Welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend. Some great ideas last week, we will be discussing many of them in class this week.
I found years ago that economic adversity can bring opportunity. Back in 2002-2003, the Dow was in the middle of another bear market and the so called do it yourself investors realized it took more than free charts and chat rooms to manage a portfolio of investments. It was during this time that most clients came to me looking for help and advice. It seemed that during good times, anyone could make money in the stock market; however, during the bear market of 02-03, it was quite easy for the self directed investor to lose money. It was out of need that they sought my help. Furthermore, given my expertise in financial planning, it was during the same period that I introduced the business planning services for small business owners. In 2003, the unemployment rate surpassed 6%, high compared to the 4% we faced on January of 2000. Highly qualified entrepreneurs who had lost their jobs in the technology field were starting their own business and were in need of business planning to obtain financing from the Small Business Administration and other lenders. Throughout the years, I continued to introduce or modify services to fit the needs of my target market. Last winter, I introduced the live chat to provide advice to individuals online off business hours. Later, I introduced the 401K review and reintroduced the business planning services as federal funding was allocated to help small business owners thru the Small Business Administration. It is during difficult economic times that many of the most successful ideas have been introduced (do a little research, you would be surprised!). If you can find a solution to society’s problems and can reach the right target market and price your product or service accordingly, you are bound to be successful.
You will have until Thursday, February 25, 2010 to complete the following blog assignment. Please don’t complete this assignment until we get a chance to discuss it in class.
Think about your answer to last week’s blog prompt. Think about the conditions you posted could make a business successful in this economic environment. Do a little research using the Wall Street Journal or Yahoo Finance resources and find one small business that currently trade in a US stock market that meets the criteria you posted was needed to succeed in this environment. Provide three reasons to support your claim. (We will discuss this prompt in class)
There are so many way you can invest your money, and it depends what is your desire and tragedy. Before you invest anything you want to learn and know from yourself, and “what do you understand the most?”. Which investment is right for you?” Than you start braking down the steps. There a lot of steps that you have to ask yourself before you invest. MOst investor out there down really ask themselves much. Investment is can be winning and loosing. So ask yourself some question see if you are ready to invest, how risky are you willing to invest in that particular investment? What kind of returns are you looking for? how long are you planning to receive? Are you willing to loose? and so much more question you can ask yourself before you get start. With all that question you can invest in a great spot and get a good return. If you need to move the money every time than you probably look into Money Market Saving and Risk free Cd- Certified Deposit or some stock that you can think it can give you a good return. And if you type of person that don’t don’t ready need the money now and looking for a long term, you should look for, stock, bonds, mutual funds, and other investment out there again. You should ask yourself clearly before investing. For most people interested in stocks are floating and some people pick the right stock and make money and some are loosing money. Stock is certainty mean you can’t assume, because stocks are variance. It could be up and down depending on the investment. All of these above are similar to who want to own their small business or already own. For having your own business is a bit better than putting the money at something you don’t know it will turn good or bad. Mean you can understand and control how you manage your business. And the business can be slow because of the weather day and time, so the investor. The more research the better ideas you have to help and learn as much as you can because those also can help you when planning for something you wanted.
When I researched on yahoo finances about ideas of investment, they brought up Abercrombie & Fitch, a company that keeps on growing and sells mostly to the tween generation, a company vary famous in the US and is now penetrating in international markets. This would be a good investment because they are expending all over the world and they are becoming the new hot clothing line in the market. Many countries in South America now have Abercrombie stores in their major cities and sales are just going up. I believe that this is a company with great chance of success because the tweens are going to spend their money with whats hot in the market and what is hot now is Abercrombie & Fitch.
After reading about a women, Debbie Meyer, a self-made millionaire, who invents household gadgets. She now sells her products exclusively on HSN, which is watched by millions of people all over the world. She even has products in Target, Kohl’s, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and many other big name stores. She has little overhead and does a lot of research herself. She even tests the products before she introduces them to HSN. This is a perfect example about having a good idea and marketing it in this economy. Keeping costs low and getting it out there so people can see your products. Selling the products at a low price. Also, HSN is watched by millions of people and people like the idea of seeing a product and being able to order it from the television.
Yahoo finances said Abercrombie & Fitch as G_kings said in a few comments above. After I read that I began to search for other trendy clothes companies. I came up with Aeropostale has been growing the most during this time because they offer the same trend but at much lower costs then its competitors. After looking at other companies I found an article from the Associated Press that said Wal-mart despite the growing competition that “Overall, Wal-Mart’s overseas growth and a concerted cost-cutting campaign pushed profit up 22 percent in the fourth quarter. Wal-Mart earned $4.63 billion, or $1.21 per share, up from $3.8 billion, or 96 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.” That also would not be a bad choice to invest in.
