Investment "Logic"

Notes: Stock Ratings: 1 = buy at current stock prices, 2 = buy on a 5-10% dip in stock price, 3 = sell on a 5-10% increase in stock price, 4 = sell at current stock prices to raise cash Honeywell is an international diversified Industrial company.  For most consumers, the name probably mostly reminds you of all the heating and cooling parts for your home - like thermostats - however, they create a much wider range of products such as safety materials (Haz-mat suits), turbo for engines, and a lot of components to airplane cockpits among a very wide variety of other products.  The company is led by CEO Dave Cote for a number of years now.  Cote, in this time, has managed to prove how reliable a CEO he can be as he's helped turn the company around and has led it to be a consistent under promise and over deliver practitioner through the last 4 years of difficult economic times I've been following the company. Past Year: Honeywell performed spectacularly last year, ending...

Notes: Stock Ratings: 1 = buy at current stock prices, 2 = buy on a 5-10% dip in stock price, 3 = sell on a 5-10% increase in stock price, 4 = sell at current stock prices to raise cash Pretty sure everyone knows this, but Citigroup is an international bank.  In regards to how it reports, it's broken down into 3 major sectors: Consumer banking which generally are things like personal checking, savings and loans; Securities and Banking, which covers the investment and portfolio management section of the company; and finally Transaction Services, which is how Citi advises businesses to help them grow and expand (think mergers and acquisitions, expansions into new countries, and other challenges similar to this that can be faced).  Every bank has a consumer section.  It's the cash cow, if you will of the industry.  You put your money into checking and savings accounts and they use the money to provide loans or invest in short-term bonds and treasuries to make a high...

Notes: Stock Ratings: 1 = buy at current stock prices, 2 = buy on a 5-10% dip in stock price, 3 = sell on a 5-10% increase in stock price, 4 = sell at current stock prices to raise cash On Semi is an analog chip maker that has many of their primary focuses on energy saving process chips.  They serve a broad range of industries outside of the typically thought of computer and mobile technologies.  Like how your car can parallel park itself or it's LED cabin lights?  Chances are favorable On has chips helping run these things.  Does Grandpa have a hearing aid?  Maybe On has chips in it to help the battery last longer.  Generally speaking, On will serve industrial, medical, power and power management, consumer (think appliances), and aerospace industries in addition to your traditional tech. Past Year: Normally speaking, if I told you that this stock returned a 16.88% return for me last year, you'd say it must have done well.  However, 2013 wasn't ...

Notes: Stock Ratings: 1 = buy at current stock prices, 2 = buy on a 5-10% dip in stock price, 3 = sell on a 5-10% increase in stock price, 4 = sell at current stock prices to raise cash John Deere is an industrial company most notably known for its farm machinery, but is also a major player in the construction and forestry equipment areas.  It's an international company selling in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, however, the largest chunk of income is derived from North America.  Most people probably think that Deere makes most of it's money from selling equipment, but the truth is, that's it's second largest source of income.  Equipment maintenance is actually it's most lucrative piece.  It also has a finance segment that can also be overlooked, but shouldn't be, considering the fact that it tends to have loan loss rates that banks can only dream of. Past Year: 2013 was a company version of a tale of 2 cities.  On the company performance...

Notes: Stock Ratings: 1 = buy at current stock prices, 2 = buy on a 5-10% dip in stock price, 3 = sell on a 5-10% increase in stock price, 4 = sell at current stock prices to raise cash Encana is an oil and gas, exploration and production (E&P) company with a focus primarily on natural gas and natural gas liquids.  This blog entry will talk about my ownership of this stock and my projections for its future as it pertains to both the company itself as well as the ownership of it in my portfolio.  As of this writing, it is 10.09% of my entire portfolio. Past Year 2013 was not a good year for Encana.  Personally speaking, I think I'm being exceptionally gracious with that description, too.  The company, as a whole, has been gong through a number of challenges.  First, they had to find a new CEO, to which Doug Suttles was named in June.  Doug comes from a long history in the Oil and Gas industry with prior employment with both Exxon and BP. ...