the earnings AFTER taxes dont mean much.......but the article says so.

help plz - cavedweller, speculator and others!

 

[spider_007]

It's all on paper, its not like they endup with a volt full of money 4 times a year.

the pencip pushers just figure out haw much they made 4 times a year, just to let the public and the gov. know what's going on.....

 

[Double]

alright man thanx spider

 

[cave dweller]

stock market.......

Double,

Are you playing the stock market?

If not, you need to put together a 1,000 bucks (pull it from your savings account, have a yard sale or whatever) and open an online account.

Then you need to get on the web and start doing your homework.

Here are a couple of stock research sites:

tdwaterhouse.com
motley fool site at-------fool.com
etrade.com
scottrade.com
(there are a zillion stock research and info sites out there)

Here is the problem with earnings:

1..They report inventory at 85 million, but, is only 65 million.
2...Real estate holdings are reported at 1.9 billion but it is only valued at 1.2 billion.

ie:

They 'cook the books'.

cave dweller

 

[cave dweller]

one more........

Double,

There is no pat answer on how to make money in the stock market....If there was we would all be super rich........

All I know is that I play it and I will play it until the day I die (because, I love it)........

I love the thrill of buying Dell at 35 and selling at 53.....
I love the thrill of buying Ford at 9 and dumping at 13.

I love the saying---"Take the cash and dash."

cave dweller

 

[cave dweller]

another way.......

Double,

Here is another way to play the market.......

Buy an ETF.....(ETFs are a basket of stocks in a market sector)

Go to yahoo.com and click on finance.

Then you go to ETF 101. (check it out)

ie:

ETFs play stocks in sectors.

Maybe you think with the price of oil going up that gold and silver will go up also.

So, you don't want to buy into a silver or a gold mine stock, but, you may want to pick up an ETF that covers that sector....

Maybe that ETF covers 14 mines..

Like I said, there are a zillion to play the market.

cave dweller

 

[Double]

cave dweller,


i was at my local bank today opening up a online depot, so in like 1 week i will be ready to start out.

they cook the books yeah i hear you man..


what do you think about investors.com? i think it's a good site but it's the only one i've been to i gotta say. the bad part is that it costs 30$ per month for full service but if it really is the best site then it's worth it.

yeah man im not just in it for the money but for the love of the game too. of course i dont know if i will actually love it but i feel that it will be a great game for me with possibly big benefits. i feel that i can learn a lot about life and myself while playing the stock game and it has some exciting thrills =). i mean if you can handle the investing with good decisions then it will transcend on everday situations, decisions with women etc....like when you can dump a stock that has been good to you in the past but recently goes down....then you will have the same decisive strength with a LTR girl....or what do you think about it with all your experience??i love to connect things...

 

[Double]

ok now i've read a bit about the ETF's..sounds interesting i will keep that in mind for the future, i will buy ordinary stocks at first.

 

[cave dweller]

30 bucks.........

Double,

my 2 cents

1....I would not pay 30 bucks a month for investors.com...(that is just me)..

2....Why pay, when you can get all of the investing and stock market info, for free, on the web.

3....The only way to learn the 'market' is to jump in, do your homework and play it.

Hey, if I was not making money I would not be playing it.......

cave dweller

 

[cave dweller]

ok.............

Double,

Stocks do something that ETF's do not do..........

They go bankrupt. (if they do that the stock value goes to zero)

ie:

You get zero for your shares.........

So, if you want to play Walgreen, Rite Aid, ect. you can buy into the stocks or invest in an ETF that holds 15 stocks in that sector..

ie:

If Walgreens goes under you don't loose your money because 14 other drug companies are in the ETF.

cave dweller

 

[Double]

so what research site do you use the most for ordinary stocks?

man dont get me wrong, i dont play games i dont win, and winning in the stock game means making money.....which i will do(i give myself a little bit time though...)....else i wont be in for long. i just like to connect things, but thats my ADHD personality.

 

[Double]

yes man but through the diversifying will also become the potential profits lower....so it has advantages and disadvantages?

 

[thecraftylefty]

I love the fact that VPHM was up 12% today. Mmmm. And STV has gone up nicely since the beginning of the month.


thecraftylefty

 

[Bible_Belt]

Learn to read charts. imho they are more important than earnings. Learn the basics of technical analysis. Alan Farley at http://www.hardrightedge.com/ has a good web site with some free info. And the trader's web forum is http://www.elitetrader.com/
I also like http://www.siliconinvestor.com/

 

[cave dweller]

the play.......

Double,

Question:

Why are there a zillion people out there playing the stock market?