In the last blog I suggested that job placement and job training is an oppurtunity for a successful business in this economic enviroment.
The growth in jobs is coming from” a temp hiring strategy” per Carol Tice of PayScale. She states”Temporary hiring is on the rise” using Bureau of Labor statistics which reported “52,000 temp workers hired in Nov, followed by 47,000 in Dec.
Another area that has experineced growth are “social networks”. As jeff Joerre Chairman 7 CEO of Manpower, Inc (NTSE: MAN) stated ” Social Networks are really a misnomer because they are turning into commecial entities and changing the way companies do business.” Social media job sites was another category the US Dept of Labor identified for job seekers.
Joerres goes on to say ” virtual talent pool web sites effetively enable companies to access a diverse on-demand workforce and in turn, individuals can offer their skills to service a prospective employer.” In 2009 Manpower launched MyPath, “the world first social network dedicated to improving skills and advancing careers of professionals”.
Given the problem of high unemployment and job growth being fueled by temp jobs I think social networking sites will be a way for workers to find jobs and keep their skills up-to-date.
After researching online, and trying to come up with a good idea for a small business in a bad economy,I felt that an already established business was still a good idea,although after researching more I felt to invest in a smaller already established businesss like Avon or Mary Kay may be a better place to start,rather than a big franchise that would require a large amount of cash upfront.Mary Kay’s revenue growth at the year end was $ 2600.00, a revenue growth of 8.30%,Avon’s annual revenue was 10 billion dollars, so all things considered, I feel a home based already established business is a good place to start, with minimal cash required up front, and hopefully a large enough friends, family and coworker network to support your new endeavor.
For my last post, I had said that in the current economy websites that help people find new jobs and create resumes would be a successful business to start. After researching Yahoo Finances, I decide that investing stock in Monster World Wide Inc. According to the New York Times, Monster “agreed to buy Yahoo’s HotJobs site for $225 million, citing an improving job market.” With this being said, they now own one-third of online job postings in the United States. This leaves the company with only one major competitor, Career Builder. For these reasons, I think investing stock in Monster World Wide Inc. would be a wise investment.
My personal contention is that I would not currently invest in any American small businesses just yet as America is headed for a commercial real estate crisis similar to that of the recent housing crisis (after all it was not just individuals who took advantage of subprime loans but also many small businesses did as well but since businesses hopefully generate revenue it allows them more time to hold on to commercial property than individuals, also commercial real estate dealers bought up many commercial properties on the expectation that these properties would increase in value)(Loosely based on Huffington post and various sources I’ve been reading for months). So in my mind as an investor a business in this economic atmosphere must have three very important things to survive 1. They must have Assets that have longevity be their current tangible value (things of intrinsic future worth such as patents, trademarks, things that can be licensed) 2. They must be able to fill a need on a global scale (It’s important to look past the America as we do not have a lot of market growth potential but places such as India, China, and Brazil have massive growth potential) 3. The potential for longevity (market decisions are generally not made on the short term of the market but for the long term of the market former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has said many times that at the core of his values he believes the market will always fix itself (Frontline) though Greenspan may have been naïve to human greed and stupidity in this area it is still how most market decisions are made. (In fact in 2008 he recanted that his core belief may have been wrong)) .
However this entry is not supposed to be about why I wouldn’t invest right now but what I would invest in so here are several companies I would attempt to invest in (though most are not public companies yet some allow you to purchase stock directly). 1. Metalklett, a German company that has invented and holds patents to an amazing fastener that is like a metal Velcro which can stand 35 tons of pressure, corrosive chemicals, and up to 800 degrees Celsius (Physorg) and because it can be moved easily and fastened and unfastened it has applications from mining and construction to space exploration. 2. Digital Envoy, originally I was investigating a company named “Blitzlocal” (TechCrunch)which is supposedly an IP location based web advertising agency (basically they use IP locations to serve ads from businesses in an area to people in the same area by reading mapped IP addresses, like the high tech version of advertising in the local paper) unfortunately Blitzlocal may or may not be a scam, however since this type of web advertising will become huge in the future I looked for a similar company and found Digital Envoy (Digital Envoy’s Site) which doesn’t do the ad serving but is what ad servers and other businesses rely on for IP mapping (in fact Google has contracted them several times). 3. Now the last company isn’t small, not by a long shot, but it does have an amazing potential for longevity and growth, Nokia, Several months ago Nokia patented a method in which small (and possibly even large) devices can capture and use radio waves to charge their own batteries (CNET) this not only eliminates the need and cost of chargers but also if you look beyond its current possible applications to possible future applications, radio waves are not just present on Earth but in all the known universe even more prevalent than solar energy, so the future ramifications of this technology is stupendous not just for investors in the markets but as an investment in the great vested potential and curio of humanity itself.
