Predictable and boring is what I look for. I love the companies that the mutual funds don’t even pay attention to and have huge insider ownership. The two books that I would recommend at this point:
Buffetology by Mary Buffet (A book that outlines what Buffet does.. a favorite so far)
The Exceptional Presenter Koegel (A book on presentational skills, not investing).
After that, I’ve read a lot of garbage books, but Peter Lynch’s One Up on Wall Street is also good.. but I’d read it after Buffetology.
I have an abstract.doc file that outlines some of my core beliefs and books, in the stocks folder on my website www.glenbradford.com/files/Stocks
You’re in the car industry. F and GM are your forte. I am trying to stay out of the auto industry. I don’t see it growing much. I think most people have cars these days. The auto industry also takes most of the earnings it has to reinvest.. but I don’t think that there’s much here to return to shareholders as quickly as I look for returns. The market’s too saturated. Quick Glance to google: Ford doesnt look profitable. GM doesn’t look profitable either. It doesn’t make sense to me to buy into a future stream of negative cash flows.
Also… people spend more time shopping for their car than they do for their house or stocks. Also, they only buy cars when they are on sale. That’s my take.
Glen
From: rolen
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 2:23 PM
To: gbr
Subject: General
Glen,
Just a note to let you know that I enjoyed your article in the SB Tribune Tuesday AM. I have read several of your articles and actually appreciate the “layman’s” terms you use to make your points, specifically in your response to your reader that thought you sounded like a used car salesman! Many of your thoughts make good sense and it must be somewhat exhilarating to know that your ideas can move markets. Ironically I am in the “used car” business locally and although it has been very good to me, I find it very predicable and boring after 25 years. However, I have began to watch Cramer and study other publications and would enjoy some suggestive reading that you have used as a basis for your general philosophy. One is never too old to learn. I recently bought F and GM as an unschooled man would surmise that these, although not fast movers, are going to explode in the next 6-12 months. Additionally I own WM as I feel the financial sector is poised for the next big surge in growth and profit. NVDA however, kicked my butt a year or so ago and I almost quit playing, but I suppose it is similar to child birth in that 1 year down the road you kind of forget what it felt like! Keep up the good work….Clint