Answer:

Because there is some good money to be made in it.

cave dweller

 

[cinephile]

The market is not a game, You do not play it. Having said that, yes you can make a lot of money in it with little investment. You can also loose it all very quickly.

I trade Currency Futures part time. Honestly, it took me about 5 years of constant research and work to get to the point to where I was making money consistently. This year, my best day returned 15% on my capital. My worst lost was about 9%. I average about a 4% gain.

The easiest way to start without cash is called spot fx. While I would not recomend it long term ( it is an unregulated industry), all the major players in that area have online paper trading with free charts. So it is a great way to learn the basic tools without having to put any money.

If you feel comfortable with the online investing world after 6 months of that, then you can make your decision on what you want to get into and what kind of trader you want to be.

The best free resource is probably Elite Trader. Its is trading forum (think so suave for money). For anyone just starting out, it will be confusing, so you need to do some reading on the very basics of investing and trading first.

The great majority of your sucesss is not so much what you pick or the direction you think it will go in, but the time frame you hold it in. Anyway, if you have any questions, send me a pm and I will answer them .

 

[cinephile]

This is what you can trade.

Currency
Stocks
Bonds
Futures
Options
Warrants
Funds
and EFT's


There are four major types who trade/invest in the markets

Long term Investor ( their time frame is 2 years +)

Swing trader (anywhere from a few days to less than a year)

Day Trader ( Will hold a trade just for the day)

Scalper ( holds trades for minutes)

Theya all can be profitable, but they are also very diferent from each other. Definately learn the basics first.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Notice that the people with experience are the ones urging caution. The US has the most efficient and liquid financial markets in the world. The proverbial fools and their money get parted at light speed. Futures is a zero-sum game, in which a small minority of participants collects the money that is lost by the other 80-90%(?) of other traders. I used to be a proprietary day trader in the stock market, trading company money - and yes I miss my $250K account that I lost access to when the company went bust . I have had it drilled into me to be very risk-averse, because if I lost the company money I would lose the company job. A general rule of thumb is to not trade a derivative until you can successfully trade the underlying security. The derivative is like a fast-forward, which is great when you are winning, but most people start out losing. Start small, understand and use stop-losses, and keep your ego in check. The market is a yin&yang balance of fear and greed. Greed buys and fear sells. The current price is the exact point at which fear meets greed. As a successful trader, you will have to balance your own inner fear and greed as you detach your perspective to observe the fear and greed of the masses. Most men have too much greed/ego and most women have too much fear/too little ego. It is a zen journey that parallels life.

PS - read this book
http://www.elitetrader.com/bo/index.cfm?action=view&B_ID=37&CatID=5

 

[thissucks003]

Originally posted by Bible_Belt
Notice that the people with experience are the ones urging caution. The US has the most efficient and liquid financial markets in the world. The proverbial fools and their money get parted at light speed. Futures is a zero-sum game, in which a small minority of participants collects the money that is lost by the other 80-90%(?) of other traders. I used to be a proprietary day trader in the stock market, trading company money - and yes I miss my $250K account that I lost access to when the company went bust . I have had it drilled into me to be very risk-averse, because if I lost the company money I would lose the company job. A general rule of thumb is to not trade a derivative until you can successfully trade the underlying security. The derivative is like a fast-forward, which is great when you are winning, but most people start out losing. Start small, understand and use stop-losses, and keep your ego in check. The market is a yin&yang balance of fear and greed. Greed buys and fear sells. The current price is the exact point at which fear meets greed. As a successful trader, you will have to balance your own inner fear and greed as you detach your perspective to observe the fear and greed of the masses. Most men have too much greed/ego and most women have too much fear/too little ego. It is a zen journey that parallels life.

PS - read this book
http://www.elitetrader.com/bo/index.cfm?action=view&B_ID=37&CatID=5

Great Advice! Listen to this person, he knows of what he speaks!

The one thing that gets overlooked in analysis, is timing. Fundamental Analysis does not help with the timing aspect of trading and many times will be late in helping you buy and sell at advantageous times. Learn Technical Analysis! That will help fill in when to buy and when to sell. You must own your own method of when to buy and sell. You can go to Amazon or the other sites listed already to learn how to read charts.

Good Luck

 

[al77]

Originally posted by cinephile

I trade Currency Futures part time. Honestly, it took me about 5 years of constant research and work to get to the point to where I was making money consistently. This year, my best day returned 15% on my capital. My worst lost was about 9%. I average about a 4% gain.

4% per day? Maybe I am wrong, but that means if you started with $10000, after a year (lets say 300 days of trading) you will end up with ...1280 million =1.28 billion?? Thats a lot man.
Ok, even if you get half of that (only 2% per day) you will end up with 3.8 millon?