Note: My actual list of companies I have looked into is much longer but I decided on 3 fairly solid companies. Others include Vascular Designs inc. (isoflow catheter, a miracle for chemotherapy patients) Millipore (large company but they have a steady increase in stock price and have expanded and have a range of amazing products that will come into play soon) and Powermat (basically they made wireless chargers that work by completing a Tesla coil between your device and the charger)
After a little research i came to the conclusion that investing money into a small business wouldn’t be the best thing to do right now because of the bad economy. Investing money into a small business that serve products that customes find a need and a want for. A good small business to invest in that is growing would be the Maple Leaf Market. There products consist of good meats, pastas, and bakery that canadians seem to love. After recovery from their prepared meat business their earnigs increased to $57.8 million from $35.4 million. Over the past year the Maple Leaf Market steped it up in there meat department so much that their earnigs increased to $196.1 million from $128.4 million last year.
After looking around at what people have to say, during these tough economic times I feel that investing in a small business right now is a risk, but there are many fields out there that are succeeding in this recession. According to an article by Catherine Rampell in the New York Times, the top three businesses that are prospering in this market are Farm Product Raw Material Wholesalers with 21.70% growth, The Cattle Ranching and Farming industry with 19.45% growth, and Mining with a growth of 17.76%. As I said in last weeks blog, anything that has to do with the food industry would be field that could prosper. I think that according to this article. investing in a company that deals with farming or agriculture would likely yield a return on your investment.
After reading my pervious blog several times, I have found one small business that currently trades in the United States stock market and also meets the criteria of my pervious blog, the name of the company is the Boston Beer Company. The Boston Beer Company is not a new business; however, it is an old business with new ideas and has two breweries which are in Boston and Cincinnati, in fact for a known beer company it only has 250 employees, they offer advertisement of their product by helping with their surrounding community by donating beer, t-shirts and other merchandise to a vast number of non-profit charities to help them run events where they raise money for their cause (The Boston Beer Company: Consumer Relations representative: Todd Bellomy). In such a slow economy the Boston Beer Company also known as Sam Adams has hired new employees over the past 5 years and the company as a whole is getting bigger (Boston Beer Company website). As the Boston Beer Company hires new employees they have the opportunity to tap into the unemployed and hire people who have experience that the company is looking for which could boost their sales driving their stock price higher. After thinking about the conditions that I have posted I believe that the Boston Beer Company can continue to be a successful business in this economic environment.
After looking at Yahoo Finance for my original idea which was to invest in a steel company. I came across pages that tell people on what company they should invest in and I found another good company that is called chart’s industries. Chart’s Industries is a leading independent global manufacturer of highly engineered equipment used in the production, storage and end-use of hydrocarbon and industrial gases. I would invest in this company because the company revenues has been stable, what I mean by stable the annual revenues 2006 to 2008 was increase by $206,909 , but the quarterly revenues has drop since December of 08 to September 09 by $60,302. Now you could by the stock $19.53 per share and it started $17.19 so that means over the day period that stock has grown by 2.34 and it look like it’s just going to keep growing. So after looking at several pages like yahoo and morningstart I like my pick for my investment.
After doing some research and viewing my previous blog I decided a company that is called TeamHealth would be a good company to invest in because it has the criteria that I beleive is necessary to survive in today’s economy. Many companies and industries collapsed and came very close to bankrupcy, however one industry that is still going strong is the healthcare industry. TeamHealth joined the NYSE in 2009 and has become well-known in the healthcare industry. Their proffessional staffing and administrative that it they provide has left many hospitals very pleased. It’s administrative and billing service that is located in many hospitals throughout the U.S, mostly in E.R situations has proved to be very successful and efficient. This company also has healthcare clinics that provide fee per service visits that are affordable for people who run on a tight budget. Healthcare is an industry that plans on expanding and growing and is a good industry to invest in. This company saw a need in society for a good healthcare company and found ways to make their company stand out from the rest, which is a great way for businesses to survive in today’s economy.
There are so many ways you can invest your money but I would investment my money in stocks. I would invest my money in stocks because your money can grow at an extremely fast rate. As I was on surfing the web it showed that many people made good money investing in stocks.
I have reseached The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, and Yahoo Finance site, to make a business successful in this economic environment, I think Kelly Services Inc., which is a temp agency, would be successful. Base on 9.7% rate for unemployment in January this year, it is hard to recover jobs in a short term, 20,000 jobs were lost. There are many reason I think Kelly’s would be successful because people are looking for jobs and could not find any, company refuse to hire new emloyee, company affliates with Kelly’s for temporary hire instead of full time hire. Base on Kelly Services Inc. quarterly financials report, there total for liabilities and stock equity for Q1 is 1,314.90, Q2 is 1,253.60, Q3 is 1,278.70, and Q4 is 1,301.70, as you can see it is increasing as we go. On the yahoo financial site, “For temporary staffing agenices such as Kelly Services, that means big business. the market for temp workers has improved in the past several months.”
Continue to the first blog,
Base on Yahoo Financial it state, “The analyst reiterated his “buy” rating on Kelly’s shares, and raised his price target to $17, from $19, on the belief that temp staffing growth, a leaner cost structure and a higher mix of consulting services should produce improving profitability in 2010.”
After last week’s blog assignment, I found out that a website like E-bay would be a good idea for a small business to succeed in this economy. E-bay has a high profitability margin of 27.38% according to yahoo finance. According to yahoo finance the Total Debt (mrq) of E-bay is at 0$. It’s always good to run on a 0$ debt while running a business. According to yahoo finance Wal-Mart runs on a $41.32B debt. Yet the company is profitable but I don’t like the idea of running a business on debt. So I will choose E-bay for my stock to follow on my portfolio.
Stonemor Partners is a cemetery and funeral home service company that has been growing in a really fast rate since it was first established in 1999. Stonemor seems like a recession proof business as it managed to survive the 2000s ups and downs with its increasing demand in the death care industry. Although this company is almost out of the “small business” category (reaching a revenue income of $183 million in 2009), they look like an extremely stable company (with close to $100 million dollars in accounts receivable) and it would be a really great company to invest in because if the baby boomers generation that are going to, if not already are, sign on in some sort of death service plan. Another reason why it would be beneficial to invest in this company is that death is a growing and imperative need of every human, so their potential consumers are basically anyone. Just like when Mrs. Rondon said that people have been holding off their health to meet financial needs, making this an investment-worthy industry.
On my last block I chose the Organic food industry as my business interest. After my research for a Stock that is qualified for this business, I chose the Hain Celestial Group Inc (HAIN). This company sells natural and organic products using brand names. Their products are found in supermarkets, local markets, drug stores and many others around the country. HAIN runs with 1.1 billion and according to smart money, while the economy is going down, organic food are a good investment for small stocks. This company also owns a line of organic baby food, and produces healthy snack, seasonings tea, milk and many others products. These are the reasons why I think HAIN will be a good stock for the business I chose.
With last weeks blog assignment i suggested to start a company that serviced peoples needs, by cleaning their house and helping out with any chores that people may need to have done because they dont have enough time to do it. I could not find a company that is similar to the one i thought of that trades in the us stock market right now. Although there are people who have small business that consist of themselves that go around to peoples houses to clean or even things like merry maids or small companies that do work outside of your house. They are always kept busy with the large demand of daily jobs that people dont want to do themselves.
Last week I said a job placement or job training business would succeed in this economy, and there is a company called Kelly Services Inc. that would be great to invest in. Kelly’s helps unemployed people find jobs when finding a job in the market today is extremely hard. According to Yahoo finance Kelly Services Inc.’s gross profit has rose from $175,500 in March 29, 2009 up to $188,300 in January 3, 2010. According to the Wall Street Journal, Kelly’s revenue in the 4th quarter increased 14% compared to the 3rd quarter in 2009. This is a great company to invest in because as the number of people looking for work rises the number of people hiring these job search companies rises.
The Vitamin Shop Inc (VSI) ($19.96) is a small cap stock that I think will do great during this economic environment. VSI is a specialty retailer of nutritional products and preventive medicine, they offer products such as supplements, herbs, sports nutrition, natural beauty,personal care and of course vitamins.In my last blog I argued that the health and wellness industry will do good during this economic environment. Unemployment leads to uninsured or under insured consumers and preventive medicine or alternative medicine can help prevent a trip to a doctor and the health care costs that go along with it. I also stated in my last blog that people are more likely to hit the gym during economic downturn and this store offers supplements and sport nutrition products that go along with exercise and fitness. My last reason for choosing The Vitamin Shoppe is that it sells products that can also tap into the baby boomers wallets by catering to there obsession with feeling good and looking young.They provide natural beauty and organic personal care products.In conclusion The Vitamin Shop also provides products comparable to it’s competition GNC (which is privately held) at lower cost. These low cost products also help during this economic environment.
There are different ways to have your money making profit instead of having it sitting in a bank account making 2% interest if lucky! I also think you should really think where you are going to put your money, and even though alot of people say not to invest right now I think right now is the best time because, now is when the economy is starting to pick up. Small business is definetly one of the one’s where you should do lots of reseach if thinking on investing in a small business because not every small business is succesful unless they provide to the costumer a necesary product or service. But one place where we should all put a little of our money is in technology. I mean look at apple, dell, IBM this are companies that no matter whats going on in the economy they some how come out alive and do really good as well as Best Buy!
After searching online and reading the news articles I found out that it is a great idea to invest in the aeropostale company because it is company who makes clothes for the age 14 to 17. As teenagers are in school no matter what, they will buy new clothes for themselves and they will outgrow them as well. During the recession parents would want to get nice quality clothes for their kids but for reasonable prices. Comparing to American eagle and Abercrombie& Fitch, Aeropostale has good clothes for cheaper prices. In the Article by Scott Reeves said that Aeropostale earning report of 2009 is about $.91 a share and in 2008 it was $.63. It shows that this company is growing and will continue to grow. Recently, I went to Abercrombie & Fitch and I found out that the clothes are less expensive than it used to be before. It shows that company is making changes in their prices because people are buying from somewhere else such as aeropostale.
Last week I said that it would be smart to invest in a company that produces something and sells it at a good value. Evergreen Solar (ESLR) which currently trades on the NASDAQ, is a smaller, local company based out of Marlboro, MA . ESLR has basically developed a cheaper way to make solar panels and their stock is down a little bit right now. Solar will be the energy of the future as soon as the technology gets a little further more developed so I would definitely recommend watching this stock, it could be a good investment that could really pay off in a few years. Solar power will work great once implemented in the southern hemisphere; they have stronger sunlight for longer periods which would make the solar panels more efficient.
Though alcoholism is a sad response to a dipping economy and added financial stress, one can’t ignore its continued use. In this unpredictable economy, as the mood of the consumer bows to the ebb and flow of the market, the need for alcohol arises, and smaller brewing companies are reaping the benefits. The Boston Beer company continues to increase its profits even though the economy is suffering, largely because of its production based on supply and demand. The large brewers such as Anheuser-Busch and Molson experienced declines last year, largely because of U.S. beer shipments dropping 2.2 % according to Will Ashworth of Investopedia. These bigger breweries have more products and a farther distribution; they cannot scale down manufacturing as easily as a smaller brewer, such as Boston Beer Company. I believe that since Sam Adams production is determined due to supply and demand, it can weigh the market and determine how much it can produce within its means in order to still secure a profit.
After doing some research i found that it would be a very bad idea to invest in a construction company. Because of both the economic climate and the actual weather climate. According to the Boston Globe the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 496,000. My father works for a business named transition solutions. They sell unemployment plans to certain companies that are planning to lay off employees, then they work with the laid off employees as clients. The higher the company pays the better service is provided. This produces goodwill towards the company after all the layoffs. this company WOULD be a good company to invest in.
During hard economic times people run into problems and endure a lot of stress. Well people have limited funds to go see their psychologist, and if you dont have good health insurance or none at all, visits can be very expensive out of pocket that is. Overall, people love to talk and they feel the need to talk about their problems to anyone. Friends love to talk about their problems, family members love to talk, co workers love to talk. So I have come up with this idea that during the recession, that a great business idea would be listening. If i can sit here and listen to my friend for an hour and give her some common sense advice, why cant I get paid for it by someone else. On average without copays to talk to a psychologist is between 100-300 for an hour or a set time limit. With copays people pay about 20-50 dollars according to the BMC health care plan provided by Massachusetts Health Connector program. So how about investing in a company or start up a business to just listen to people. I can charge people a flat rate of 20 bucks an hour just to listen for 45 minutes and give them advice the last 15 mins. Or i can listen to them for an hour and a half and give them advice for a half hour for 40 bucks. I would obviously have to advertise that my company doesnt prescribe medications unless i want to hire someone who can, but if you just need to talk about ur problems we will listen. Theres a large market who see psychologists that seek only advice not medicine so there would still be an advantage. Kinda similiar to the CVS minute clinic. They hired a doctor who would see patients for a flat rate of 30 dollars. Which is good for people who dont have time to see a doctor during doctors hours or for people with horrible insurance or no insurance. They examine you, diagnose you and prescribe you medicine. They have a few markets such as the people who have no time, no health insurance and old people. Its really convenient because instead of going to the doctors then having to go to your pharmacy anyways when you can just do both visits at once. The older generation would seek that luxury, not having to travel around the world. So people who are struggling and having a lot of bad days certainly do have a lot to talk about, so I see a lot of opportunity for this business to do well during bad economic times.
Alternative to Pharmaceuticals seems to me a sure way to make money. I couldn’t find any small companies that trade in America, most our out of country. However i did find the symbol MJNA which is Medical Marijuana Inc. The stock isn’t doing well, but im sure that has something to do with only 14 states being legal. Given that it is illegal and is still involved with the Stock market. I think this shows a sign that legal herbs could succeed in today market.
For me it was a good idea to open art boutique store that sells ornaments for weddings, sweet 16, baby showers, baptisms, birthday parties, graduations,and welcome celebrations, companies anniversaries, and whole variety more.Instead of selling this products expensive sell them an all right price that we could get profit from it . The best stock that would match this business is Art boutique inc. Also may offer job employment to people who are unemployed because there is always this kind of events that going around even if there is a recession.
Having a rough day? Have a drink. The ressison does not seem to be slowing down the amount of alcohol that people in the U.S. are consuming. The difference is the type and brand in which they are drinking. Last week I posted how making a mid-grade vodka was the answer here. Vodka is not only the most popular spirit in the U.S. states Eric Asimov from the New York times but can be eaisly and cheaply produced. USA Today reports that wines and spirits exported from France and other parts of Europe dropped by 17% or $10.5 billion in 2009 but Vodka exports went up by 13.7%. While vodka exports and sales in America climb in this economy it is however important to note what brands are taking off. Popov Vodka, a low-end liquor which goes for $10 a fifth rose it’s sales by 5.5% while Greygoose, a high-end vodka fell by 5.1% (N.Y. Times). If there were only some way to produce a fairly premium vodka but at a low price and jack up the maketing and advertising department then there might be a way to gain some serious profit. People will not stop drinking but they will change the way they drink and I want to be there to supply them and make some cash.
After my research of small businesses that may have success in this economic environment I’ve discovered a company called Fuel Tech Inc (FTEK). Fuel Tech is a technology based company that sales its products across the world. Fuel Tech developmental technologies are based on cleansing the environment of solid and liquid fuels. Fuel Tech consumers are companies that use manufacturing equipment thus polluting the air. Environmental cleansing will be needed as long as companies continue manufacturing products. Since 2008 (FTEK) quote has lowered and hasn’t risen past 20% since. According to the WSJ, (FTEK) has a revenue is 81.07 mil. After examining the numbers presented in the chart I’ve concluded that Fuel Tech is on the rise. Regression towards the mean supports my theory. I believe evidence of extensive growth will began appearing before the end of 2010.
After my research of small businesses that may have success in this economic environment I’ve discovered a company called Fuel Tech Inc (FTEK). Fuel Tech is a technology based company that sales its products across the world. Fuel Tech developmental technologies are based on cleansing the environment of solid and liquid fuels. Fuel Tech consumers are companies that use manufacturing equipment thus polluting the air. Environmental cleansing will be needed as long as companies continue manufacturing products. Since 2008 (FTEK) quote has lowered and hasn’t risen past 20% since. According to the WSJ, (FTEK) has a revenue is 81.07 mil. After examining the numbers presented in the chart I’ve concluded that Fuel Tech is on the rise. Regression towards the mean supports my theory. I believe evidence of extensive growth will began appearing before the end of 2010.
I think one industry that will always be needed in any economy is the drug manufacturing industry. Today’s society is extremely germ conscious. In fact, everywhere we go today, we see hand-sanitizing dispensers. The company I chose to invest in is called Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. located in Lexington, MA. One of the medications Cubist developed is the FDA approved antibiotic Cubicin. Cubicin is used to treat complicated skin infections such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Cubist’s current stock is $20.83 per share and the company reported $562 million in revenue in 2009. Society will always be faced with viruses, diseases, syndromes, etc. Therefore, treatments to these illnesses will always be needed.
The company im going to pick for the business portfolio is Ford Motor company. Currently the stock is at 11.78 (yahoo finace). One year ago it was at .96 cents, Ford is coming out with more fuel effient vehciles and with the current lose of faith in toyota I feel the stock will jump again.
One of the businesses that I talked about last week that has been successful in this economic environment with a recession was car insurance. One particular car insurance group that I will focus on is a relatively smaller company known as Safety Insurance Group Inc. In a recession seventy percent of businesses will start to fade due to the fact that they are propped up by consumer spending. Once a recession hits this consumer spending will start to dwindle, and those companies that relied on this spending will also dwindle. This is the reason I decided to choose a company from the car insurance industry. No matter how little consumer spending there is people will always need car insurance. Even though the country is in a recession and even though Safety is a smaller company competing with giants like Geico, Metlife, and All-state, they are still showing growth in their stock quotes according to yahoo finance. Since the beginning of the decade their stock quotes had been increasing on average of a little less than two percent per month. Although the growth has slowed a little bit since 2007, they still are continuing to develop, despite the economic downturn. No matter how bad the recession gets as long as car insurance continues to be mandatory and the population of cars grows, so will this business.
Last week i said that any wellness/health or fitness business would be good in this economy. A company like Life Time Fitness (LTM), is a fitness club where customers are able to work on their health and fitness. Though these clubs do not exist in many states, I believe they have the potential expand across the US and become very successful. After researching this business, I learned that they have affordable prices and plenty of programs for an entire family. They also many job openings as well because of the many services they offer at their locations. In the stock market, they have been very successful and they would be a good company to invest in.
In my last blog I wrote about how it is important for new businesses to get involved in their community. I searched through many stocks to find one that was not a humongus business and that actually had a stock. One stock that i found that does much for its community, including book drives, summer reading programs, and hosting close to 200,000 community events a year nationwide, is Barnes and Noble. They are not the smallest business but they are a great example of a business that helps out the community around it. By holding book drives for local schools they are putting their name out there and also helping out their local community.
I believe that now is the right time to invest with all that is going on with the government as far as tax breaks this is definitly the time to take advantage. Companies are not only recieving tax breaks on hiring but also if the hire employee’s that recieve state aid. In todays market investment is just a small step we can take to improve our economy,and not only that but with these investments we are gaining the know how to improve our companies as well. For example a man goes to prison for non-payment of support, we inturn can offer this man a paying job that he normally would have made $20. an hour for maybe $15. although he has the experience no one other company has offered him better this improves our job profit. A single mother needs to be employeed within 2 years or she’ll lose her state funding again companies can lower their
rate of hire and still get the most qualified employee, Profit is key here and yes invest cause no matter now is the time.
Although at one point Bank of America Corp. had stocks going for 50+$ the economy is not what it used to be and has proved to take its tole on them as well. Since one year ago BAC has had substantial rise in value of stock after there intesne plumbit leaving there stocks at 6 dollars a share and at the lowest ponit 3 dollars. History is the best predicter of the future and and history says that BAC was very very strong. Regardless of the fact that the price of stock is mving slowly it makes sense to me to invest in BAC while there stocks are still somewhat cheap.
After researching some small buisnesses online i came across a buisness called Mona Vie. Mona Vie is a Online and word of mouth (Social Networking) Buisness. They offer a specific product, a fruit juice that is 100percent juice and 4oz a day gives you more than your recomended daily serving of fruit. Their target market is the baby boomers, the boomers are getting more towards retirement and are seeking healthy routines. This product has one main drink, and other variations of the same formula but with added glucocimine and other minerals for things such as arthritis, high blood pressure, alertness and attentiveness. Mona vie also has recently created a new market for teenagers, an energy drink that is all natural with no burnout later. So far this company has been non stop growing… since the company started in 2005 it has profited immensely… six months after opening they were out of debt and had no more loans and since then have not recieved any additional outside funding. Personally i think if Mona vie would put its product into stores that it may do better, although they would have big competitors such as red bull and monster and rockstar, which may be why they have continued to do well in this poor economy. Since you can only buy the product through a distributor, or if you become a distributor, Mona vie doesnt need to worry about red bull and other such companies, they soley rely on social networking, if your not interested thats fine, someone else is, and this is the sort of model they try to stick to and so far i think it has worked very well for them.
The topic that i blogged about last week was green friendly and sustainable business that are doing well during this tough economic time. This week i looked at finannce.yahoo.com for a publicly traded company that is green and profitable despite the decrease in consumer spending . The company that i found was Whole Foods Market there stock today(2/25) ended at 35.18 on the nasdaq that was stated on yahoo finannce. This company seems to be doing very well for both the consumer and there workers as they offer products for many different diet and health needs and they offer all of there employees health insurence. They also have an ethical social and enviromental responsibilty within their stores and the community .
My last blog topic was to make an indie film or to invest in the movie companies, because the movie industries have a good track record with surviving rough economic times. After researching about movie companies that invest in indie films, I found that Lion Gate Entertainment Corporation is a great contributor to indie films and is a relevantly small company in the stock market compared to their competitors. Some of Lion Gate Entertainment Corp. competitors are Walt Disney Company, Time Warner Cable Incorporate, Universal Studios, MGM, and Paramount. Therefore, I decided to choose the Lion Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF) to invest my money into. I would invest with Lion Gate because it seems like they would represent me more than the other companies can and would be more likely to invest in my films.
last week i talked about how large compaines will dissmiss a long time employee for a new younger more talented one a little off topic. i would assume that every business in the country does this large or small. but a small business in this economy would need 1. a online based company. any company that is going to be started these days would be hard to start from a ground location stats prove that one out of 5 business go bankrupt within the first 3 years. 2. you would need to advertise. advertising is the key in making a business successful. and 3. you need some sort of investor. you will need some sort of investor if your company takes off quickly and your cosumer demand is high for the product or service. or the company goes bankrupt and you need somthing to bail you out.
In my last blog I stated that an online job search website, such as monster.com, would be a great investment. According to yahoo, stocks closed at 14.11 a share, and the stock continues to rise as time goes on. Monster worldwide, which runs monster.com, just bought out Yahoo Hotjobs for 225 million dollars. With a purhase like this, monster now has two huge job search engines. With millions of people unemployed, and with the laziness of America people, I can see only success for this company. Monster also makes a decent amount of money through resume building and advertising, and now that monster bought out yahoos site, they have two huge platforms for growth.
With Stock Markets going aroung in this uncertain economy, and some business in the risk to fail…Everybody asking themselves..Where should I invest my money? You probably answer. I shouldnt be investing at all. No matter who you invest with, if you plan very well your investment, you can obtain good results.
After I read several advices on several webpages such as msn money, I found out where I can invest my money. But first I have to keep in mind the different several strategies:
1. Open money market / High interest Savings accounts
2. Treasuries
3. Certificates of Deposit, we have our money guaranteed safe.
4. 401K Plan. This is your money that you put up on prex-taxis basis. You can choose what funds you want to invest in.
5. Mutual funds.
6. Savings Bonds.
Personally, Im investing weekly in 401k. Im trying to accumulate money towars my retirement. The money is taken out my paycheck every week and deposited into my account. My money is invested in a money market funds, which is accumulating value over time.
401k plans is safe and effective and is ideal for people who dont like to take too many risks.
I originally posted an idea of starting a small business via franchises, specifically service related franchises. I wasn’t able to find many of these franchises on the Wall Street Journal, however a large amount of them do exist. A couple examples of service related franchises include Pakmail (for shipping items) and Geeks on Call (IT for homes and businesses). These two examples are sure to have high demand even in a poor economic climate, as people will still need to ship packages and computers are present in nearly every household and business today. Franchises can be a good idea for people who have the resources to start them, as they already have a set business plan and many franchises often provide marketing and training as well. It’s just important that the potential business owner pick a franchise that provides a service that people will continue to need and pay for even as they drastically cut their spending.
After doing some research on small business that have been successful even in the depression, I found that many companies have made money out of simple tasks that many people do not have time to do. For example, pea pod from Stop&Shop. Pea pod is a smart concept. Many people either do not have enough time to do their grocery shopping or just find it easier to order their groceries online and have the convenience of it being delivered right at their door. Stop&Shop is one of the few big companies that offer this service and I believe that they are in an advantage over other places because of this service. Even though this might seem like a luxury to some, a lot of people will choose to use this service so they won’t need to stand on line and have the convenience of doing their grocery shopping in just a few minutes, without leaving their house.
After doing some research on Yahoo Finance and The World Street Journal. i found a company that is called Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. (AGM) would be good to invest in because this company has a 2.6% dividend. the price per share have gone up versus dropping, their price went from 2.4 in march 09 to 11.49 in aug. 2009. it’s P/E ratio is 5.4, the price to earnings ratio tells us the price you are willing to pay for every dollar you may earn in the future. also, Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp.’s corporate governance quotient( CGQ) as of Feb.1, 2010 is better than 67% of CGQ universe companies and 51.8% of banks companies. so, i think Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. would be a good one to invest in.
With the economy so tough you need to be completly confident when investing your money in a business or taking on a small business. As I said it in my early post, Avon and Mary Kay are great ways to work from your home. With Mary Kay’s revenue growth of 2.4 billion in 2009 (Biz Journal) it is definately a small profitable business. It is a great way to earn extra cash when you are temporarily out of work. It is also a job that can work around you busy scheduel as a parent or student. Lastly, if you have limited mobility you can have your clients come right to your house. In a tough economic time a small home based business with good revenue is always rewarding.